Loaf #1: French White

obviously I was too excited to eat this to take a photo of the whole loaf!

Ingredients:
1/2c whole wheat flour
3c white flour
1 package yeast (not rapid rise)
1t salt

Recipe taken from How to Cook Everything my go-to recipe book for everything except vegetarian man dishes.

Started this as a double batch with the next loaf. Mixed in food processor, then rose for 2.5 hours near the heater in the dining room (house is generally cold). Didn't look like there was a lot of rising action going on. Cut batch in half, put one half into the fridge.

Kneeded the second half, probably had too much flour on the counter- could have just floured my hands and worked the ball into a boule. Put boule into my green plastic Ikea colander wrapped with a dish towel (classy, I know) and let it rise for 1 hour near the heater.

Transfered to a hot pizza stone, scored it twice with a dull knife (obviously not well enough!) and baked for 30 minutes at 450F. Misted the oven 3 times, at 10 minute intervals.



Observations: Good flavor- glad I added the whole wheat. The bread had a nice chewy consistency- a little cake-like. I probably could have added more water. But there were glimpses of those big bubbles that make french bread famous, so I'm on the right track. The crust looked like it was getting dark so I pulled it out- a little early, I think. The crust was not very thick, but nicely chewy, beautiful golden color. Maybe a lower temp and longer time? Also, need to do a better job scoring the top- this one looked like a fat man split his zipper- all over the place!



Not bad for a first try!

Consumed with: spaghetti and red sauce, cambozola cheese (a cross between bree and blue), fig preserves