Guys.
I think I'm going to make bread. From scratch.
The most recent post on a foodie blog that I love, led me to this post on making French bread, and I just can't get the idea out of my head!
Can I do it? Have you ever done it? I tried once, and used old yeast. So that doesn't count, because I actually made a rock.
I think I'm just going to search for an easy, beginner recipe online, but if you know of one that is simple and doesn't require 12 hours, then please pass it on!
(Also, as a side note: I love Lucy's Kitchen Notebook. Someday when I have, like, time or something, I'm going to go through her archives and start reading from the beginning of her journey learning to live and cook as an American ex-pat in France. Her photos are delicious, her writing is elegant and the recipes and ingredients she uses inspire me to move to France shop more at the market, butcher, bakery, and the like! )
3 comments:
Well, let's be honest. I've never come close to making my own bread, but I think you and your Kitchen-aid are totally capable!
p.s. please invite me over during the baking process so I can enjoy the wafts.
I've never made Julia Child's French bread, so maybe mine's not really real French bread, BUT our recipe definitely does not take 12 hours. It takes about a third of that time. It's simply the recipe from our bread machine cookbook, except we only let the machine do the kneading and the first rising. Then we punch down the dough ourselves and hand-shape the loaves and let them rise again and then bake them. We occasionally open the oven and spritz its side walls with water, quickly shutting the oven again, because we read that the steam helps make the crust hard, and as we all know from Ratatouille, the sign of good French bread is the crackly crust. Anyway, next time I'm definitely incorporating this technique of bordering the loaves in the towel while they're rising, because ours always spread out too much and end up a little wide and flat. The point is, unless my experience is, likeisaid, not authentic enough, I don't think French bread should be intimidating. You can do this, Robin!
NB, I think you should probably blog about your bread-baking process. With step-by-step pictures and detailed instructions. I think that would be helpful for...a lot of people...like me.
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