Friday, August 21, 2009

Rested Knees and Dough Kneading

Thursday was a rest day for me and with the evening wide open without a run, I decided to make bread. Inspired by Sagan's post, I thought it was time to face my fears of yeast, kneading, and dough rising. My first attempt last night resulted to rock hard bread due to my carelessness in reading oven settings. :P I was determined though so I found another recipe for kids so that even a first timer like me wouldn't go wrong. List of ingredients was short: flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and water. I actually had fun kneading and bashing the dough. While the dough rested, I was too excited to focus on my book and couldn't wait to see how my first risen dough would turn out. After two hours, I became a believer. I saw it with my own eyes - Dough does rise. Haha. A revelation for a quick bread lover that I am. :P Less than 30 minutes after, I had freshly baked babies.

{Fresh Plaids}
I have a couple questions for the more seasoned baker readers. Kindly fill me in on these things. Thanks! :D
- If a recipe calls to let the dough rest for 2 hours, would it make a difference if I let it rest for an extra couple hours? Will it still be okay to let the dough rest overnight?
- At what point does one add the spices, herbs, nuts, etc. to the dough? How about toppings? I added the sesame seeds just before baking but they didn't stick to the bread very well.

{Sesame Spill}
While this may only be the lazy version of Sarah's breakfast challenge, eating bread that I personally made from scratch put a smile on my breakfast face. Being the balanced person that I'd like to think I am, I had one slice with fig jam and another with whole grain mustard and avocado this morning. One sweet, the other tangy.

Weekend is just around the corner! I've got a long run, a barbeque party, and grocery shopping to look forward to. What do you have in store for the weekend?

12 comments:

  1. Hahaha...'grocery shopping to look forward to.' That's EXACTLY what I have in store for the weekend AND what I'm looking forward to :)

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  2. I also have a long run to "look foward to..." Ha. Good luck on yours....we'll see what happens on mine!

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  3. Ooo you always make such delicious breads! I made an Irish soda bread for my roommate the other day. Next time I want to add sage to it. But I'll save that for my loaf because I don't know how'd she feel about that. ANYWAY! Let's see.. this weekend I have a Saturday World Cinema class.. then going to some crazy all day music thing. I also hope to get some decorating in, as well as grocery shopping! that's what I know is going on thus far.

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  4. Nothing smells better than fresh baked bread! Good luck with your adventures!

    americangourmande.wordpress.com

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  5. YUM! That bread looks delish!!

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  6. I would *hardly* call that the "lazy version" of the Breakfast Challenge. It looks absolutely *wonderful* and you really can't beat the smell or taste of homemade bread right from the oven. Oh my...yum!

    I'm not an expert bread maker by any means, but I think I recall hearing that bread shouldn't rise too much longer then the suggested time. I think it has something to do with the gluten breaking, which would cause the loaf to fall or collapse rather then holding a nice form once its baked. I could be totally wrong here, though!

    You're an inspiration for me to make my own bread soon...mmm...major yumminess! :D

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  7. wow these look amazing! add mix ins during the mixing or kneeding process and if you do some sort of wash (like an egg wash) it will help stuff stick better to the top of the dough!

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  8. Your bread looks amazing! I'm not sure anything beats homemade bread!

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  9. Ahh - good for you!! I too am scared of homemade bread baking...it just seems to complicated and like to many things could go wrong...yours look fabulous though!!

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  10. nonono, don't let it rest more than it asks for. I did that and all my bread turned out really sour! Like the yeast overacted or something. Stick to the recipe! :-)
    but seriously. Your bread looks better than the ones in the bakeries! GREAT JOB!

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  11. Thanks for the shoutout and YAY for making bread! Yours looks beautiful.

    Have a great weekend!

    - Sagan

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  12. those look pillowy, dough and downright delicious! this totally counts for sarah's breakfast challenge!!!

    http://thehealthyeverythingtarian.wordpress.com

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