Twin Loaves of Bread - Thanksgiving 2011
Ah yes, the smell of fresh baked bread, the sweet aroma of a pie right out of the oven. I can smell it now… well something is actually IN the oven…
The picture at left demonstrates how I used to bake. Notice the loaves are a little short and the bread seems to be kinda rough. I didn’t let the bread rise enough (that’s why they’re short) and I didn’t let them cool long enough (that’s why they’re kinda rough upon cutting). You can see the difference when you look at this picture here:
More Bread - Same Recipe Different Results
Notice the big difference in sizes? The one on the right is the same recipe as the one on the left, but one was allowed to rise for much longer than the other. The bread that rose longer is a much bigger loaf of bread – perfect for sandwiches and toasting. Also, both loaves were allowed to cool to room temperature before cutting which allows the bread knife to slide smoothly through and give you a nice, even cut.
Don’t forget the pies!
Fresh Blackberry Pie!
Pies are awesome. All things in life come down to pie. All the world’s problems can be solved with pie. Okay, that may be a bit of a stretch, but pies are indeed the challenge of a lifetime.
I’ve made tons of pies in my life. My first was when i was 15. My last was just a couple weeks ago. Armed with a brand new crust recipe I’m completely in love with, a great price on fresh blackberries at Sunflower, some sugar, ginger (almost all fruit pies go great with a dash of ginger), allspice, and nutmeg, I was off. The crust is from this amazing book my wife got for me for Christmas last year: Baking Illustrated. They take a real scientific, almost anal-retentive, approach to baking in this book. Painstaking detail about what works and why it works. The pie crust (truly the bane of a baker’s existence) was light, thick, flaky, and really buttery. The recipe called for a cup of shortening, 12 tablespoons of butter (unsalted) and 2 1/2 cups of flour. The dough was really soft and rolled out very thick, but it was the most incredible pie crust dough ever. I can’t wait to make something again.
Anyhow, the next project is bagels. I need high-gluten flour to make them. Ought to be interesting. Will post more in the blog later.
