Hello...again

Hello everyone!

It's great to be back in the world of bread. We're just back from an eight month trip taking our boat down the US coast to the Bahamas. Sorry to say I only had a chance to bake bread once as the weather was the worst in 15 years and most of our time was spent either sitting out a storm or finding a place to anchor before the next front came through.

We're back home for the summer and it's a delight to be able to get back to baking bread. Can't wait to catch up on what's been happening on TFL and to check out how the handbook is coming along.

From my brief perusal today I came across quite a long thread on Artisan Bread in Five Minutes. As I only started making bread about a year and a half ago, i was going the tried and true route of kneading dough. Then, I got into crashing dough and loved the results. Today I tried the boule recipe from ABin5 and was not surprized. It was too dense for me yet chewy so that's a point in its favour. I didn't get enough oven spring and it was way too yeasty. I'd increase the water and decrease the yeast. However, as a staple bread or if you knew you were going to be too busy for a bit to bake, I'd make up a batch of this dough. And, it would be perfect for on the boat. I could do a double batch then keep it in the fridge and have fresh bread as often as I wanted without guilt over using up too much propane!

Anyway, just wanted to check back in, say hi and find out what's baking.

Cheers,

Janet