baking bread
baking bread. sounds yummy. makes you think of grandma. it can't be that hard, right? right? well, i tried it today. i haven't actually finished it yet, the dough is on it's first rising. yes, bread dough has two risings. the first one before you make the dough into loaves and the second after you make the dough into loaves. now, i have to say, i just opened up a cookbook to the "yeast breads" section and picked one. classic white bread, "the all-american bread--beautiful tall loaves for sandwiches and toast or for serving with meals." that's what it says anyway. we'll see. so i have some thoughts on baking bread, which i may have to add to once this first batch is actually done.
number one: aprons. i never use them. i have never really seen the need for them. until today. baking bread is why aprons were invented, i'm convinced. my lovely black sweater is now covered in flour. nice.
number two: speaking of lovely black sweaters...what was i thinking? first, baking bread is hot work. especially with the mid-morning sun streaming through the kitchen window. i actually had to go out and stand on my front steps halfway through adding the 7 cups of flour. that helped some. also, my sleeves wouldn't stay up so i kept having to push them up. lots of fun when you're in the middle of eight minutes of kneading (more on that later). also, even though you know all those little black fuzzies that are now in the bread came from your clean sweater, the people enjoying the bread of your labor probably aren't going to know that. and they probably won't believe you when you tell them. wear a tee shirt when you bake bread.
number three: eight minutes is a really long time. especially when you are kneading sticky dough and flour is settling on every inch of your counter. yes, eight minutes is a long time. your forearms will get tired. you will wonder at this point why in the world you thought baking your own bread was a better alternative to that nice little package that costs $.97 at publix.
number four: when "softening" butter or margarine, don't put it in the microwave for 25 seconds and forget about it. it will melt, you will have butter all over the microwave and you will have to start over. softening means just that, softening.
why did i decided to bake my own bread? i'm not sure at this point. was it worth it? i'll have to let you know. maybe i'll feel differently when i'm enjoying a warm, tall slice of sweet homemade bread, or my dear husband is raving about his tuna sandwich on homemade bread. will the smell of baking bread wafting through my house be the "a-ha" moment? maybe. and why did i decide to do this on a day my sweet little cherub woke up at 530am? why was i covered in flour kneading dough for eight minutes while he was napping instead of napping myself? i'm not sure. sleep deprivation? maybe. anyway, i'll let you know how it comes out..it's still rising for the first time.
number one: aprons. i never use them. i have never really seen the need for them. until today. baking bread is why aprons were invented, i'm convinced. my lovely black sweater is now covered in flour. nice.
number two: speaking of lovely black sweaters...what was i thinking? first, baking bread is hot work. especially with the mid-morning sun streaming through the kitchen window. i actually had to go out and stand on my front steps halfway through adding the 7 cups of flour. that helped some. also, my sleeves wouldn't stay up so i kept having to push them up. lots of fun when you're in the middle of eight minutes of kneading (more on that later). also, even though you know all those little black fuzzies that are now in the bread came from your clean sweater, the people enjoying the bread of your labor probably aren't going to know that. and they probably won't believe you when you tell them. wear a tee shirt when you bake bread.
number three: eight minutes is a really long time. especially when you are kneading sticky dough and flour is settling on every inch of your counter. yes, eight minutes is a long time. your forearms will get tired. you will wonder at this point why in the world you thought baking your own bread was a better alternative to that nice little package that costs $.97 at publix.
number four: when "softening" butter or margarine, don't put it in the microwave for 25 seconds and forget about it. it will melt, you will have butter all over the microwave and you will have to start over. softening means just that, softening.
why did i decided to bake my own bread? i'm not sure at this point. was it worth it? i'll have to let you know. maybe i'll feel differently when i'm enjoying a warm, tall slice of sweet homemade bread, or my dear husband is raving about his tuna sandwich on homemade bread. will the smell of baking bread wafting through my house be the "a-ha" moment? maybe. and why did i decide to do this on a day my sweet little cherub woke up at 530am? why was i covered in flour kneading dough for eight minutes while he was napping instead of napping myself? i'm not sure. sleep deprivation? maybe. anyway, i'll let you know how it comes out..it's still rising for the first time.
posted by Stephanie | 10:06 AM
1 Comments:
Great. A fellow blogger in the family. Keep up with the posts. It will be a good way to keep up with what is going on in the family. I will put a link to you blog on my site if you would like.
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