The Bread Baker's Apprentice, French Bread

On Wednesday I realized I had to make a pre-ferment so I could make French Bread the next day. Of course I realized it at quarter to 10 when So You Think You Can Dance was almst over, but like a good baker I got up an made it, because I really didn't feal like going to bed at midnight just so I could watch it and refridgerate it.

I ended up going to bed a midnight anyway because I became hooked on a new anime called Toshokan Sensou....^^;;

Anyway, I started at around 10 I think, and it was out of the oven around 3.



When I pulled the bread out of the oven and saw it grinning it made me grin myself. This is the best I've done so far at cutting the dough before it bakes!









Of course my bread is still inconsistent, and the slashing looks better at the top of the one then on the rest of 'em, but it made me happy!

No Knead Bread: Fast, easy & fun

I love bread. If someone asks me what my favorite food is, I'll either answer pizza or bread. I could live off nothing but bread if I had to, and I'd gladly do it. My favorite thing is the crust, so I always ask for the end of the loaf.

Another thing I love about bread, is the ingredients for great bread are so simple! The past two days we had barely anything to eat in the house, so I've made bread.

And now about the new recipe I found!


Monday I wasn't feeling so well. Whenever I moved my head I felt dizzy, but I really felt like some fresh bread without all the work. Then I found the recipe for "simple crusty bread" on the NY times website and gave it a try. It came out beautifuly! Super fast and easy, barley any work on my part.

On Tuesday I was in a hurry getting ready for work, but my mom was making marinara sauce and noodles for dinner and I knew we needed some bread to go with it. I made it again and it was even better this time around! I mixed it and let it rise for about 4 hours, then had my brother place it in the fridge while I was at work. When I got home, I pulled it out, shaped it, and let it rise again for about an hour and a half. Delicious, crusty bread, perfect for when you're in a hurry. (especially when you have no food in the house!)




The recipe can be found by click this sentence.

Daring baker's challenge: French Bread!

I woke up this morning and my first thought was: I can post my bread!! So, I plug in the digital camera, and open up the folder with all the pictures...but to my greatest disappointment, the pictures are gone. Yep, gone. -sigh- I still have one picture,and luckily it was my favorite, but I'm still very upset.

The bread absolutely fabulous. The taste, the texture, the crumb, everything was really great. This was the best bread I've ever made. And thank goodness, too, because it took all day to make! Luckily it was still done by 7 and we were able to have some with dinner. Everyone gobbled it up!



The recipe looks a bit intimidating, but as you read through it you realize you only need half the directions, and they're not that bad. The recipe is VERY long, so I'll link to BreadChick's POST.

I'll I can say is, BRING ON THE NEXT CHALLENGE! Wooh!