The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
This is the sweetest of surprises. Literally. Brown sugar and honey, sugar-smack this bit of heaven. Seeing is not believing, however, tasting….. now there’s the proof!
Egg-white wash, poppy seed top….I look burnt, but I ain’t. ;)
The title just about says it all, but I must admit, before the final result appeared, I had my doubts. It all began the evening before as I was setting about to make the required soaker. Somehow I’d managed to ignore the fact that I needed polenta. I would pinch-hit and end up using yellow cornmeal.
The quest for a dignified loaf took a bit of a detour at one point. It began when I was mixing the soaker. I inadvertently added twice the amount of water to the danged thing! Not to fret, I’ll just reduce my water on the final mix of ingredients. All I have to do is go nightie-night, wake up, and remember to do just that. Right? Right.
Back into my kitchen mid-morning, thumbing, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, written by Peter Reinhart (www.PeterReinhart.typepad.com), and here I am on pages 187-189. Again, I’m trying to make hay with Nicole’s (www.PinchMySalt.com) offering for the BBA Challenge ( http://pinchmysalt.com/the-bba-challenge/). I am living in the thick of all things, floured, this week. This is my third loaf bake, and yes, I’m beginning to resemble a bread loaf: round, plump and squishy in parts, but tomorrow promises lovely sunshine, and a chance to continue planting portions of the garden. Maybe I’ll burn five calories planting those turnips. For now, this is my offering. Enjoy!
Buckwheat, cornmeal and brown rice are lurking:
Nuclear yeast fest, ‘er….
“Look out, Mama! I think she’s ready to blow!”
Sunrise over Miami, ‘er, Dallas/Fort Worth:
Sideways, and proof of all things, WONDERFUL!
Have a seat; we’ll have a slice…..
A beautiful crumb was had by all…..
Again, I chose to forego the minutes of mixing suggested in Peter’s instructions, and opted, rather, to do the stretch and fold method. This proved a bit daunting until I added a few extra tablespoons (three) of flour to the initial dough mix (this morning). Also, I withheld my salt from the dough until it had rested for 25 minutes. The dough was then mixed for one minute, on low, in the Kitchen Aid, turned out onto the counter and allowed a 20 minute rest before I did my first stretch and fold. Two additional stretch and folds were done before the dough was punched down, shaped and placed in a greased ceramic loaf pan. This rested for 75 minutes before baking in a 350 degree oven. Completed bake time=40 minutes.
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CoffeeGrounded's Blog 
We absolutely loved this bread. Can’t wait to finish this challenge so I can go back to some of my favorites! Great job!
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Oh, there is always room for another bakery…we simply offer items that our friends don’t. You know, THE DOG TREATS! ;)
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Mom, can you open a bakery? I’ll decorate it for you. Oh and we can get pink boxes with pictures of Hannah on them to put the baked goods in. AND you can even bake doggie treats! We probably won’t be able to allow dogs to come in due to sanitary reasons, but we could have a little area outside that people could tie their leashes to while they run inside. And I’ll make paintings that hang in the shop and we’ll sell those too! There are some vacant shops on Main St. in Kelseyville. You can rent one of them. There’s already a bakery though so we’ll have to make ours extra special. Shouldn’t be a problem though.
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This may be one of my favorite breads and I have an avocado on the counter ready to go. You are on a roll!!!
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