I did it. I baked a near perfect loaf of whole wheat spelt bread. When the timer went off signaling it done, I LEAPED from the sofa and nearly turned an ankle skidding into the kitchen. I pulled my grandmother's dutch oven out of the oven with my two favorite hot mats and set it on the counter. I lifted the lid and there it sat. Beautiful. Perfectly round with a golden brown crust. I had, as usual, modified the recipe to suit myself and my one concern was that it was going to stick to the pan because I had failed to line it with parchment paper. It popped right out. It tasted as good as it looked. Oh my goodness.
Things are a changin' at the Patton house.
We need the outfits. Size 4 and 7.
Thankfully, I've had the pottery for years. Get yours here.
And it DOES feel more wholesome and definately tastes better.
Why did it take me 20 something years to bake this loaf of bread?
Plain and Simple, because of that damn book. One hundred and fifty seven pages of detailed mumbo jumbo on baking a damn loaf of bread. It says things like this....
"Preheating the bowl allows the baby bread dough to feel at home and warmly held."
I have little tolerance for that type of language.
The book is up for grabs to the first person who says that they want it in the comment section. FREE. Please!
My bread was so simple. No flowery language, no ambient temperature taking, no 'warm holding'. My friend Tracy gave it to me and she got it from our friend Carla who used to own the Absolut Bakery. It takes about 1o minutes plus rising and is said to be 'no fail'.
In a bowl mix 2T yeast with 2T honey and 1t salt. Add 2 cups water, stir and let yeast activate...about 10 min. Add 5 cups flour of choice and mix together. Knead on floured surface then put back in bowl and let rise for several hours. punch down pretty good and let rise again for an hour or so and bake in a dutch oven that has been preheated. 450 for 30 minutes. And voila! That's it!
Thank you Carla! Thank you Tracy!
3 comments:
Dear Ivey-
I would love to have your bread cook book. I, too,
appreciate the hippie looking cover.
My son, Carson, & I enjoy your blog. He thinks you are funny & cool. He has an excellent grasp of the obvious.
Hope you & your family are happy & well-
Rhonda Johnson
Ivey,
What a great great pleasure it is to read "you"!
Thank you for sharing a bit of life with the Patton's. Makes me miss you, Matt and the kids terribly.
Blake
Haaa...I am jealous..I am writing down your "simple" recipe...don't have a dutch oven but i will find one...My grandmother(my dad's mom) ALWAYS had bread either, rising, mixing, baking...it was just a part of who she was and I NEVER got her to teach me how...now I am sorry, but I would love to come in one evening and my home smell just like hers did...we might just have a nice visit at the bar like we did when I was a kid...
Post a Comment