Monday 26 November 2007

Rising to the Challenge . . .



Here we are again with another month and another Daring Baker Challenge! My, how they do come around quickly!

When I first read about what this month’s challenge would be this recipe , Tender Potato Bread, as decided by Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups , I though to myself . . . “Oh NO!! I am SO NOT A BREAD BAKER!” As I have confessed to you before on several other occasions, I am a horrible bread baker, and in reality, anyone who has tried my bread can attest to the fact that indeed . . . "Marie is a BAD BREAD BAKER".

The smaller part of me when I first read the challenge really wanted to opt out of this one. I mean . . . did I really want to parade my sad, pathetic, bread baking skills on the net for everyone in the world to take a gander at??? But then, my sense of fair play and being a good sport kicked in and I realized that I had wanted to be a Daring Baker for so long, and now that I finally was, I just couldn’t just opt out whenever the going got tough. After all, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, right??? After all, isn't the the whole purpose of being a Daring Baker getting stuck in and rising to the various baking challenges presented and jumping in where “Eagles” dared to tread or at least where "Daring Bakers" dare to tread anyways???





The recipe seemed easy enough to follow, and, right from the start my mind was filled with fanciful images of lovely braided fat loaves and puffy foccacia breads, their dimpled tops crusted with coarse salt and studded with herbs. I was so excited that I was going to get to use my new potato ricer as well!!



Potatoes were loving peeled, cooked and then riced into my finest baking bowl, reserved for only the finest ingredients. (Did I mention that I went out and bought only the best Maris Piper potatoes to make this bread with? Each one hand picked especially by me!!) I even remembered to save the potato cooking water, instead of tipping it out . . . as I have been known to do in the past. (A testimony to the fact that, through the years, I have indeed learned to read a recipe, not once, but several times through now before actually executing it!)



Once I had let the mixture cool, I carefully added the flour as the recipe said to do, in the exact amounts the recipe said to add . . . hmmm . . . and then I added and I added AND I added. How much flour would this bread recipe take??? I dumped it out onto the counter and began to knead in flour in copious amounts. This damn dough seemed to be getting sticker and stickier! Finally after adding what seemed like tons of flour, but was in reality only several hundred cups, I finally gave up and put it back into the now washed clean, dried and greased bowl to rise. I covered it lovingly with a clean tea towel as I had seen my grandmother and mother doing for years and, with my fingers crossed, I stuck it on a rack over the AGA (which had been turned down to really low that morning for cleaning)in hopes that it would do what it was supposed to do and what I hoped it would do.



Approximately two hours later, I peeked under the towel and to my great surprise was greeted with the sight of a beautifully risen bowl of what looked to be a wonderful dough. I even did the two fingers test to make sure it had quite risen enough and it had!

Then came the test. I plopped it out of the bowl onto the counter. My goodness, this was one sticky dough. I had forgotten to dust the counter with flour first . . . but quickly rectified that by scraping it off, adding some flour and dumping it out again. It was quite impossible to roll out or shape into anything . . . the dough was so sticky. Gone went my dreams of braided, dimpled or studded anything. I was getting quite tired of this dough by now, so I shaped it as best as I could and popped the larger bit into a large loaf pan and laughingly shaped the rest into what I envisioned as big puffy rolls.

I covered it again with the tea towel and left it to rise some more. At the appointed time I took a peek and thought, wow, this is going to be a huge loaf of bread. The rolls looked more manageable. Nevertheless, I slashed the tops with a sharp knife and dusted them with flour before I popped it all into the oven, telling myself that all would be okay.




WRONG! About 15 minutes later I peeked into the oven and this is the sight that greeted me. My lovely loaf of bread had not only risen up to the top of the pan but well over the pan and was now laying all the way over and down on one side! It looked like some kind of alien form had landed and I began to thank the God’s for the bright idea I had had to put a flat baking tray under the loaf pan when I had put it into the oven to cook. At least I would not have burnt and baked on dough all over my oven racks and floor. (Thank God for small mercies, or rather large ones in this case!)



At the end of this baking challenge I ended up with some rather flat, but nicely crusty and chewy rolls, and a gargantuan crusty loaf of rather eerily spooky alien resembling bread, which by the way tasted lovely.



Would I call this challenge a rousing success?? Not exactly . . . But I did learn a few things . . .

One . . . when it says to put the rolled out dough into a loaf pan, and that it should only come up three quarters of the way, they mean it. There is no use sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich and pretending that the overhang will magically disappear and the resulting loaf will be pretty and umm . . . loaf like.

And two . . . Marie is still NOT a good bread baker . . .

41 comments:

  1. I LOVE YOUR LOAF!!! Who even cares that it rose over the top...it's pretty and unique! Let's put it this way: potato bread has never been a conversation starter at my dinner table, but that one is sure to get some second glances! Congrats on a SUCCESSFUL challenge :)

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  2. Exactly right on that "damn" bread seeming to get stickier and stickier. Goodness. But the proof of its loveliness is in that bowl, under that towel. It makes you like it all over again. What a loaf with a personality! Mine tried to escape the pan, but only made it out a bit on one side. Nice job!

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  3. I think your loaf is darling, in fact....it looks like it's wearing a beret which makes it even more exotic! And equally importantly, your rolls look divine. Nice work!

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  4. I love the overflowing loaf and your rolls look like they rose nicely. And don't worry about the looks of the bread, it is the taste that matters. Hope you keep trying your bread baking skills!

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  5. Hey Marie! At the end of the day, what matters most is taste, no? And I love that you challenged yourself with the potato bread :)

    You should've seen my first bread. The water I used was so hot that it killed my yeast. And I was so clueless that I baked it anyway and it turned out to be a hell of a brick!

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  6. I kind of like the asymetry of it actually!

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  7. I think the alien loaf is great, that is what makes your kitchen a real kitchen and just think you got extra crust out of the deal.

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  8. It's what it tastes like that matters!! And at least it didn't topple over and burn. I would say that you are a great bread baker!

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  9. Loving the lopsided loaf! Hey as long as it tasted great, it's a win.

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  10. That loaf of bread is great. Your rolls look beautiful!

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  11. I think you did a fantastic job! Your loaf has more personality than any I have seen today. And that says something. I have seen LOTS! LOL

    And your rolls look perfect as well. You ARE a good baker! xo

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  12. I like the alien bread...has much character!

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  13. Well, you did it! Those rolls are great and I too like the comb-over loaf. As long as it tastes good, who would know what shape it was anyway? :) Congrats!

    -jen at use real butter

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  14. Love the alien bread. If you hadn't mentioned anything and only shown the last pic we'd never have known it did what it did. I'm not a bread maker either but I love this bread and now feel confident to try making more. That really isn't me speaking, it's some uber confident bread maker that seems to have camped inside my head today.

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  15. It's very artisan looking! Well done.

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  16. Your bread deserves the award for "character". I love it! Congrats on completing the challenge and braving the bread demons!!

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  17. You tried something outside of your comfort zone. You learned from it. And you shared the lessons you learned. That *is* the essence of a daring baker.

    As for your 'partially imperfect' loaf... Tartelette is right about 'character'. And where character leads, taste follows closely behind.

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  18. Are you kidding, your bread looks awesome! And if you can make a good loaf with this not-easy recipe, then the simpler recipes should be cake for you. Or bread for you, rather.

    I put a sheet under my loaf pan, too, out of fear it would overflow.

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  19. That loaf is a monster success! Ilove it!

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  20. I actually love how the crust of your loaf came out and not to mention the rolls are simply perfect...you did great!

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  21. That alien bread looks awesome - perfect for dipping into some herbed oil!

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  22. I don't know, Marie...That bread still looks tasty no matter what! As alway, I think you did super! ((BIG HUGS))

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  23. I don't think you give yourself enough credit Marie. Your loaf may be the "ugly duckling" of the bread world but it tasted delicious didn't it??????I think you rose to the challenge of bread baking very well!!!

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  24. attack of the blob ! I would definitely consider your potato bread experience a huge success. I had just the opposite problem with my yeast - it barely rose at all. Wish we could have traded 1/2 for 1/2 to balance it out !

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  25. Oh this loaf is so nice, it doesn't look like other prissy proper breads I've seen;) I think you have yourself quite a specialty here.

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  26. Hehehe! Your story was such a delight to read... and I LOVE your loaf!!

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  27. Hey I say you did an excellent job! Plus, no one will have such an intersting shaped potato bread ;-)

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  28. OH! I hope you at least got a good laugh out of that. You know...if it tastes good, looks really dont matter, though I have a hard time convincing myself of that!

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  29. Looks tasty despite all the problems with overflowing dough. Mine rose extre,mely high too! In the first rise it was mushrooming over the sides of the enormous bowl i have and in the secong mushrooming over the sides of the loaf pan. Luckily, i kinda mushed it back in place before it went in the oven, so although it did mushroom, it din't fall down. The important thing is that it tasted good! Well done!

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  30. The loaf is a bit spooky indeed, but if it tasted good, then all is fine after all. The buns look beautiful, by the way!!

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  31. But it all tasted good, didn't it. your loaf looks like those arty farty loaves we all love to buy out in the country, and pay big bucks for. Congratulations on a challenge well done.

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  32. I have to agree that this was the stickiest dough I've ever worked with! Good job! I loved reading your story.

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  33. Oh I don't know. I think you are a bread baker! Who else could get that kind of volume? Just a little less dough in the pan next time. You rolls look wonderful! And the bread isn't so bad itself!

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  34. I still say Great job - you persevered and made bread! yay!
    My dough was SO sticky too- I had a small tantrum or two about it :-0
    I love the overflowing loaf and I loved your post!
    xoxo
    Gabi

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  35. Hello Marie!

    I'm stopping by after you visited my blog and left such a lovely comment for me last week. :) Thank you so very much and it's so nice to *meet* you in blog land.

    I used to bake my own bread ... grind my own wheat, too. And I never really got very "good" at it. I had many "aliens" greet me in my oven, LOL! Even though it looks funky, I'll bet it tasted divine. :)

    Looking forward to reading more of your baking adventures ...

    Have a wonderful day!

    xo,
    Dana

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  36. Marie you are a very Daring Baker. Your rolls look just like regular lovely rolls; it's your alien loaf that I'm in love with!
    Thanks so much for baking with us this month.
    I'm holding my breath for December!

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  37. Lol, your loaf looks like an edible brain! But I like it, it looks great and you did a nice job of shaping the rolls.

    Christina ~ She Runs, She Eats

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  38. Love your post! The rolls are beautiful and the loaf is unique, but still lovely bread. So maybe you are only a medium good baker of bread, but surely not a bad bread baker now.

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  39. That loaf overflowing is just too funny! But it still looks good to me! Great job on the challenge!

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  40. Marie, this post is hysterical! Maybe it's only funny to me b/c I absolutely cannot make a loaf of bread to save my life. Many half done lumps of cement later, I finally admitted it. I am impressed with you having a go at it. And the loaves do look tasty and "artsy." But I got a great laugh when the first alien loaf pic came up. :) Allison

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