12 April 2009

First Bread in 2009

Gosh! I didn't realise I haven't been posting here for such a long while. Is anyone still reading this blog? LOL... My last post was in March and it's already mid April now. Time flies, especially when you have your hands full.

Ever since embarking on my Project Mission Impossible, I really haven't devoted much time to my baking. Even if I do bake, I'll try to go for simple stuff and avoid time consuming process like bread. But ever since I read about the 17-hr low-temperature pre-ferment dough from Edith's blog, my love for bread-baking has been rekindled. Something was stirring inside me, prompting me to search for the book to try my hands on it.

I finally manage to borrow the book 天然面包香 Natural Breads Made Easy from the National Library. The first bread I pick to try was the Black Sesame Bread (I didn't follow the recipe to the dot). I did half portion to have a first trial.

The pre-ferment dough turned out fine. It looked smooth and nice after the long proofing in the fridge.

Pre-ferment dough before proofing


Pre-ferment dough after more than 17 hrs of proofing



But when I tried to do the main dough, not sure if it was my calculation/measurement error, the dough turned out really wet. Although I've handled wet dough previously, I wasn't quite sure if this dough was right as the one shown in the book did not look wet. Moreover, I was using my cheap standing mixer to knead the dough instead of my usual hand kneading. I was wondering if I had over kneaded the dough.

I took the dough out of the machine, added more flour and hand kneaded it further. In the end, I gave up and just sent the dough for first proofing. Luckily the dough seemed viable. After shaping and second proofing, I sent it into the oven.



Everything went well from then on. The bread baked beautifully. There wasn't much aroma of black sesame though.







It is soft, even after a day, but not as soft as I've expected. Was it due to the additional flour added? Or it's meant to be like this? I have no clue, but overall, it's a successful bake. The next round I may try a full recipe to get a better gauge.


As I was loading my pictures into my Photobucket album, I discovered these which I had baked earlier (before the Chiffon Cake attempt) but somehow got missed out in this blog. Must have been too engaged in the Chiffon Cake then.

Raisin Mini Cuppies, a treat well received by kids


Peanut Butter Cuppies





The peanut butter cuppies had a nice aroma, but texture wise, they were way too dry. I'll need to experiment further to get a nice recipe.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi

I managed to get hold of this book but was hesitated trying because it state that pre proofing should be at 0 to 5 degree. So does that means in the freezer rather than fridge? Thank u.

Sukub

KWF said...

Hi Sukub, the pre-proofing is to be done in the fridge, not freezer. My fridge is around 4-5 degC. Do try it. The bread stays soft after 2 days.

Linda said...

Good job, WF! Continue your passion when kids are in school! It's important to have your own hobbies and "ME" time! :D

Jackie said...

the bread looks very nice and yummy.

Edith said...

KWF, mine wasn't wet at all. Perhaps try again.

I did a test and even soft on 3rd day.

KWF said...

Linda, nowadays getting more difficult coz got to prepare materials for the 2 younger ones too. But I'm not prepared to give up on baking yet. ;)

Jacky, the bread tastes ok, though not quite up to my expectation yet, must have gone wrong somewhere.

Edith, I suspected my dough was not right too. Still wondering what cld have gone wrong.