I've been trying to figure out bread making for the last several months. Truthfully I've had pretty mixed results, and staying committed to whole wheat flour has really thickened the plot. However, seven months since I began dabbling, I think I'm starting to get the gist.
After our trip, I decided to commit homemade bread (the forethought takes a little work, but it's good for me, and less plastic/money!). I have recently settled on using this recipe most of the time. It's pretty damn good. Especially covered in butter.
The recipe is clear that the ingredients should not be over kneaded, and this has been one of the more useful bread making tips I've come across in the last several months. Initially I'd assumed that bread dough must be kneaded for several minutes, but apparently this habit results in a rubbery brick. Enlightening.
Lately I've been splitting the dough into one loaf and a batch of buns...
I appreciate that bread making is incredibly fruitful for the time involved. The dough only takes about 10 make, and sure it has to have a couple rises and eventually bake, but the actual labor time involved can't be more than about 20 minutes.
The bread starts to get crumbly after about 5 days (no preservatives and all). We usually just keep eating it, but I also sometimes cube it and fry the pieces in olive oil and toss with salt to make croutons. Bread recycling!
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