Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Our Daily Bread

I love baking bread. To start, I put some yeast and a bit of flour and sugar in a bowl, add warm water. I let that sit and "proof" while I get the next part ready. When baking bread, my mind wanders back to the times I'd watch Mom bake bread. I remember her mixing the ingredients in her large t-ware container, straight-sided, you know the one. I remember the taste of the liquids she combined: milk, butter, salt, sugar. Getting the right balance, all melted together. If you get it too hot, no worries, just let it cool down a bit.
When the mixture is lukewarm, and the yeast is bubbly, combine, adding flour to make a wet, dough, batter consistency. I mix this well, and let it sit and get bubbly. I also added some sourdough started, it needed tending so added a dollop to the mix.
After it was nice and bubbly, I stirred in more flour, to make a soft dough. A word about flour: it makes a difference. I love Wheat Montana Flour, love it. For this bread, I used their Natural White. Their Prairie Gold is terrific, too. King Arthur is also good. I then turned it out onto the counter and kneaded it for awhile. (soft as a baby's butt)

After letting it rise until it was doubled in bulk, I punched it down and formed it into rolls. They sat on the counter for about 15 minutes, then baked at 350 for about 20 minutes.

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