Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Great ambitions

After our trip to Great Harvest Bread , I thought it would be so cool to make bread for our family. My mom and I used to do it together when I was growing up, so I thought it would be a neat thing for the kids to do with me. We have a Vita Mix already, so when I saw the dry container that grinds grain for you, I bought it. I went to Whole Foods, bought my grain and organic yeast and got excited. After the kids were in bed tonight, I opened the recipe book, ground my grain, mixed my yeast and added it, flipped the switch a few times like it said. It said to let the dough rest. I did for about 5 minutes and flipped the switch a few more times and poured it into the pan. Funny thing was, the directions said it would be a ball and mine was a bit runny. I followed exact amounts and timing for switch flipping! It said to let it rise 35 minutes until it was even with the top of the pan. Let's just say mine was not showing signs of doing anything! I pulled out the yeast package and it said to let it rest 1 hour, knead, let it rise 1-2 hours, etc. Let me just say, I did not want to be up that late and baked it as is. It didn't do much of anything, but we'll chalk it up to experience and see if I can improve a bit next time. I'm sure with cranberry jelly, it'll be just fine!

2 comments:

Mary said...

Here is my favorite recipe for baking bread:
http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/09/10/no-knead-bread-revisited/
It's very easy and doesn't involve kneading or much involvement. Mix the dough at breakfast, have bread by dinner (or vice versa). Enjoy!

liesel said...

Cranberry jelly makes everything better!