Sunday, November 9, 2008

bread: FAIL

it's a dark day my friends. today is the third day IN A ROW that i have tried to make bread. the first day, the dough i made wasn't even bakeable. is that even a word?? it is now! yesterday, the dough didn't really rise much - but i baked it anyway. my mistake yesterday was that i should have made just one loaf and not divided the dough into two pans. i really think it would have been fine.

today, i'm trying again. i also tried a different recipe. i'm determined to get this to work, but i'm getting pretty mad in the process, too.

when i was growing up, a woman in my hometown kept an eye on me and my sister in the summertime when school was out. her name was susan and she had 12 kids - and she made the most amazing bread i've ever had in my life. to this day - i wish i could make bread like that. i'm sure today won't be that day, but i'm trying anyway.

in the meantime - do YOU have a recipe for bread? and i don't have a bread machine - i need to be able to mix it in my kitchenaid. email me (triplej2676 AT yahoo DOT com) or post a link. i'm also really interested in bread recipes that use whole wheat flour.

p.s. enter my cookbook contest if you haven't already!

5 comments:

Brigitte Ballard said...

Bread...

/gasp

I've made bread before but it never turned out great, just alright.

Care said...

Hey Jess,
I would love to make bread if I had more time. Emily is always asking me to. Maybe someday. I have sent you a couple of recipes that I like. Try them if you want. I also love to try new recipes all the time. I am excited to see what you post.

Connie said...

I am doing a bread/muffin/scone recipe a week.

Check my blog and go to the label for bread challenge. The No-Knead bread turned out great but it takes TWO days total to make...but if you plan it out right it isn't so bad.

Good Luck!

Stacey Irwin said...

I have been trying my hand a homemade bread too! I have a pretty good recipe for you.. And your failures sound a lot like mine when I first started. Don't worry it's very Kitchen- aid friendly. I'll email ya. all my tips and tricks.. I haven't mastered the perfect loaf yet. but it pretty tasty.( I think so anyway.) Try it and see what you think.. watch your email!

Anonymous said...

jess, i always used to make bread, didn't have a kitchen aide so i don't know how to tell you to extrapolate this to a mixer, but when you make bread only put just enough flour in the dough to be able to pick it up out of the bowl... the dough ball will be kind of sticky, but it should hold together enough to get it out of the bowl and literally flop it onto the bread board, then you knead a little more flour into it from the board so it doesn't stick, and you have to knead the hell out of it! bread is always better if you are a little peaved while you are kneading... somewhere i have a pumpernickel bread recipe that i used to make, i will try to find it for you, and also the chicken noodle soup... AND the weather affects how much water to put in the dough, i could always tell how the dough felt, same with pie crust and noodles.