Weekend shenanigans

[oyceter]

I have done pretty much nothing useful this week aside from completely screw up my sleep schedule and get horrific allergies. On the plus side, remix_redux is up! So I am spending tonight happily wallowing through scads of fic.

I did manage to bake again (twice in a month! Go me!), and this time was better than the last! Last time I attempted Cook's Illustrated's olive rosemary bread; alas, I let it rise waaaay too long for the first rise after drastically underestimating the time my parents and I would be gone for dinner. It made many strange hissing noises as I punched it down, and some of the bubbles were as big as a small plum. Whoops. I ended up not really liking the texture of the final result: too light, not chewy enough, crust not crunchy enough. I can't tell how much was me messing up or how much was the recipe. Probably it was me. I also didn't quite like the taste of the bread between the olives; the added honey made it a little too sweet, particularly when combined with the wheat flour.

Yesterday and today I made slow-rising bread from Joy of Cooking for the third time; I let it rise too much again when I woefully slept way past the initial six-hour rise time. Oddly, the dough didn't feel as overly gassy as the olive bread did and it was still doubled after all that time; maybe my refrigerator is colder than the book expected or my kitchen isn't really at "room temperature." The two loaves turned out pretty good, though still fairly dense; I probably undercompensated during the proofing stage due to the extra-long first rise. Also, I want a more uneven crumb. I think I'll try not punching it down so evenly next time.

But the bread itself tastes great. A little too salty maybe for jam, but then again, maybe not, and I like the bread itself to have flavor so I add additional salt (also, I use kosher while the recipe doesn't). And it has a lovely crunchy crust and is delightfully rustic and really chewy on the inside, which is exactly how I like my bread.

I think next time I'll try the dill bread in Joy and see how that goes, now that I have a stand mixer.

I still cannot get over just how complicated bread is; it's just flour and yeast and water and a pinch of flavoring, until you realize how much you have to do to it. I actually really enjoy figuring it out; I suck at following recipes anyway, and in the case of bread, it seems fairly useless to follow the times laid out (and they say so). They don't know how humid it is that day or if I went for a five-hour chill or twelve-hour or whatnot, and I have to somehow figure it all out from how the dough feels (too sticky? too dry? huh?) and how much larger it's gotten. Someday I will figure it out and be able to actually *gasp* modify bread recipes to make things crunchier or chewier or denser or lighter.

That will be SO COOL.

Comments

[matt-ruff.livejournal.com]

Have you delved into Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible yet? She's got a recipe for rosemary focaccia that contains more water than flour. The dough starts out looking like pancake batter; you beat it on high speed in a stand mixer for about twenty minutes until gluten chains form and it magically turns into an elastic ball that starts climbing up the mixer paddle. Best Focaccia Ever.

[oyceter]

I haven't! I haven't actually been venturing very far outside of Food Network and Joy, so thanks for the rec.

I LOVE watching the gluten chains form in the mixer. It is so cool.

[chomiji]

Kneading bread by hand is so meditative and organic. Eventually you can just feel when it's ready to have a rest and rise. It's forgiving too ... I tend to use the basic recipes from Joy of Cooking and just throw in what strikes my fancy: honey, oat bran, herbs, etc. (not all in the same loaf, you understand!)

[oyceter]

Oh wooooow, I am very impressed. I use the stand mixer right now because I tried hand kneading once and it was a miserable failure. Also, ouch, my hands were so grumpy at me, as they are already unhappy from knitting and typing too much.

[chomiji]

Eh, consider it an accident of anatomy rather than a talent ... I've got a peasant's build, and it doesn't get exercised as much as it should anyway.

On the other hand, I should probably learn to knit sometime, because I never have - those are some beautiful things you are producing. I used to do stuff like crewel embroidery, batik, and paper-cutting ... it can't be worse than that, yes? But I'd guess my main problem would be consistency - all the handicraft things I've done have been suited to a rather scattered personality ...

[oyceter]

Oh, thank you! Oooo, if you do embroidery and etc., I suspect knitting should be all right. The first few times will probably be awkward as you work to get muscle memory, but over time, I've found I can knit and even watch anime sometimes, which is nice.

Also, re: consistency... takes practice for stitch consistency? As for actually sticking projects through... hahaha. You are so talking to the wrong person (says she with three things on the needles and three more to finish on the side).

[boxmint.livejournal.com]

OOooh, now I'm hungry. Something about the phrase "a little too salty maybe for jam" did me in. (Oh, and I am still amused by the bread-baking manga you steered me at. A total heroic storyline with all the props substituted. Thanks!)

[oyceter]

I love plain and crusty and chewy bread so much. Also yay Yakitatte! Japan! It's so cracktastic! And about bread!

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

I love making bread: kneading dough is wondrous cathartic. *_*

I think your texture problems on the earlier focaccia were due to over-rising. The more rises you give a dough, the fluffier the loaf will end up.

[oyceter]

Alas, I fear carpal tunnel! But I like watching it go in the stand mixer.

Thanks for the tips!

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

Have you been warned against kneading dough by hand for fear of carpal tunnel? I think since it's a different motion and only for 10-12 minutes, it wouldn't be a concern …

[oyceter]

(Awwww, mouse!)

No, I wasn't warned by anyone, but the one time I tried, it took me waaaaaay longer than 10-12 minutes (either I am wimpy or doing it wrong), the dough still wasn't kneaded enough, and my wrists and hands and forearms hurt like mad. Sooo I sort of figure I will let my trusty stand mixer go for it.