A few adjustments to the recipe (probably my first problem, I can't follow directions): I used whole wheat flour. I used dark molasses. And I used whatever medium grind cornmeal I could find. I also doubled the recipe. Because no recipe comes into my house that doesn't get doubled. With 7 people, making two loaves of bread would be a colossal waste of time. I'd blink and they'd be gone.
Oh, alright, and I also used my mixer. Because it's fancy and I'm lazy.
I never use the windowpane test with my mixer, I just watch for the dough to clean the bottom of the bowl. Windowpane test: FAIL. But I wasn't concerned. I kneaded it about 8 minutes and it felt okay to me.Of course, I picked the Saturday that the heat downstairs was broken, so it was about 65 in my kitchen. I put the dough under my stove light to rise.
Oh, and I also didn't sponge it. I thought I had read all the directions the night before, but I discovered about midway into the mixing that there was a Page 2. Gah. I got four small loaves out of the dough. (Fourth loaf not pictured. It was shy.)
I baked them on 350 in my convection oven (my oven runs cold, so I don't adjust the temperature to convect) for about 25 minutes. They came out looking like little bricks. But they were tasty little bricks. The texture was lovely. They were just... stunted, I guess.
The flavor and texture really reminded me of Outb@ck's dinner bread that they serve with honey butter. The entire family approved. We ate it with our chili for dinner and I'll pull out another loaf from the freezer to make grilled cheese sandwiches tomorrow night. The other two loaves ought to last us til... Wednesday, at best.We've got a lot of mouths to keep happy around here.
Your bread looks very good. I liked this recipe too...but also struggle to keep up with all of his directions! We made delicious PBJ's with the Anadame bread.
ReplyDeleteI discovered Anadama bread at a lovely little bakery in Exeter, NH. It was heavenly and always the first one devoured by the house full of guests at my (ex) inlaws house. I tried a few years ago to make it with the recipe from that little shop (called 'The Loaf and Ladle' referencing their delectable soups), but it came out quite heavy and dense. Seeing your tweet has made me want to try it again.....In the intervening years, I discovered the Breadbeckers & began milling my own grains, so I've got a lot more experience to bring to the trial now. Whenever I get little bricks, I try adding some gluten and/or lecithin to the next batch...that usually lightens it up. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHilarious post, LL!
ReplyDeleteWhat I think is great is your history of bread-baking anyway...so you have a lot of confidence when things aren't running, um, smoothly? =)
I also never use the window pane test. I'm going by touch.