Thursday, May 22, 2008

A Smidgen of Success

Remember all my bread making catastrophes... well, on Tuesday I decided to try again. I think I had a minor success. Jimmy tasted it and proclaimed, "Hey hon, this bread is pretty good." Or something like that. I asked him to say on that tape, but he wasn't very excited about that idea.


Since Jimmy always reminds me to note how I made things (because never fail I change the recipe in some way which is probably my downfall), I wanted to note here the recipe I used. It is Sharon DeMordaunt's bread tweaked:
half of sharon's bread recipe

1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c dry milk
1/8 c crisco shortening (Amy uses oil)
3 c. flour (2 cups Wheat & 1 cup White All-purpose)
1/3 c honey
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten
(I think next time I might add 1 Tbsp of Dough enhancer as well)

mix dry ingredients, then 'cut in' shortening.

dissolve 1 Tbsp. yeast in 1/2 c warm water in well made in above mixture.

add 1 3/4 cups (a little less) warm water. mix till smooth.

add 2+ cups flour (I used white).

Knead 8 min till smooth (I used the kitchen aid mixer).

Divide dough into blobs and let rest 10 min. (Sharon didn't really say blobs - I made that part up)

Grease bread pans. Form into loaves. I made 2 small loaves (7x3 pans) and 4 mini loaves

let rise till very rounded.

bake at 375 degrees for 30 min (I think I did it more like 15 since my oven is hot and my loaves were small) - Also, I put the bread in a cold oven and then turned it onto 375. I heard that this tip will help it become lighter and fluffier. I'm not sure if it did anything, but I figured it was worth a try.


Any ideas? Do you think adding that much gluten for the size of recipe would make it LESS fluffy? I'm still figuring out that ingredient as well as dough enhancer. I'm not sure if they do anything for me.

The bread wasn't perfect. It wasn't very light and fluffy. It had rough texture and some air bubbles, but at least an alien didn't hide itself in my loaf this time.

Tonight for supper we had french toast. Don't the mini loaves make cute french toasties! I thought the kids might actually eat them if they were small. And they did!



And surprise!!! - today I received Happy Mail. Jimmy said for Mother's Day I could order myself a wheat grinder. Very exciting present - I know. But I'm way excited. I received the grinder in the mail today. Now, I just need to get some wheat and whip up some fresh flour. Thanks for the present my love Jimmy! May I learn to make the tastiest bread ever to fill your tummy.

6 comments:

Lexie said...

I am excited for you! You will LOVE your wheat grinder. I really love mine. I use 1/2 whole wheat in all muffins, quick breads, pancakes & waffles. I have not mastered bread.....I hope to someday! Grinding it yourself is SO much better than store bought. My sister said she learned from a fellow in her ward that it actually tastes better after a couple of weeks......Andrea could explain to you why. It came to me from Andrea to my mom to me & I haven't talked to Andrea about it yet. Rambling, I know, it must be bed time. :)

shauna said...

The bread looks beautiful. Good work Heather! And congrats on closing on your home. That is super exciting. Cade's new favorite movie is the one you posted of Max spitting over and over again. We've watched it at least a half a dozen times. So cute.

Marne said...

Yippee! Bread success! Can I have some?

You will love your wheat grinder! Jimmy scored points on that one.

Congrats on closing on your home! Now the fun begins!

Jeanna said...

Looks great! I hear wheat makes a heavier more course textured bread. I just read this on my sis-in-law's blog about having a perfect looking loaf of bread: Roll it out on a slightly floured counter/board. Roll it into a rectangular shape about 9x13, this gets most of the bubbles out. Once it's rolled out, start at one end and roll it up almost like you would cinnamon rolls. Once it's all rolled, put it seam side down on your counter/board tuck the ends under and put it seam side down in your bread pan. It makes it PERFECT! I'm going to try it next time I make bread. Good luck with the wheat grinder.

Camille said...

What Beautiful Bread! you have inspired me! I will try one of these days to make bread! I have the Jam thing down. now All i need is the bread!

katie and co. said...

Not a MINOR success! That bread looks awesome! Way to go, Heather!