"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
...
>I made yeast bread for the first time in ages today. Back in college I
> used to make 4 loaves at a time using the recipe from The Tasajara Bread
> Book. It was a big production, took the whole day, messed up the whole
> kitchen. I remember discovering that if you follow the directions, it
> really isn't that hard. Today I made 2 loaves of the sour cream bread
> from Beard on Bread:
>
>
> 1 package active dry yeast
> 3 Tablespoons white sugar
> 1/4 cup warm water
> 2 cups sour cream
> 1 Tablespoon salt
> 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
> 4 1/2 - 5 cups white flour.
>
>
> It turned out that I had only 1 cup sour cream so I used sweet cream for
> the other cup. I used mostly unbleached all-purpose white flour but
> substituted one cup of mixed oat flour and whole wheat. It must be a
> holdover from my health food days. Plain white flour seems so evil to me.
> As I was making the bread, the amount of salt seemed high to me, but I
> really was trying to stick to the recipe despite the substitutions so I
> used the full amount. A minute later, I turned back to the instructions
> to check on something and saw where Beard says that he likes that much
> salt but that you can cut back the amount to taste. I did find the end
> result to be overly salty.
>
>
> My first problem was in proofing the yeast. It wouldn't bubble and foam.
> I thought maybe the water was too cold, didn't want to microwave it for
> fear of getting it too hot, ended up putting it in a small toaster oven
> that had been pre-heated, then turned off. It took 15 minutes, but when I
> was satisfied that the yeast was good (and there was no reason to think it
> wouldn't be as the expiration date was in the far future and I'd gotten it
> at the supermarket), I proceeded.
>
>
> Kneading turns out to be one of those things that you never forget how to
> do. It's fun and satisfying to feel the dough change under your hands
> until it gets that wonderful springy elastic feel. I was sure I'd never
> figure out what "double in bulk" looks like, but it wasn't that hard. My
> college apartments all had gas pilots which made the oven the perfect
> place for letting the bread rise, but now we have electric. I pre-heated
> the oven to 200 degrees, turned it off and used the oven for rising again.
> It worked.
>
>
> At the last minute, I decided to make one regular loaf in the loaf pan and
> make the other loaf into "snails." That's where you roll out the dough,
> brush on butter, honey, jam, sprinkle raisins, nuts, cinnamon, whatever,
> roll it up, then slice and lay them flat on a cookie sheet. I used
> butter, blueberry jam, raisins, the slightest amount of cinnamon (Jim
> doesn't like too much) and nutmeg.
>
>
> I got the snails out when they were perfectly lightly browned. I forgot
> the loaf and left it in the oven too long so it is overly brown.
>
>
> Results: The bread is too salty. I know how to fix that for next time.
> For the sweet snails, I should use a sweeter dough, but this one wasn't
> bad. The "slight tang" that Beard mentioned turns out to be too tangy for
> me. I'm glad I didn't use the full amount of sour cream. I should use
> apricot or raspberry jam next time. I forgot why I bought the blueberry.
> Did I think I was in a rut? I really don't like blueberry that much. The
> texture and crumb are perfect. Really, I'm very impressed with myself.
> I'd forgotten that bread is hard to mess up. People think it is tricky
> because you have to wait for it to rise and know how to judge elasticity
> of texture, but it is really easier than cakes and cookies. Using a
> little oat and whole wheat flour was fine.
>
>
> Next time I think I'll try saffron bread with currants or maybe a yeasted
> coffee cake.
>
>
> --Lia

Thanks for writing your experience making bread today. Baking bread is my
biggest cooking enjoyment in life. I love your statement, "I'd forgotten
that bread is hard to mess up." Rye bread is always the hardest for me (soo
sticky); a few days ago I made two loaves of rye (to have with the Carnegie
deli meat I had purchased at Costco) and I was in wonderment again that
despite my problems with it that day, it was delicious.

Last night I had a tiramisu that I had made from Kimberly's recipe without
eggs because of my yuk problem. Next time I will make it with eggs, but it
will probably be a long time because I believe the effort of working with
mascarpone, cream cheese, sour cream, ricotta will be better put to use
making cheesecake.

I like bread made with ground up oatflakes, too, and sometimes I add
oatflakes, as well. Makes a great breakfast toast.
Thanks, again.
Dee Dee