Rustic Bread

It has not been a good day for baking...

First an update on "Batch #3". Things began to go wrong last night when I baked the second loaf and it came out flat. I am not entirely sure why, but I suspect that it didn't like spending a second night in the fridge. The yeast just didn't have enough oomph to give the loaf some "spring".

I figured I would make up for the failed loaf with a new batch of bread for today, so I started on the next recipe in the book...Rustic Bread. This recipe is what they call a wet dough or no knead. In other words it is a wet sticky mess that you couldn't knead if you wanted to. Prepping the dough was messy, but it did seem to go well enough even though I did all the mixing it by hand.

This morning the trouble started right away. When I got the dough out of the fridge it had not come anywhere close to doubling in size. So I let it sit out for an hour or so with no noticeable change in volume. I figured I should go ahead and get on with the shaping...

Shaping "wet dough"...is well, let's just say...I am try to figure out how to put this. OK, let me say it like this...I hate this bread. Seriously. I don't think this bread and I have any chance of being friends. Don't get me wrong, I know it's me not the bread, I am just not a wet dough kind of guy.

Anyway I eventually managed to make some loaf like shapes, and to get them in the oven. However, I was so frustrated after the shaping ordeal I forgot to put the baking stone in place so I had to bake the loafs on the cookie sheet and I think they came out a little under cooked. All of this trouble might have been worth it had this bread been something special, but it is really just average.

So where do I go from here...well the first step was to make a trip to the store today and pickup a bag of proper bread flour. I figure some of my issues are most certainly a result of not having the right kind of flour. And since I seem to have a pretty good relationship going with french bread I figure I will spend a little more time seeing where we can go together. Once I get to a point where I am not forgetting things like putting the baking stone in place maybe I can take another spin with the rustic...