I'm hooked...

It's looking like I have myself a bread baking addiction. It's incredibly satisfying to bake a great loaf of bread, and fairly easy besides, now that I know the fundamentals. Even if my bread doesn't turn out perfect, it's fun trying, and regardless of how it looks, each loaf so far has certainly been some good eats. I baked a couple more loaves of bread last night. (They went into the oven at 12:30 in the morning.) I mixed up the initial levain the night before, and yesterday morning followed the same routine of proofing and shaping the dough as the last two loaves of bread I baked.


My schedule was a bit off, though, so the second rise went a little too long, lasting about six and a half hours. There's some cushion room with natural yeast, however, so I guess it all turned out OK. All told, the dough was in process for about 24 hours, but my actual working time might have been a half hour. The yeast does the work for you, and man, the long fermenting process makes for an incredibly tasty loaf of bread.

This particular dough uses bread flour, a little whole wheat, a little rye, some wheat germ and barley malt syrup, which basically has a maple syrup consistency to it. Since I didn't have any of that, I boiled some apple cider until it had reduced to a very thick consistency and then mixed that into the bread. I don't know if it had much impact on the flavor, but I liked the results.



The bread I've been making has a thick, and chewy crust--the way I like it. This ain't no wonder bread! I'm still practicing though, and there are some things I need to work out. The slashes in the top need to be quite a bit deeper. These really didn't blossom out like they should, which allows a way for the steam to escape, so on the back side of the bread, the bread busted open a seam. This should have taken place on the surface, and when it happens, it really adds to the appearance of the loaf. But live and learn, right? I'm just trying to dial it in, and having a boatload of fun in the meantime.