Super Bread Sunday

I've always wanted to bake bread.
There is just something about baking your own bread that seems so totally and completely domestic, so "Pioneer Homesteader" that I never really thought that it was something that I would be very good at. Too hard! Takes too long!

Here's a little side-note about me: I want to be REALLY good at everything I do. If I'm not very good at something, I'm much less likely to try and do it again. I know, I know, practice makes perfect but with so many things to try doing, why keep doing something you already know your not good at when you could try something new that you might excel at. (I know I'm not very good at playing the guitar or piano but I still enjoy it so I just do it where no one else can hear me.) I tried baking bread once in college. I think it was from a mix and it came out tasting so strongly of yeast and very little else that even my ramen-munching dorm mates passed.

I've tried a few different bread recipes over the years; a Greek olive bread, a few foccacias and although they all came out alright they were JUST "alright". Nothing especially memorable. Nothing rivaling the fantastic artisan breads that can be purchased just about anywhere these days. Nothing good enough to bother making again. It was fun but....

Lately, Mom has gotten on the "bread wagon". She makes her own sourdough starter. She posts on bread blogs. She buys all kinds of flours in 20-50 pound bags. It's an uber-hobby. She likes to share her excitement about such things.

About a year ago, she gave Dan a book called "The Bread Baker's Apprentice". It has a ton of recipes and beautiful pictures. Looking through it the other day made me really want to try my hand at baking bread again. I picked a recipe for "multi-grain extraordinaire" and jumped in.

I was surprised by how excited I was about the whole process. I started soaking the whole grains on Saturday (to activate the enzymes!!) and today was mixing, kneading, fermenting, proofing, baking and tasting day. It had to ferment for 90 minutes, get shaped and panned and then proof in the pan for another 90 minutes. Every time I peeked at the dough and saw how much it had risen since the last time I peeked at it I would get ridiculously excited. The picture above shows the fully proofed dough in the pan about to go into the oven. (Look at how big it is!!!) As it was baking, the whole house smelled fantastic. I was watching the Super Bowl, smelling the bread breaking and folding laundry. How freakin' domestic am I?!

There really was something very deeply gratifying about the process of baking this bread. It took a long time. It messed up the kitchen. I had to run out and fetch ingredients that were missing from our pantry. But I'll tell you, when I took that beautiful golden loaf out of the oven and later when I cut myself a slice and saw the perfect interior and then tasted the wholesome yummy-ness and fantastic texture that I had created it was profoundly satisfying.

I think I'll do it again next weekend. Practice makes perfect!