Bread will be judged based on visual appeal, perceived goodness, and potential for causing an insatiable appetite for a slice or two. Only sourdough will be considered for the gold, but any bread or bread-like substance may be submitted.
Now you may think that nobody in the Barnhart family has indeed baked bread these last few months. Maybe it even seems that the Barnharts don't care for bread any longer. But I can assure that Rachel has been busy kneading, baking, slicing, and buttering. We went through a strictly sourdough phase in early 2012 with a couple loaves per week. Then, inexplicably, we switched to lofty sandwich loaves of the highest quality. Rachel excelled at both. Meanwhile, I secretly absorbed as much bread lore and bread crumbs as possible. These loaves are my first in a long time. Rachel has moved on from daily loaves to a batch of four that lasts as little as two days, and up to a week. The kids like it plain fine and with butter better.
One more thing I can assure you. I just finished off the two slices pictured above and it was superb. I'm wondering if I should put the bread away or just leave it out a little longer. After all, I might have to take another slice to keep it from going stale.
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There is an explanation for the switch from sourdough to the plain white bread. We needed a good sandwich bread to go with the fabulous smoked pork Steve cooked up for Elisabeth's birthday celebration, and the sourdough just wasn't quite right. After making the newer stuff, I was reminded of my love for that particular bread. That bread was the bread of choice for many weeks, and we enjoyed it greatly, until one morning I inflicted pain and suffering on my KitchenAid stand mixer (a critical component of beating in the butter in the fabulous dough), and since then we've switched to the 4-loaf batch, since when I'm kneading by hand, it's not really any more work to do 4 loaves than 2, and it lasts a little bit longer in this house of bread-loving Barnharts.
ReplyDeleteSteve enjoys the sourdough, and I still make it occasionally (to keep the starter going). But I think he enjoys making it just as much as eating it - so I'm glad he's getting a chance to perfect his technique while I'm away caring for kids and a grandpa.
I've been hungry all night for something, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted. Now I know, I want home made bread! I need to find my trusted beer bread recipe ASAP. Folks, this is not a drill. We are experiencing a full blown bread craving emergency.
ReplyDeleteCome on, let's get in the game.
ReplyDelete...play a little bread ball, some doughnut discus, panini ping-pong.
Time's a wastin' and it sounds like Lisa needs a crust and crumb intervention.
it's too hot to bake!
ReplyDelete