So, what have I been going on about all month???
Well, at the beginning of the month, I received my first challenge as a Daring Baker. I'm a geek, I know. But it was SO much fun. The premise is, each month the group is given a recipe and we all have to complete the recipe before the deadline and post about our experiences. It's a bit of a social experiment. Take bakers of varying prowess, give them the same recipe...allow only minor and very specific recipe modification and see what happens!
So, November is my first month as a Daring Baker. And to be honest, when I saw what the challenge was, I just about died. Tanna, of My Kitchen in Half Cups, our hostess for this round had selected...Bread. (You can find the recipe on her blog)
I've always considered bread one of those magical foods. I know people make it at home, but I just always thought of it as something I would never learn. Bread scares me. No, no! Not THAT kind of scared! I'm the bread queen, I love to EAT bread...I was just afraid of making it.
Well, I certainly wasn't going to pass this up. This whole thing is about learning right?
So, I dove in head first. Then this emerged from my bowl:
Seriously - what is that? It was sticky. No, it was different from sticky...it was...alive. I swear. It clung to EVERYTHING. Now, we WERE warned that this was sticky dough...but apparently, my "vision" of sticky dough was off. LMAO. It was, however, very fun to play with. But then again, I've always been a "get my hands dirty" kind of girl. So, 4 cups of flour later, it was slightly more reasonable. LMAO
After the first rise, I got to form the bread. This is where we were given the most creative freedom, forming the loaf any way we wanted. Well, I have a think about bread braids. I wanted a braid. I took half my dough and made a braid. Heh. Guess what? Too big for the baking sheet....WHOOPS!
So, I opted for a smaller one:
Prebake:
Done!
I also made a loaf and another braid this time around:
Can I tell you how proud of myself I was. Seriously, it was tasty! I actually made bread!
Now, being me, you know I couldn't leave well enough alone. I decided I needed to make more bread, this time, more...adventurous bread. O.M.G. I thought the first batch was good, well, let me tell you, bread is better with CHEESE. Indeed.
Cheesy rolled loaf:
Cheesy Braid (Cheese on top and kneaded into the dough):
And, what Logan said was the best of them all, cheesy ham rolls:
So, another firm, GO ME! I conquered my fear of bread! So much so that I think my next adventure in bread will be honey whole wheat. YUM! But, that will probably wait until after the holidays! And, I've finally earned my logo - YAY!!!!
