Winter Moon

I love taking pictures of the moon. Eventually, I plan on getting shots during all of its phases. Here, the moon is waxing almost halfway full. I love the way it looks in the blue sky with the frosted branches.

BBA #14 - French Bread

So, I had tons of "prep" pictures for this bread. Until I realized that I didn't have a memory card in my camera. Ooops!

Anyway, I was pretty nervous going into this bread. I was concerned about getting the crispy crust, the moist crumb - in short, getting artisian bread out of my little home-oven. But that's what this challenge is all about, right?

This dough starts with a pre-ferment. I used the pate fermentee, so Friday I mixed up a basic dough - flour, salt, yeast and water. After a rise, I popped it into the refrigerator. After that, you can use it anytime in the next three days. I waited two.

First, you let the pate fermentee warm up a bit. Then it needs to be cut into small pieces so that it can be incorporated into the final dough more easily. To the pate fermentee, I added more flour, salt, water and yeast, mixing it into a ball. Mine was fairly dry so I had to add more water. Then it was time to knead. And knead. And knead. After 20 minutes, my dough was smooth, tacky but not sticky, but still nowhere near passing the windowpane test. Eventually, I gave up and set it to rise.

The dough doubled in an hour. Following instructions, I gently degassed it and let it double again, about another hour. The dough is then cut in three, careful to degass as little as possible, and shaped into batards, which are sort of rough torpedo shapes. Then I let them rest for a few minutes before shaping them into baguettes - long and skinny. I let them proof for another hour in their little couches before popping them onto the very hot cookie sheet that I use since I am still lacking a stone.They came out beautiful, with a lovely crunchy crust. The color could be better, I suppose, but since it's the best I've ever gotten, I'm not complaining!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

BBA #13 - Focaccia

I have to say, I wasn't sure it would be possible to love a bread more than I loved the challah. But, ladies and gentlemen, focaccia has done it! This bread was beyond amazing and was a huge hit at work as well.

Now, this is definitely an enriched bread, but it's the kind I like. We're not talking sugars and eggs, we're talking olive oil and herbs. Specifically, herbed olive oil - which is easily made by warming up some oil with your choice of herbs. I used mostly Italian herbs, plus cayenne.

Meanwhile, you get to mix up the dough. This is a very wet dough, no kneading required. Just stirring. The dough is turned onto a floured board and gently folded in thirds much like the ciabatta.


After the folding process, some oil is spread on a pan. The dough is placed atop, and topped with some of that lovely herbed oil. Then comes the fun part. Using your finger tips, you poke the dough gently to spread it out over the pan.

Look at those bubbles!

Now comes the hard part - overnight refrigeration. Heartbreaking, I know, but worth it for the flavor.

The next day, more oil is applied, more finger poking commences and then comes the moment when you bake it. You can add toppings and everything!

Now, I have to say - if you are going to eat this straight out of the oven, no toppings are needed. The next day or so, they're okay. And since this makes so very much focaccia, I topped half of mine and left the other half plain. Delicioso!

Next time I make this, I think I will either omit or cut down on the oil beneath the bread, as I find I like a crispier crust. But overall? Not much else to change - this is a winner!

BBA #12 - English Muffins

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

I was really excited going into this - even though I rarely buy English muffins these days, I have many fond memories of them from my childhood. I meant to make these before The Husband left again, but slacked off. Oh well.

The dough was pretty fun to work with, nice and smooth. I did not, however, keep my dough wet enough. More on that later.

After rising, the dough is divided into 6 sections and each is shaped into a small boule. They rise again!

Most of the cooking of this bread is done in a skillet instead of the oven, though they do get finished in the oven. It's neat to be able to watch them cook!
This is where I realized that my dough wasn't wet enough. As you can see above, the muffins didn't spread out at all in the pan, and stayed quite round and thick. Still, they did brown nicely.I also did not get the much coveted "nooks and crannies" in my muffins, but they still tasted good! I don't know that I will be making them again, not until I figure out how to fix some of the troubles I had!