The yeast was what really messed me up. For a motorcycle, wind in her hair, baker I should have found instant yeast rather than use active dry yeast. I bought the kind in the jar that needs to be proofed with sugar. When the two teaspoons of yeast were measured from the yeast proof, I probably took too much froth, or bubbles, and not enough yeast. My dough never really bubbled after 60 minutes. So, I took my dough outside and sat it by the pool. I exchanged the towel covering for cling wrap. I hoped with the sun's reflection from the water and cling wrap, perhaps the dough would start to bubble. After nearly two hours it poofed, but it did not look quite like the book. This was the first indication this bread baking was definitely taking a motorcycle ride, with wind in it's dough.
About this time, my husband had all kinds of comical things to say with his dry sense of humor. They were so funny I had tears in my eyes. But if you are not of the motorcycle baking persuasion, you might not find them funny. If you want to know what he said, you will just have to come to my house and hear them in person.
I started kneading the bread by hand. I let my five year old join in, but we threw it in the Kitchen Aid after several minutes. The bread had reached the right temperature but was not passing the window pane test. Soooo, we let the bread knead in the mixer for a few minutes. Still the right temperature, but we failed the window pane test again. So we kneaded. Then Hubs kneaded. Still we failed the window pane test. Did this have something to do with the yeast? Who knows. But I went back and reread Kendra's post, and decided that it was safe to move on, even if we did fail the window pane test. But before we moved on, I wanted to show you all my interpretation of the motorcycle, wind in her hair, baker in San Diego. Yes, that is me with my dough, on the closest thing we own to a motorcycle.
I proofed my bread over night because it took that long to rise. Again, I blame this on my failed yeast attempt. I noticed the bread had this risen look on top, but it was still moist and oily on the underside. So every few hours I would flip the whole loaf and then that side would rise. Now don't ask me how but it would not stay risen on the underside. So I did this a few more times until we got this far, and I called it quits. After all, I was expecting company from this sweet family and we still had to finish cleaning house.
Finally, I threw the bread in the oven, and figured I had a pretty good chance it might just turn out. And voila!
When Naturally Caffeinated Family arrived, we polished off nearly two loaves in one day, between the four adults and three older boys. The bread tasted fresh and dense. The maple was not too heavy. I shared all of my calamities with them, as well as the Hub's comments, and they laughed, too. So that is it for this motorcycle ride!!!
