Baking bread
I like baking bread but I’m definitely not a purist. I know that in order to be good at baking bread I should be familiar with the various stages of dough and gluten by touch, but I just don’t have the patience. I love the smell of freshly baked bread and I love the yeasty smell while I wait for it to rise, but I don’t find the act of kneading particularly therapeutic so I use my Kitchenaid mixer instead.
The problem with using the mixer (and the food processor which is even more frightening and dangerous) is that Sam alternately loves it and is afraid of it. He wants to turn it on and off and on and off and on and off then runs from it if it’s turned on too quickly. I don’t want him to get too comfortable with it, because the dangers and mess potential far outweigh the benefits.
Sure I could stick to quick breads like biscuits, but what’s the fun in that. Instead I’m going to give no-knead bread a shot. A recipe published not too long ago in the New York Times claims to produce a perfect loaf of bread with no kneading. The secret is a long, overnight rise. According to the NYT, what makes the “process revolutionary is the resulting combination of great crumb, lightness, incredible flavor — long fermentation gives you that — and an enviable, crackling crust, the feature of bread that most frequently separates the amateurs from the pros.�
Sounds good to me. I don’t have the right size cast iron dutch oven required for baking but I’m going to give the recipe a go anyway. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
My StumbleUpon Page
Leave a Reply