In Which I Learn a Valuable Lesson about the Dangers of Self-Sufficiency
What with one thing and another (i.e., what with my spendthrift habits and the sudden onset of tuition deadlines) I’m in the unhappy situation of having to subsist on my food storage for a short while. That’s why I’ve been forced to prepare and eat unappetizing items such as this loaf of homemade honey bread:
Slathered with honey butter, it didn’t stick in the throat TOO badly:
I really don’t know how I’ll be able to survive under such spartan conditions, cooking and baking for myself for days on end. I hope I don’t lose too much weight on this meager diet . . .
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June 27th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Your bread looks great – congratulations! How did you get it rise so much? Whenever I attempt to make bread, it never rises as much as it should, leaving a soggy layer of dough at the bottom of the tin. Even my bread machine doesn’t always get it right…
Your Mother Hubbard situation sounds awful! We mustn’t let you starve. There must be all number of nutritious meals you can knock together with the (ever-depleting) contents of your kitchen. I’ll put my thinking cap on, too.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Thanks! I’m glad it turned out at well as it did, since I had to do a lot of substitutions. It actually didn’t rise as well as it could have, since I over-filled the pan and had the oven too hot and dry at the beginning. I’m a little out of practice.
And I think I’ll be fine, although any recipe suggestions are welcome and will be appreciated. When I was describing all the odds-and-ends I have in my cupboard to a friend, she just humphed and said it didn’t sound like I was low on food at all, and she’s right—I’ve just got so used to going out to eat that I’ve almost forgotten how to cook for myself. :P
My two main suggestions for the breadmaking problem you’ve described are: do a double rise, and make sure you are allowing the dough to rise completely each time.
The general rule of thumb for bread dough is that each time it rises it should roughly double in bulk. A better guideline is the thumbprint test: when you think the dough is amost completely risen, wet a finger and press the edge of the fingertip gently into the dough. If the indentation springs back immediately, the dough still needs to rise for a while. If the indentation remains or fills in very slowly, the dough is ready or nearly ready.
For a double rise, place the dough in an oiled bowl in a warm place and let it rise until it has doubled in bulk or until it passes the thumbprint test. Then shape it into a loaf and put it in the pan for the last rise.
With the last rise, it’s especially important that you let it rise enough, but not too much, since it will rise rapidly for the first three to five minutes of baking. You’ll know it’s ready to go in the oven when the surface of the dough is taut and springy, not dense (not risen enough), or weak and puffy (overrisen). (If it has risen too high, it’ll look like it’s developing cellulite.) If it has overrisen, it’s better to punch it down and try again rather than risk it collapsing and spilling all over the over and the sides of the pan.
I hope this helps! I love breadmaking, but I haven’t been giving myself the time to do it. That must change, as of now.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I was just re-reading my bread-rising instructions (from all the way back in June!), and I forgot to mention that between any two rises you have to deflate the dough. So, if you’re doing two rises, between the first and the second you would press all the air out of the dough gently but firmly and then form it into loaves.