Now I know why being pregnant is referred to as "having a bun in the oven."
Baking bread is (I imagine) very similar to having a child - time, preparation, patience and sacrifice are required. When I pulled my first-ever bread loaf out of the oven and realized it had come through successfully, I was about as happy and proud as a new mom :-)
The bread I made is a Universal Rustic Bread from this simply marvelous book.
The day before baking, I mixed a "Biga" pre-ferment dough to mix in with the regular dough for the loaf:
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| this is the Biga, after it had risen. |
The day of baking, I got up at 8am to start getting the dough ready.
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| Bread dough, pre-rise |
I covered it in a bowl and let it sit to rise for 4 hours.
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| bread dough, post-rise |
Once it had risen, it was rolled in flour, shaped, and left to rise for another hour.
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| shaping the dough |
While it was rising, I prepared my bread peel to receive the loaf. Once it had risen, I laid the loaf on the peel and placed the whole thing in a large plastic bag for a couple of hours to (you guessed it) rise some more.
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| bread dough, third rise |
While it was on the final rise, I prepared the oven for baking - baking stone on top rack, jelly-roll pan on the rack immediately below it to hold water for steaming, close the door and preheat the oven. Finally, I slipped the dough onto the hot baking stone, poured water into the hot jelly-roll pan, and spritzed water into the oven and onto the loaf before closing the oven to bake - at around 5:30pm.
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| dough going into the oven |
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| dough in the oven, being spritzed with water |
Finally, it was time to take it out of the oven.
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| bread coming out of the oven |
As my mom called to my dad when the bread was done, "you've got to see this - she's making bread like they do at Panera!" :-)
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| Bread cooling |
Like I said, you feel like a new mother when it comes out right.
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| Inside of the bread |
I plan to make three loaves total out of this batch. As I experiment with new breads, I will record the results here.
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