Boule bread - August 11, 2017
Well this was an interesting lesson! I made the loaves to share with family, and I will say there is not a slice left of them tonight. That aside - if I was a surgeon my patients would have bled out. This slashing stuff is no joke! I watched the example videos provided multiple times, and it looked simple enough, but in reality my nervous, slow, heavy hand dragged the dough all over the place. The result was NOT pretty (Warning, sad picture below)!
Forming the loaves was not too bad. I used the same ratio of ingredients in my dough as my previous bread and shaped them, enjoying the feeling of working the soft dough with my hands on the cool granite counters. They came together beautifully, puffing up in their baskets and begging to be baked. I used rice flour as direct - this miracle substance left even the puffy slightly sticky dough gliding across any surface it touched. I butchered the top with my unpracticed slashing, and popped them in the pre-heated oven (I had unglazed quarry tiles in 500F heat for an hour). The first came out, and I was happy - the temperature was perfect, it was rustic and still round, golden and lovely.
The second followed suit, and when I cut in to them today I was happy with the pretty even crumb, and the taste delivered in the nutty tones with soft springy texture in the two slices I snagged from the basket.
So all in all I think I get a C+ in this one. A for effort and taste, and a D minus for slashing and appearance. Who knew baking and butchering could be divided with such a fine line!
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