French Bread Memories- Loaf 3

So growing up, my mom had a bread machine. I have fond memories of her making mixes and bagging them into the fridge so we could have quick and simple homemade bread. I remember her experimenting with cornflake bread, and she always cut her butter and put it in the four corners. She says with her machine, it would spread better throughout the bread. My favorite bread she would make was a simple French bread. Somewhat dense, but also springy slathered in a thin layer of butter, warm from the machine... yum...

I called my mom last week for her recipe. She still has her recipes, and was more than happy to share for the cause. Meanwhile in the background my father's warning: You don't want that recipe, it's too good, we ate too much of it and it was bad for us. I agree, eating several loafs of it a week like we did when I was a kid is not good for your health. Which is why I decided to share this recipe with 10 other women, not a bad idea eh?

Below is the recipe I scratched while on the phone to my mother... looks good, no?

 Just in case you didn't get all that.. ha!

1 cup plus 3 tables spoons water
1 tablespoon of butter
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dry active yeast (1 1/2 teaspoons if bread machine yeast)

So as per all machines, first add your wet ingredients. You might notice in the scribbles about the water it says hot. I was told it needed to be warm, so I thought why don't I pop it in the microwave? I just wrote down hot for my sake....

 

 

Then I checked the temperature and realized I may have gotten overzealous. What else do you do with a meat thermometer in a mostly vegetarian household? At least my ground beef would be done, ha!

 

So after a quick realization, I just let the tap warm up. Silly me. In to the pot went the wet ingredients, and then the dry. If you're keeping up, you might notice the yeast is a little different, I opted for the fleismann's to see how it'd compare and if I could avoid the big bread loaf dents. make yourself a yeast volcano in the dry ingrdients. I prefer the light crust, and I used the regular basic setting on the machine.

The loaf turned out beautifully, without the big dents in the top. May I present, SUPER LOAF! Kinda looks like a cape..

The ladies loved the bread, I made three loaves of it and it made awful good turkey sandwich. Keeping it in plastic will help keep it fresh longer, but the cut edge of the bread will start to go stale within a day or two. I  give this loaf 4 loaves out of 5 for it's versatility, springiness, and overall yummy taste. It would be a 5 if it didn't go stale so easily. Overall a beautiful basic loaf.

In the beginning...

Bread making dates back to the Mesopotamia where people first ground wheat into a fine paste, mixed it with water, and cooked it, producing an unleavened bread. this primitive bread making might even date back all the way into the stone age.

From a quick scan of the internet yeast was first cultivated by the Egyptians. Such an inventive time in history. Some scientists think that over 30 types of bread were popular in Ancient Egypt.

Today we have many options for bread at our local supermarket. Name brands packed with preservatives, some lower in calories, stamped with sell by dates that make it last astoundingly long compared with what the Ancient Egyptians dealt with. Bakery and specialty breads selections made fresh that day. Dough frozen, ready to pop in the oven. Dough unfrozen, sealed in strange pressured containers that you pop open like a holiday cracker.

I've decided to try my own hand at it. I have a beautiful farmers market miles from my house. My husbands been gardening and canning. It's time to take the jump into bread making. So we got on craigslist and purchased this  Oster Breadmaker. "I've only used it once, it was a wedding gift." the lady at the door proclaimed. The stickers still on the machine, I believe her. $15 dollars later and The Boy and I are on are way.

So I'm going to turn someone else's trash into my good fortune. Let's see what this puppy can do in 2010!