Sweets and Dreams From Scratch

So after a long wait, it was finally time to taste it.  I sliced down the first piece and I liked the sight that greeted me.  It looked like the picture in my cooking bible, a golden crust, irregular holes.  Then I tasted a piece plain and I nearly melted, it was fantastic.  It tasted like I hoped it would, simple, pure, tender, with a little bit of resistance at the crust.  I was ecstatic.  Of course, I needed some other opinions, so I sliced pieces for my mom and dad and they agreed that it was a winner, the right taste and texture, as good or even better than the bread served in our favorite local Italian restaurant.

Pictures to come soon, as soon as I upload them, but this recipe was definitely a winner. 

One of my favorite things to make is bread.  I do it the old fashioned way, no bread machine here.  The only "techy tool" I use is my Kitchen-Aid Professional standing mixer.  It helps to make sure that the dough is mixed evenly and helps to speed the kneading process along.  I digress...  I love making bread, I love the feeling of the dough in my hands and the way that it smells as it rises and bakes.  And there is nothing in the world that tastes as good as fresh, homemade bread.  I love to experiment and try different recipes, but when it comes to bread, I mostly make sandwich breads, that bake in a pan and slice down nicely for toast or sandwiches.

Today, I'm venturing out, living on the edge.  I'm making free form Italian Bread.  No pan, just a super hot baking stone in the oven.  I've made Italian bread before, but I've never done it free form.  I love my bread pans, I use them endlessly, but a few of my baking bibles have me wanting to branch out.  Here we go!

First, I made a sponge yesterday.  The sponge for my bread was bread flour, room temperature water, and instant yeast.  I kneaded it in the mixer for about 3 minutes and then scooped it into a bowl and let it sit out for 3 hours at room temp until it started to rise a little.  Then it went into the fridge.  My trusty baking book said it needed to stay in the fridge for at least 8 hours, but up to 24.    About noon today, 15 hours later, I took my sponge out of the fridge and let it start to come to room temp while I started the dough.  The dough was more of the same, water, flour, salt and yeast.  After getting the dough mixed and rested, I added the sponge in and kneaded it with the mixer again, for about 5 minutes total.

Then I transferred the dough, which was much softer and stickier than my favorite sandwich bread doughs to a 6 qt bowl, lightly oiled bowl (I spray my bowls with Pam spray, easy and mess free), covered it in plastic wrap and let it rise for an hour.  After an hour, I used a bowl scraper (it's a half moon shaped tool, flexible and curved, ideal to get all the stuff out of a bowl) to turn the dough.  I covered it back up, let it rise for another hour, and repeated the turning.  After another hour, it was time to shape the dough.  The dough is still really sticky at this point.

Shaping the dough was pretty easy, I covered it liberally with flour like my recipe instructed.  I stretched it out to about 8x10" and then folded and rolled it so it looked like a squat torpedo.  Then it went onto the parchment paper atop an inverted cookie sheet and was left to raise for another hour.  I also started pre-heating my oven, the recipe calls for a 500º oven and a preheated stone.  I got this set up and then set to wait.

Finally the hour was passed and I used a sharp paring knife to cut a slit in the top of the bread to allow the air to escape.  And then it was into the oven.  I opened the door and slipped the parchment paper right onto the very hot baking stone, misted the loaf and the sides of the oven and closed the door.  10 minutes later, I opened the oven to turn the bread, almost afraid of what I would see.  What greated me was a sight to behold.  The puffy, pale dough was now risen and had a golden brown crust, it was beautiful!  I shut the door and adjusted the temp to 400º.  Now I just had to wait a little longer until it was time to take the bread out.

Okay, bread is out and cooling on the rack.  It smells and looks amazing!!!!  I'm so excited to taste it, but I still have to let it cool for 2 hours.  The wait might kill me!

Pictures and taste verdict soon!

I was recently laid off from my job, leaving me with more time on my hands and in need of a distraction.  As anyone who has lost a job knows, there is alot of stress involved.  Baking has always been a relaxing activity for me.  I love the feel of dough in my hands, the smells coming from the oven, and the fact that a bunch of the same ingredients can be manipulated numerous ways to produce delicious results.  I figured, what better way to combat the stress?  Now I have the time to learn and try all the things that intimidated me before.  Maybe this will be a good thing...