After I joined the Daring Kitchen I had a browse through their forums and discovered a post about a new bread baking group being set up by Brooke. I decided to join as I bake the majority of my own bread and I am keen to try new recipes and learn from others. I did wonder if joining 3 groups on the same days was a bit much but I'm going to do my best. This next month is a busy one for me with weddings and holidays so I may not participate in all 3 but plan to try to complete at least 2 but we'll see.
So we decided on a name for our bread baking group - Fresh from the oven - and then on the 1st of June our first challenge was announced.
This month's challenge is hosted by Brianna. She has chosen a Rustic Bread from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes.
This is a good, basic recipe that introduces a simple preferment, minimalist ingredients, and lets us practice our shaping techniques.
I kept putting off baking this bread and only completed the challenge on Friday. I have baked breads before that involve a prefermenting stage (see here) and as before I found it hard to get organised in to making the initial preferment the night before I have time to make this bread. Even after this 16 hour rise time the recipe is not a quick one. After making the final dough you need to leave it to rise for 2 1/2 hours and then after shaping for about 1 1/2 hours. I also found the dough quiet wet and difficult to work with and the final loaf did not rise as much as I would have liked (it seemed to be spreading outwards but not upwards). The final bread though did taste delicious.
7 comments:
Good to see I wasn't the only one who found the dough wet. But I have to agree it made very delicious bread.
Hey Claire,
Love your bread and what a great crumb. Mine had holes in it. I don't think I degassed it enough.
Great job...I still have to post mine...
Isn't it nice that no matter what, tasting is what counts? My dough too was a bit 'wet', I called it "loose".
Looks interesting. I think sponge/preferment methods are quiet wet from what I've tried - some more than others. You get used to it bit by bit I think. Looks like a tasty loaf tho :)
The bread was good, wasn't it? Your loaf looks fantastic! I'm impressed that you did the Bakewell tart as well. I had to take a leave of absence from DB due to my crazy life. So glad yours turned out great though.
I found the dough pretty wet too, even in low humidity Arizona! Your bread looks really good & I'm sure it tasted great as well.
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