Today I learned to never completely rule out doing something again until I've finished it the first time.
I've had a longtime dream of making a great loaf of bread. It sounds kind of silly, I know... but I'm a foodie. I can cook a lot of things, but I have never baked a good loaf of yeast bread. A few years ago a friend of mine gave me a Williams-Sonoma baking cookbook. I have tried several recipes from it and liked them, but the bread section has always intimidated me.
Today, however, I decided to face my fears and try it. So I cracked open the book and turned to the recipe on making baguettes.
And I learned. I really learned. I found out what a sponge is (in regards to bread, anyway). I understood what proofing your dough means. I saw the proper way to knead bread, and got a great arm workout in the process.
I started at noon, figuring that I'd have a warm, toasty baguette to go with the pasta I was serving for dinner tonight.
But kneading dough is freaking hard work. And rising time, apparently, varies from kitchen to kitchen. Two hours here, 40 minutes there... I lost patience. I kneaded the dough forever, waiting for the moment when I'd get that "window" (when you can stretch a piece of it and it becomes translucent), but that moment never came. I waited for the formed loaves to double in size, but I don't think it really happened. And I figured that there was no way I was pissing away that much effort and time again, when Publix will do it all for me - for about $3.
But a short while later I looked in the oven and saw three beautiful, golden loaves that were just about done baking. In a few minutes I took them out and could not believe the aroma. I let them cool, slice them, and my family and I devoured one loaf almost entirely in one sitting. Everyone raved about them, and I have to say they were quite tasty. They were a bit dense in texture, apparently the result of insufficient proofing. I will fix that next time.
Yeah. There will be a next time. Patience pays off.
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