a breadbaking first.....

14 years ago

Trying a new sourdough recipe tonight with l-o-w expectations, I come into the kitchen expecting that wonderful yeasty bread aroma .....but....noooo....something is......off? It's the smell of a smoldering potholder on the oven rack under the baking sheet holding the bread! I had briefly turned on the oven to warm it before setting the bowl of dough in to rise. Yep.....I forgot the pot holder was still on the oven rack.

Good thing it was an old cheap one. It's a nice toasty brown color now.

Time to go to bed....

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Comments (7)

blizlady
14 years ago
Oh my. It reminds me of the time my dear friend made a lasagna for us during the time we were planning a family funeral. It was made in a 9 x 13 pyrex casserole with a plastic lid. I'm sure you already guessed it - yes, I popped that right in the oven, cover and all! Thankfully I decided to check it about 20 minutes into baking because it only needed to be reheated. The lid melted slightly, but didn't ruin the lasagna. So off to the store I went to purchase a new casserole dish for her!
annie1992
14 years ago
Oh geez, Teresa, now I don't feel so badly that I ALWAYS forget Elery keeps his baking sheets in the oven and I preheat them every single time. At least they aren't combustible.

Thank goodness you caught it before it caused any kind of fire hazard, at least.

Annie
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I saw your quote before I went to bed early this a.m. and it hit some primal chord. I was sitting here eating toast made from a loaf I baked a couple days ago, with butter all melted into the deep crispy craters and loaded up with my own blackberry jelly and thinking to myself, that it doesn't get much better than this. The word bread even equates with our life's sustenance and almost every culture in the world has their own form of 'bread'. Yes, the making of bread is almost a zen experience to me. You put what looks like inert powders and liquids into a bowl and you 'tend' it with care, and it comes to life to fill your belly and your senses. It's another one of those rituals your mother did, her mother before her, and her mother before her. I don't make bread to serve with fancy meals very often. I make it when I am serving up a kettle of soup or stew. A chunk of bread, a chunk of cheese and a bowl of soup. And then I think of how many countless generations have been fed that very same meal and been thankful for it. I always feel a little warm and fuzzy when a young homemaker braves that first big bowl of dough, usually intimidated. I guess some folks think it's a big investment in time, but the actual work is only a few minutes, and the rest is just waiting. It's not 'instant' and it's nice to have some non-instant rituals left in our life. Had to smile when you were talking about sour dough starters. I was just thinking about starting a culture for the winter. Wonderful quote.
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Your recipe is almost identical to my grandmother's. She (in her words) used a scant 3/4 cup of salt in a gallon of warm water (which sounds right based on Carol's mathematics) along with the dill and garlic. She also would take a knife and slit the cucumbers all the way through the center, but leaving the ends intact, so the brine would penetrate into the cucumbers. Then on the top of the brine, she always put a slice of rye bread, covered the crock with a flour sack towel and left it in the sun for five days. Then she'd strain the brine, put in a few fresh garlic cloves and a bit of vinegar (I use about 1/4 cup or to taste), and they went into the refrigerator. These have always been my favorite pickles.
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Thanks for all the replies!! It definitely renews my confidence and tells me I didn't do anything wrong. Claire, I'm going to check the Proof feature on my oven... I Have a Proof button but didn't know what it was for! (I COULDA read the instructions but who wants to do THAT?) LOL, I will read them now. Jessy, great loaf! I have yet to attempt a six braid but I will soon! I'll be happy if it turns out looking half as good as yours! MacThayer, yes! Smooth and elastic. That's what it was. So I got it right - wheeeeee!!!!! Here's my recipe for challah. This was from the person I took a 3 hour morning class from. She handed us a recipe with a lot of detailed instructions then said, oh but I don't actually follow the recipe word for word, I do it THIS way. I wrote down the notes of how she does it, then did it that way and it came out great. Vanilla Challah 8 cups bread flour (may need to up to a cup more) 2 packages rapid-rise yeast 2 Â½ cups warm water Â½ tsp baking powder 1 Â½ tsp vanilla extract 1 Tbsp salt 4 large eggs Â¾ cup oil Â¾ cup sugar or vanilla sugar mixed sugar (or vanilla sugar) and cinnamon for rolling Mix yeast, warm water and sugar. Put into mixer. Add oil. Add 3 eggs, vanilla. Add flour/baking powder a little at a time. Let the mixer knead it. Shape into a ball and cover. Let it rise 20 minutes. Knead 5 minutes. Cover again and let rise 30 minutes. Knead briefly. Use a knife to separate into two even pieces. Separate each piece into three pieces which you roll into long "ropes". Roll each rope in the cinnamon/sugar mixture for thorough coating. Braid the ropes (each three ropes braids into one loaf). Put on pan on parchment paper and cover. Rise for one hour or till itÂs puffed up to double in size. Brush top thoroughly (get in all the "nooks & crannies") with the 4th egg. Sprinkle with sugar or cinnamon sugar. Bake at 325 35 minutes (if you make two loaves) or about an hour if you use the whole dough to make one loaf.
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Feeding the birds is a good use of bricks, too, especially when they're surprised by early Winter weather. :) Here (SoCal), we've had a couple of brief entries into Autumn weather, but always quick rebounds into general Summer. It's very confusing since it still gets dark when it feels like it should be light until a couple of hours later. If KAF actually put the recipe on the back of the bag, it's probably foolproof. That is, it's probably meant to be successful even with variations in temperature, humidity and oven climate. Edie, I just tell the truth as I see it--I'm happy to be supportive, but won't mislead you to do so. Baking bread is a normal kind of thing. Everyone with ordinary physical and mental acuity can bake bread, can dance, can sing. Perhaps there will be differing levels of natural giftedness, but all can learn to a level of competency, no matter the age. The homely arts belong to all of us. Not everyone can engineer a skyscraper that won't topple in an earthquake. Even among those well trained to do so, there's a level of magic, that is, intuitive synthesis of massive knowledge, that is necessary as well. I read once that a German master baker, who grew up in the trade, said that there was no way to learn what he knew without dedicating decades starting from puberty. I'm sure that's true. But if you're not in the business of making loaves by the dozens daily, and requiring a level of perfection that comes from professionalism, you can still bake bread. Same as someone who only has middling control over productive pitch can still learn to sing a song that won't make listeners put their fingers in their ears. Practice and familiarity with one bread, or one song, and from there to a repertoire, substitute for the lifetime of study of all breads or all vocalizations. Going wrong sometimes helps. I would never have landed on WTF Bread if I hadn't been out of it on baking day. :) And WTF is the closest I've come yet to what I've been aiming for. :) I'm not far behind you in age, or far in front in experience out of my comfortable recipes. I've learned scads in the last six months, and have learned far more from my "failures" than my roaring successes. At a certain age we have the time and head space for contemplation and a more interesting kind of learning. And we can have, oh, so much fun!
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teresa_nc7
Original Author
14 years ago
Blizlady, I had a friend who baked her first lasagna with the papers separating the slices of mozzarella cheese. We all discovered this when tried to cut into our servings of the lasagna. We kidded her about it for years.

Annie, I often put the just washed stainless bowls and baking pans or sheets back into the still warm oven when I'm baking. So now I do remember to check the oven before I turn it on each time I plan to bake.

Teresa
noinwi
14 years ago
Not done with the oven, but I use those burner covers on top of the range due to bugly burners...yes, I've turned on the wrong burner and had the lovely smell of burning paint wafting around the kitchen. I felt a little better about it recently when I took something to the neighbor and noticed her covers were scorched too.
teresa_nc7
Original Author
14 years ago
Glad to know I'm in good company! LOL! I felt sooooo stupid!

The bread did turn out well and has a good flavor. As usual, it just took so much longer for the rises both in the bowl and after I formed the baguettes. I lose patience when bread keeps me up at night. ;o(
caflowerluver
14 years ago
I asked for new oven mitts for Christmas, and got them, because mine have so many burn marks they belong in the burn ward.
Clare
jessicavanderhoff
14 years ago
Teresa, I recently discovered that I can bake bread right out of the mixer. Shape it, put it in a heavy lidded container in a cold oven and turn on the oven. It will rise well as the oven preheats, and because it starts to solidify as it rises, you get a good high rise with no stress. I usually remove the lid 10 min or so after the oven beeps to let the bread brown and finish cooking. It was a revelation for me for when I decide I want to make bread for dinner.

a breadbaking first.....

Comments (7)

blizlady

annie1992

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a breadbaking first.....

Comments (7)

blizlady

annie1992

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noinwi

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