The Staff of Life

     

I have decided that, although I am not a baker,  I am tired of paying someone else to make my bread. I LOVE Dave's Killer Bread and it is an Oregon product but it is spendy. I also love crusty, European style bread which is made locally but again, it is too expensive for me to buy on a regular basis. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and attempt to bake some edible bread.

     My first try landed me with a rather heavy disk of wheat bread that I relegated to bread crumbs and croutons. I used a recipe off of the Cook's Illustrated website, and in classic Laurie, style I substituted things that obviously should not have been substituted. I run into this every time I try to bake - I want to improvise, which does not work in the cuisine of chemistry.  

   With a little self-discipline and and a lot of fumbling with measuring cups, timers and parchment paper, my second attempt rendered a near perfect loaf. OK, I may be exaggerating but it was very edible - crusty, with an open crumb and really nice flavor. Again I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe that was adapted from a NY Times recipe for no fail crusty white bread. It is the "Almost No-Knead Bread" recipe that has gained recent fame in home baking circles. The recipe calls for instant yeast (not regular yeast), white vinegar (not wine vinegar) and a mild flavored lager. It is truly no fail IF you follow the directions exactly - something I'm still struggling with.

   In my most recent loaf I substituted an locally made Ale (Deshutes Cascade Ale) for the lager, as I wanted a bit more flavor. It turned out great - even better than the last.

   So I guess that is the beginning baking lesson I've learned - it's OK to improvise once you've mastered the tried and true formula.