January 17 - Bread - class

Wealthy Street Bakery

French Bread

This was my favorite bread; it was so delicious. It smelled so fresh.  It was fluffy and airy, but it had a heavy taste to it.  The toast was tough and chewy. 

Healthy Bred – Whole grain

I don’t really like whole grain because of the grains in the bread. This bread was not bad, but I did not like the pieces in it because they were so hard and chewy.  It was very dense and heavy bread.  The crust was very crunchy.

Sourdough

This bread was pretty good. I don’t know if I have had sourdough bread before. It did taste a little bit sour, but it wasn’t too sour.  The bread was very light and airy.

Recipe

We choose to make the Basic French Bread

• Dissolve 1 package dry yeast in ¼ cup warm water and ¼ teaspoon sugar
• Combine 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon margarine, and 1 tablespoon salt in 1 cup boiling water
• Cool to lukewarm and add yeast mixture
• Stir in ~4 cups flour
• Knead for 10 min. or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl (margarine or olive oil), turning once. Let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rest 15 minutes. On a floured surface, roll to a 12x15” rectangle. Roll up, starting at 15” edge. Place on a greased cookie sheet and make 4 or 5 slashes diagonally across top. Let rise until doubled.
• Mix and brush on 1 egg, beaten and 1 tablespoon milk
• Bake at 400 for 20 minutes

When we first started kneading it, it was hard to get all the flour mixed it. It took a lot of kneading to get it to all stick together.  At first, when you pulled it apart, it felt like you were pulling strings a part. As you kneaded it, it could feel it getting harder and more elastic.  We kneaded it for about 15 minutes, to get it all mixed it and for it to be smooth and elastic. Rachel took it home to bake it.