Very sorry not sorry.
There is a deafening all-day Orthodox Jewish rave happening on my residential street today. Happy Purim; I'm in hell. I'm also wondering if I can just call in a noise complaint, because I am super petty when it comes to thundering techno and devotional music taking over the entire several-block radius.
Meanwhile, I have used up the dough and made two loaves of very flat but pretty tasty bread! I live-tweeted it, for my own edification as much as anything, but it was fun, basically! I think I'm going to be more consistent about which particular recipe I use from front to back. These are a mishmash of literally about seven. Best trick I learned: rather than worry about spritzing water into the over to get the crust crispy, drop some ice cubes on the broiler.
Other things I've learned or I suspect:
My gorgeous 13-inch ceramic bowl may be too big for the amount of dough I'm making right now. I got my best prove with saran wrap right on the dough, with big bubbles all over the surface. Next time I think I'll try a small bowl, so the dough has less air and less space to expand across. I want it to rise up, not across.
More cornmeal is good. More cornmeal helps the bread not bond on a molecular level with the cooking surface.
Speaking of, I wonder if the Dutch oven I inherited from this last trip to Ohio is also too big. I've been wanting a cast-iron skillet anyway; maybe this is a good impetus to find one -- maybe six or eight inches across?
I didn't realize this was going to be a 36-hour process. It's possible I let my bread prove too long, though I'm still leaning most toward "dough needed structure and spread out in the absence of any." Even Smitten Kitchen had relatively flat bread the first time she tried it. I also think I didn't use enough yeast; 1/4 teaspoon sounded suspicious from the start, but I thought I'd trust the recipe. SK suggests 1/3 tsp when you're using dry active yeast, which I am. (Whoops, didn't prove the yeast first either.)
Hmm, earlier folding?
I really want this level of crustiness. Someday.
Oh my god, these lazy instructions are amazing. This low-stress recipe (with photos) is good too.
Other links for me to not lose: The Baker Chick, Bread Experience, Real Life Dinner, Girl Versus Dough
I've been doing this instead of any of the other things on my list for the day. Whomp whomp!
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!
Meanwhile, I have used up the dough and made two loaves of very flat but pretty tasty bread! I live-tweeted it, for my own edification as much as anything, but it was fun, basically! I think I'm going to be more consistent about which particular recipe I use from front to back. These are a mishmash of literally about seven. Best trick I learned: rather than worry about spritzing water into the over to get the crust crispy, drop some ice cubes on the broiler.
Other things I've learned or I suspect:
I've been doing this instead of any of the other things on my list for the day. Whomp whomp!
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!