My First Loaf!
OK you guys, I'm kinda excited - everyone knows the baker around here is Floyd, and with him doing all the breads, I haven't had to venture into the kitchen to deal with my mageirocophobia. I don't know what it is about baking but I have always tended to shy away from anything baked beyond the occasional cookie and cake.
For all that I'm on here every day for the last 6+ years, I still had never actually baked any sort of yeasted bread myself - I've only made simple quickbreads - one anyway: banana bread.
Well, Floyd and I have been working on a project for the last couple of weeks [1], which I'll let him talk about probably in the next week, but it required me to get over my fear of baking and get in there and bake my first loaf, all by myself.
And here is what I made :)
Well, it's nothing as pretty as Floyd's breads, and I know my shaping and scoring are ehehehe...leaving a lot to be desired,
but HEY! It's my first loaf! I am actually pretty psyched about it.
My dough was just a bit more sticky than I expected it to be - I had to be reassured that this was, in fact, OK...
Here's me kinda freaking out about the mess hahaha. And yes, I took the photo using the handle of my wooden spoon to click the shutter button on my camera which was sitting on the counter. :D
Also, what is it some kind of Murphy's Law or something, that the stupid phone will be silent all day right up until you've got your hands plunged into a big pile of sticky dough?
I think the lady on the other end thought my not-so-happy reaction about her call was because she was reminding me about a dentist appointment (which she'd forgotten that she'd already reminded me about anyway!), when in fact, it was just that I was not sure now how to actually hang up the phone and put the receiver down without getting myself stuck to the buttons.
How many of you pace when you put your loaves into the oven? I certainly did... like a new father-to-be at the hospital waiting for news from the doctor :)
But the news came out great, all things considered! Here's what you expert guys like to call "the crumb shot":
Obviously I have lots to learn, but not too shabby for a first time in the kitchen, eh?
And the kids were giving it thumbs up, and since they were raised on Floyd's breads, I consider that a pretty awesome compliment.
They polished off the entire loaf before Floyd even got home to taste it - good thing I'd made a second loaf!