Creativity confined
Even as I mope about not being able to go out and about, as is my wont, I find ways to create. The Sidhe and I are making french onion soup in the slow cooker with 6 sweet onions and a half stick of vegan butter, so I figured I would make actual French bread. She bought me a fantastic book, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, some years ago, and I had only used the introductory part thus far (how gluten forms, etc.) to improve my existing technique. Today I cracked it open and am following the recipe to make French bread proper.
What blows my mind is the fact that the recipe calls first for a small loaf of pre-fermented dough. Hey, dog, I heard you like french bread, so I put dough in your dough so you can bake while you bake. That added about 2 hours to an already extended process. (Good bread, you may have discovered, takes time.) But we’re rocking the slow cooker, so I have time in plenty to make the bread for dinner. It doesn’t hurt that I started at 10:30. The second new thing about this recipe is the use of steam. I had never even considered the moisture of the air in the oven as a factor in making bread; I just knew to put the bread in the oven and wait. So I must put a steam pan in while the oven is pre-heating, and flash-steam some water at the first stages of the baking.
I’m now waiting for the dough to rise, so I’ll keep you posted on how this turns out. In the mean time, back to grading tests.
[Update] It turned out super crusty and delicious. I messed up the proof by mishandling the dough, so I didn’t get those enormous air pockets that French bread ordinarily has, but it still tasted like heaven. Gonna try this again some time!