As the weather cools and Hurricane Matthew spins out to sea (fingers crossed!) we are nesting and thinking of warm, comforting meals. Mr. Friday was delighted when I whipped up a shepherd’s pie earlier this week. Imagine how happy he will be this weekend with a big bowl of beef stew accompanied by a basket of fresh, warm, homemade bread?
I am not an intuitive baker – I really need to follow the recipe. It’s fine to have a parabola shaped pizza, slathered with cheese and sauce and quickly cut into a triangle, but a half-risen loaf of bread, or brick-dense dinner rolls are such a waste of time and effort. You have to pay attention to proportions, kneading time, rising times, ambient temperatures and your oven.
I just read a Wall Street Journal story about Dominique Ansel’s famous Cronut moving to London. The French flour they used in London had more gluten than the flour they had used in New York. The milk had more fat. The cool, damp London weather had a dampening effect on the cronut texture. They had to experiment more than 1000 tries before finally hitting on the perfect formula. So don’t despair. Keep plugging away! https://www.wsj.com/articles/london-calls-the-cronut-1475082386
With a little planning – you should start this afternoon for tomorrow’s supper – you can bake the world famous No Knead Bread as popularized in Mark Bittman’s New York Times Cooking column: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread The video is a great help. And you will be hooked on home baked carbs.
If you would rather be a little more hands on, here is a lovely recipe. I don’t have a food processor, and sometimes kneading bread is just the thing for frazzled nerves and too much screen time. Kneading bread is primal and repetitive. It is satisfying to exert such physical control with the elastic, sticky dough. I can easily imagine myself as a contestant on The Great British Bakeoff, not that they would ever let this boorish American into the baking tent. Plus they have probably already heard of my horrifying penchant on store-bought pie crusts that I would be forever a persona non grata. So sad. https://www.howcast.com/videos/511014-how-to-mix-dough-without-a-mixer-make-bread/
If you are interested in the yeasty savory taste of sour dough bread, you do not have to flail around looking for sour dough starter. You can easily make your own. Your pioneer forebears will be proud of your initiative! https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337
And here is just the recipe for a nice, crusty sour dough bread. You are so handy, that you will be making myriad batches all through the holiday season – a perfect gift idea! https://www.followmu.com/2014/09/30/sourdough-bread/ Your bread will be gobbled up at potlucks, thus ensuring your popularity.
But the best thing about home made bread is sitting down at the table, with some aromatic stew. The candles are shining. You pick up a warm piece of just-out-of-the-oven bread, trowel on some tasty butter, and take a sip of relatively inexpensive, but oh, so tasty red wine and experience a moment of divine satisfaction. It is the perfect combination of tastes and sensations – calescent crusty bread, cool butter, and the delicate red sworl of wine. The rest of dinner is superfluous. Because of red wine I know the Lannister family would countenance this meal. A loaf of bread will soon adorn their new battle flags instead of that gold lion.
“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts!”
-James Beard
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