Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Bread Fail



So I've been successfully baking bread for some time now with my vital wheat gluten method. You'd think that would be enough, but the purist in me wants to figure out how to do it without. I know it must be possible. I love the recipes I've tried from my Christmas present "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart, so I decided to steal my mom's copy of "Whole Grain Breads". She was happy enough to see it go as she hasn't been able to get his method to work. I however, am determined!

This is his basic master recipe, using my sourdough start to make the starter.
So, fail number 1. Here's what worked:
- The first proof went well, it rose nicely in the bowl.
- I achieved the best window pane ever with only 3 minutes of kneading.
- It tastes amazing!

And what didn't:
- Well it kind of puddled out instead of rising up the second time. If you ever want a yummy bread puddle, I can bake one for you.
- Maybe slightly crumbly. Or maybe my toast just broke because it was eight inches long and only one inch tall.

I think that the main problem was that the dough was way too wet, especially the sourdough portion. I will try again later this week!