The Experiment
There's a slight problem with my idea to bake bread today. I can't seem to remember any of my bread recipes which I never wrote down and even if I had written them down, I'd never find them. I do remember the basic ingredients for a variety of breads and when to use egg or milk depending on what kind of bread I want, just not sure about the amounts. I think I will just start with the old basic recipe of ones to three. That is, one cup water, one tbsp. yeast, one tbsp. honey, one pinch of salt, one tbsp. oil (if planning on keeping the bread around more than one day) and three cups of flour more or less. I don't have any bread flour so all purpose will have to do and if memory serves me right, that makes one loaf of bread. The raw dough should fit in the serving bowl I'm having to use as a mixing bowl (my giant mixing bowl is still packed away somewhere.) I can't find any measuring spoons, but I should be able to eyeball the tablespoon. I have no baking sheets or bread pans so I'm going to have to cook my loaf on the stove top griddle (which should provide a very nice bottom crust) and that means I'll be making either a french or italian loaf (depending on how much flour I decide to knead into the bread) though without bread flour the results might be disappointing. I have no clue what temperature to cook at so I'll try 375 degrees and cook until it smells right and a knife stuck in the bottom comes out clean. Now I suppose I could get on the internet and find a recipe, but I think that would take some of the fun out of it.

[Listening to: Basket of Eggs - Clutch - Jam Room]

Update: Three cups of flour is way too much, but two wouldn't be enough so maybe that's why I remembered three. Our stainless steel worktables are perfect for kneading bread, but I had a little too much fun and I think I kneaded the dough a bit longer than was required. Oh well, it's just an experiment. Now I need to find something else to do for the next hour or so during the first rise.

[Listening to: From Centre to Wave - Loop - A Gilded Eternity]

Update: Well, a couple of hours later I was pleasantly surprised and ate most of what was a pretty damned good loaf of french bread. The new oven is perfect for bread baking, but I think I'll save any future loaf baking for when I have acquired some bread flour. In the meantime, I think I will go take a nap and sleep off this massive amount of carbohydrates I just consumed.

[Listening to: Disney Girl - Thin White Rope - Exploring the Axis]