The Year of the Loaf

Well, what can I say. Day 2 and it's been a busy 2012 already.

Before coffee this morning, I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu. And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying. Basically, I lived like I was Mayan.

Thanks, Tim McGraw, for the suggestions.

So I can check those off my list.

Yesterday I played, once again, with my new Christmas toy: the KitchenAid Pro 5 Plus mixer. I can actually hear angels singing when I write that.

Anyway, baking bread. I consider myself a novice. I've done it a few times with reasonable, although not exceptional results. Sonwun loves it. That's good enough for me.

But the breads of 2011 were a little dense for my taste. So I've been doing some reading in hopes of improving the loaves of the New Year. Based on that reading, I figure temperature has been my enemy on many levels. First off, when dissolving yeast, I've learned that the water should be around 100F. I kinda played fast and loose with the temperatures in the past, and probably killed a lot of innocent yeasts.

And letting the dough rise . . . again, temperature issues. Don't think the house was ever quite warm enough to let the dough rise properly, just sitting on the counter. So this year, this brand new year, I've learned that I should put said dough in the oven, over a pan of hot water. Done.

And finally, I wasn't putting the dough in the loaf pans properly. I just kinda plopped it in there. But my research tells me I should be rolling out the dough into a rectangle, and then rolling up said rectangle into a loaf shape. Who knew?

But I did it all, and I gotta say the results were spectacular. At lunch, the boys were absolutely silent. Never happens. But they were so focussed on the warm bread, with butter and grape jelly. They only spoke to ask for more. Cool!

It's cheaper, it's better for them and it's not all that hard to do.

2012 - The Year of the Home-made Loaf!