bun in the oven
kelly | 9 July 2006 - 4:04pm
A couple weeks ago I was invited to be part of a bread share. (The idea is that each week, one person bakes bread for everyone else in the share, such that each person only has to bake about once a month but has her table graced with bread each week.) This invitation was issued not because of any special talent (or even mediocre ability) I have for baking bread, but because of my rather incredible capacity for eating bread. We were eating out with some friends and one of them, upon noticing the way I was ravenously ravaging the bread basket, asked if I liked bread.
"Mmmm, fmmm-rmmm," I replied, my eyes lighting up and crumbs of bread escaping the corner of my mouth.
And then she invited me to join the bread share, which I agreed to despite the fact that 1) I have never in my life ever baked bread, EVER; and 2) Right, like I have time to bake bread! From SCRATCH!
Still, the community concept of it appealed to me, and I have always wanted to learn to bake bread. And so yes I said.
Last week I did my very first bread baking. I had assumed the process of baking bread would be very complicated and difficult, mostly because of the whole yeast thing. I don't really get the whole yeast thing any more than I get the whole sea-monkeys thing. (Not to mention that, as a girl, I have always believed that yeast is BAD and something to be avoided at all costs, if you know what I mean.) But the yeast part of the process actually turned out to be quite simple. There are even directions on the yeast packet - who knew?! Honestly, I've found the entire bread baking process to be pretty easy. Not as easy as pie, obviously, because if it were that easy then the expression would be easy as bread, now wouldn't it? But not too hard, nonetheless.
This is the first loaf (ever!) that I baked. I didn't give it to anyone - it was just a practice run. The shape is a little rough around the edges, but not bad for my very first loaf of bread (you know, ever!).
For my turn in the share, I made sweet potato rolls. The fun part was getting them into that shape. I divided the dough into 24 globs, Rob rolled each one into a snake, and then I tied each snake in a knot. Just like Play-Doh!
Sadly, I can't share my bread with all of you. But I will share this - it's the tutorial I used to get started, as well as the recipes I'm working through. May your homes be blessed with freshly baked bread.
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Very cool. I have a bread machine that makes yummy bread and yet I still don't use it very often. Now you should also learn to do pizza crust. My T makes the best homemade pizza crust EVER. It will ruin you for pizzaria pizza. If you want, I'll get his recipe.
On a completely different note, someone else shares your blog name. Check out http://www.kelleradv.it/blog/klog/2006/07/news_on_trend.html
You could have at least molded some dough into a baby shape, you know, for those of us you completely reeled in with your sneeky little post titles.
You are a bread goddess. I am still afraid of yeast. And the bread machine we got for our wedding is still sitting in the cabinet unused...five years later.
Yonzie, you have got to dust off that bread machine! It's so easy. You just dump the ingredients in: water first, then flour or bread mix, and poke a little hole for the yeast and pour it in. Easy, simple, done. Turn it on, and you're good. And even though I aspire to bake "real" bread with from scratch ingredients, I usually use the mixes because they are so easy and yummy.
Kalki, bread machines probably aren't practical for a bread share, because you can only do one loaf at a time, but I also HIGHLY recommend you get one for yourself if the bread share thing doesn't last!
that is a great idea and i'm totally jealous.
Your bread looks lovely! Even your first loaf looks really good; it is hard to believe it is your first ever bread loaf.
good job!
My first loaf would have turned out as a door stopper I'm sure. That looks wonderful!
If you've ever had Tastefully simple stuff, they have delicious beer bread that requires no yeast, just water! Yummy!
pretty impressive for a first attempt!
::umm, am i the first to say this?!::
title = not funny to those of us who easily jump to conclusions!!!
also, do you have to push clock, timer, clockclocktimer each time you want to back some bread??? ;)
I swear that I see Homestar Runner's face in that first loaf. It is like a miracle.
That is my kind of bun in the oven. The other kind not so much.
So, it's NOT extremely difficult to make bread? I always thought it would be SO hard that I never bothered....maybe I'll have to try it. Your buns are cute, er, I mean, they look yummy, I mean...(boy am I glad this isn't Bucky's site....)
You have inspired me to bake bread. Now lets see how long it takes me to amass all the necessary ingredients...
mmm...that looks good. i love baking, but the only kind of bread i've ever made is cinnamon buns. and i also used to hate yeast, because i would always kill it by putting it in hot water. :)
I had a bread machine when I lived in Canada. LOVED it. It made great dough. Did funny things when it baked the bread...so I used it to make dough, to leaven it and then, I baked it in the oven myself.
I love baking and have found bread to be fairly easy to make. Pie...well, some of them are NOT as easy as pie.
Feel free to send homemade bread this way....
I'd love the recipe, Stephlys! And yeah, there are several other klogs. But do any of them have an award-winning (or, you know, at least Google-recognized) cute haircut with highlights? I don't think so! :)
Hee. I chose that title just for you, yonzie. And I admit to evilly rubbing my hands together in anticipation of your double-take.
Now that I know how to make bread, Andrea, I am fascinated by the bread maker. How does it work? It's the black box of bread-baking - stumps me even more than the yeast thing. But, yes, I should get one - my MIL loves hers.
It is making me very happy, anna. You should totally start your own.
Thank you, Danielle! :)
OMG, I freaking LOVE that beer bread, jana! It is sooo yummy! And easy. And YUMMY! I always keep a box on hand.
Thanks, geeky!
Heh, I am evil, Rz. And yours is just the reaction I was going for. (Sorry. But hee.)
LOL, William! I should totally sell that bread on eBay.
Word, Kranki. You and me both.
I'm glad you like my buns, Effie! ;) And yes, you should totally try baking bread. It doesn't take talent, just time.
Now I'm craving cinnamon buns, gora_kagaz. Yum. And yeah, I was so worried I'd kill the yeast that I got out my candy thermometer. (Which, can I just say, I'm so glad to have found a use for? It was a wedding present four years ago and I'd never used the thing. I mean, who makes candy?! Oh, right - probably the same people who bake bread from scratch.)
Tanya, my MIL has gone through at least four bread machines because they kept wobbling off her counter! She'd leave it to do its thing and then find it hours later on the floor. That was random, but your "funny things" remark made me think of it. Anyway, yay for baking! (And yes! I totally think pies are hard!)
Now you should come to NJ and teach me how to braid Challah.
Ooh, kristen, the very first bread I received in the share was the most delicious Challah! YUM. (And so pretty!)