Making Bread

Yesterday I took the plunge into bread making. Even though I like to cook bread is something I've never had a desire to do. It just seemed too involved and like there were too many things that could go wrong.

I am using this basic recipe. You mix the four ingredients, let is rise and then refrigerate it until you want to make bread. My biggest complication so far has been finding the right size container to keep the dough in. Right now I am using my rubbermaid cake caddy, but today I purchased a cereal storage container that should be big enough and take up less room in the fridge.

I made my first loaf today. I used 1/4 of the dough I had. It took me only a couple of minutes to get the dough out, shape it, and get it ready to go in the oven. Then it had to rest. My only problem in baking was getting flour in the bottom of the oven when I transferred the bread to the baking stone. It burned and smoked and eventually I had to wipe it out mid cooking. The kids were very concerned that there would be a fire, but I assure you there was not!

We timed the bread baking so that the children could have a slice of warm bread for snack time. It was a big hit.

I'll be interested to see how the flavor changes as the dough ages. Today it was good but basic. The crust was very crunchy and the bread was very soft inside.

Happy baking!
Jenn