I just got this book from Amazon and promptly lost my damn mind. One quick browse through it and I was off to the kitchen store for a baking stone, oven thermometer, and a pizza peel. (Turns out that is what they call those big wooden paddles you can use to transfer pizza in and out of the oven.)
I mixed up my first batch of dough on Monday night and Tuesday morning I baked me first loaf before I went to work.
I over-floured it a little, but L pronounced it yummy with some butter and honey. I think I will alter the recipe a little next time and reduce the salt.
Tonight after work, I really went to town. First I made a pizza, because when it is 94 degrees out, you really want to crank your oven up to 500.
I could have rolled the dough out a little thinner, but it was pretty good anyway.
Tomorrow is Thursday and I usually take a baked good to work for my staff. I used a recipe from the book as a basic framework and came up with this little guy.
Doesn't it look like a cat curled up to sleep?
It has to "rest" for a little while, and then I'll brush the top with egg white, sprinkle on some sugar, and bake until brown. Wrapped up in the loaf is a layer of Nutella. It will either be really good or really weird. Haven't found a chocolate-related item that the girls at work wouldn't eat - could this be the one?
If they don't like it, ship it to Oregon. :D
Posted by: Katie B. | June 25, 2009 at 02:22 AM
Dude, you rocked your first loaf! Mine wasn't half as good as that. If I can get my hands on some decent rye flour, I'm totally going to give the pumpernickel recipe a shot.
Let me know how the nutella bread works out, because I think my boys would go nuts over that!
Oh, and you don't want to reduce the salt too much, or you'll get a really bland, tasteless bread.
Posted by: Kate | June 25, 2009 at 08:58 PM