Tuesday, February 7, 2012

TWD/BWJ: White Loaves


Tuesdays with Dorie are back and this time we're Baking with Julia! I had this somewhat delusional idea that this time around I would totally be organized; baking and preparing my post ahead of time. Naturally I didn’t get around to baking this week’s recipe, White Loaves, until this past weekend. Then my plans to write my post ahead of time also got derailed due to working late last night and being too tired once I got home, so here I am on Tuesday night, finally getting my post up and happy to be here. I’m excited for the new challenge (there are some complicated looking recipes in the new book) and reading about everyone’s experiences - apparently there are over 300 bakers.



I find the most difficult part of baking basic yeast breads is planning the time for multiple rises without the bread taking over your entire day. I solved this by putting the bread in the refrigerator after shaping the loaves on Saturday evening. I was planning on letting them rise in the morning, but they actually got rather billowy in the refrigerator so I didn’t have to wait long (I let them sit out around half an hour to take the chill off) to bake them. I followed the recipe exactly as written, though I used about an ounce and a half less flour than the recipe called for. I loved the tip in the book of removing the loaves from the pan for the last ten minutes of baking - it gave the bread wonderful crust.

I didn’t find this bread difficult to make, so I am rating it a 3.5 for Effort and Josh rated it an 8.5 for Deliciousness, for an EDR of 2.42. Thank you to our hostesses, Laurie of Slush and Jules of Someone’s in the Kitchen for getting the group off to a great start; you can find the recipe here. To see how the other bakers fared, click over to the TWD site.

11 comments:

Nichicakes said...

Haha you sound just like me, I had grand plans to get this done ahead of time. Well at least I wasnt baking it on Monday night.... so thats something ;)

Yours look great!

Leslie said...

Just like old times, isn't it? I don't think we'll be able to fall behind on some of the recipes, but this one was easy to put off because of the multiple rises. Your loaves look great, and I too loved the tip about finishing them outside of their pans.

spike. said...

Ive been trying to blog on just my kindle.and I'm falling behind! Oh well. Bread looks great. Cant believe how many bakers we have!

Unknown said...

Your bread is stunning - it looks better than anything I could buy at the store. Part of the reason I decided not to bake with the new group was because I'm such a procrastinator and the deadlines were stressing me out :)

pinkstripes said...

Your loaves look great! I'm glad to be back baking with TWD!

Cher Rockwell said...

Those few minutes outside the pan make quite the difference, don't they?
Great to be joining in on this round of TWD/

Nancy/n.o.e said...

What pretty bread! If you had a rating for appearance, this one would be a perfect 10! I saw your comment on Leslie's cake post and I have a document with the old TWD recipes and links for all and the schedule of when they were originally chosen/posted. Get in touch if you want a copy.

Unknown said...

The bread looks great! So glad you're back for Round 2.

Pamela said...

It's nice to be bake to baking with the gang. ;-) And the extre week between recipes gives me more time for comments! Your bread looks lovely.

Anonymous said...

Hi Margot!

This is Joy of "Hot Oven, Warm Heart"- you probably don't remember me, as I took a long hiatus from blogging, but I fondly remember our correspondence during the days of SMS. I just jumped back into the world of food blogging, and I'd love it if you'd stop by whenever you get a chance! I hope you're doing well, and still baking up a storm- those loaves look beautiful, by the way. I was just reminded of your sweet Eloise- please tell her my puppy Bella barks hello :)

Hope to hear from you,
Joy
http://hotovenwarmheart.wordpress.com/

HanaĆ¢ said...

It's been too long :o) I hope you're doing well. Glad to see you're still baking away. These 2 loaves look wonderful. Thanks for sharing the tip on removing the bread from the pan in the last ten minutes of baking! Will try that :o)