More than halfway through the month of blogging every day! This is exciting: a successful project.
So, yesterday and today I baked bread. Challah bread. I used a recipe that makes two loaves, so yesterday I made two plain braided breads. I used a 4-strand braid for the challah and I put honey in my eggwash, which are two slightly unusual things. They came out so good!! I gave one to a friend, but my family devoured the other one.
I made two more loaves today. One was plain, but I put sesame seeds on top because I found them in the cupboard while I was digging around for cinnamon. I needed the cinnamon because the second loaf was cinnamon sugar raisin. To make flavored challah I stuff the strands of the braid by rolling them out, the pounding them flat with the palm of my hand, putting the filling in the middle of the flattened bit of dough, and then rolling the dough around the filling again. Then I braid them together, put the eggwash on top, and then top with cinnamon sugar and raisins. The loaves are really pretty, but I haven't eaten them yet.
I really like baking bread. It's not a thing that many people think to do, but it's a cool and easy process. My recipe and process is as follows:
Stir a packet of yeast into 1 cup of lukewarm water. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of salt, then mix again. Mix in 2 eggs. Mix in 2 tablespoons of oil. Add 3 cups of flour, stirring after each cup. Then knead the dough, adding flour as necessary, until it is smooth and elastic but not sticky. Put the dough in an oiled bowl, wet a dishcloth with warm/hot water, put the wet towel over the bowl, and let it rise for 2 hours.
The mixing portion takes about 15 minutes and I usually leave the house and do something else while the dough rises. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and watched Buffy, and today I had coffee with my friend from TKD who is leaving for school this weekend, so it was my last chance to see her.
After the dough has risen, pound out the air. Then divide it in half for the two loaves. I take one half of the dough at a time, quarter it, and then roll the quarters into long, thin, logs. This is when I would go through the procedure for fillings if I were making a flavored challah. Then I place the four strands in a row and braid the leftmost strand over-under-over the other three. I continue the pattern until the braid is complete, tucking the ends underneath the loaf. Once the loaves are braided, I brush them with an eggwash made from 1 egg and a squirt of honey. As the oven preheats to 350, the loaves do a final rise for 15 minutes. Then it bakes for 30 minutes, and it's done. It should be golden brown and gorgeous.
The last part takes about an hour start to finish: 10 for the pounding, 10 for the braiding (more if I'm using a filling), 15 for the rising, 30 for the baking. Since I time this part around my lunch, I'll get home from my outing, braid the loaves, make lunch while the oven preheats, and eat while it bakes.
Bread is time-consuming, but if you time the process around other things, it's really easy. It's kept me doing an interesting task for two days, so there has to be something to be said for that.
Today is awesome because I got to hang out with my friend. I'm going to miss her a lot and I'm happy we got to spend some time together today.
Meters Swum Today: 2,000
Meters Swum This Week: 8,500
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