Bread...Because Bread
I have been dying to try to make bread for weeks now, thanks to my binge watching of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ (it’s streaming on Netflix, go watch it). I’ve made ‘quick breads’ in the past, like banana bread or zucchini bread, but never real, kneaded, proofed bread. Well, after watching numerous episodes of a baking competition show where each season they make bread at least once, I thought, it can’t be that hard.
I was wrong.
Bread takes time and patience. I decided to use my brand spanking new cast iron dutch oven to bake the bread. This helps create a baking environment similar to a real bakers oven.
I first had to get a recipe and I used this one from Tasty. The recipe is straight-forward and easy to follow in a way that only Tasty can provide, by literally watching what someone is doing step-by-step.
A few things I learned along the way:
Let it proof…for the whole time. DON’T touch the dough or look at it, just let it be.
Bring your oven to the right temperature. I was too nervous to bring my oven up to 450 degrees, I tried over compensating by baking longer, but I’m not sure it worked.
When they say your dutch oven with be hot, they’re not kidding. BE CAREFUL! I ended up placing my oven mits around it so I wouldn’t accidentally try to move it without thinking, it took a good hour for it to cool off.
My bread turned out okay, but I’m going to try again and maybe add some flavors to the next loaf.
Now…what to do with all that bread?
