Sometimes It Takes Two Tries

Back on the first day of the year I decided to make some bread.  We were a little low on wheat flour so I had to start by grinding some wheat.  That's not so bad, as long as you get the lid on the container good and tight. 

I didn't need a lot, I wanted to use the end of what we had.  So I only had to fill the hopper once.

So pretty quick I had some nice, fresh wheat flour and was all set.

I was trying a new recipe, one I had picked because it was very simple.  Just a few basic ingredients, stuff we usually have on hand.

I put it all together in the mixer and ran it for a few minutes until it was all well mixed.  The recipe specifically said it was to be mixed, not kneaded.  I liked that. 

Then I needed to let it rise a while, which I did.

I began to get worried when it was time to put it in the pans.  It didn't seem to be rising like it should so I gave it extra time.  But it still didn't look quite right. 

Nevertheless, I cooked it anyway.  The loaves were pretty sturdy, they hadn't fluffed up like I think of good bread doing. 

Hot bread is always the best.  We tried this and it was okay.  But in the end I pronounced it edible but not good.  It got tossed.  It was pretty heavy and had a taste that was slightly off - not quite right.

So tonight I decided to try again. Except for grinding wheat, everything went along similar to last time except this time I was very careful to follow the recipe exactly.  I think where it fell apart last time was the water; I hadn't made sure it was warm and I hadn't mixed the maple syrup with the water just like the recipe called for.  This time I was careful to do that.

And this time the loaf rose up much better.  When it was time to go in the oven it looked much more like it was supposed to.  I chose to cook it on the stone this time instead of in pans just because it seemed easier.  Plus I like how the loaf looks when its cooked on the stone. 

It came out of the oven looking much more like a proper loaf of bread.

It also came out of the oven right as dinner was ready and going on the table so it got served with dinner, still warm and oven fresh.

Serving Suggestion

And it turned out tasting much better.  We're still learning, remembering that our oven cooks a little hotter than most so we need to cook it not quite as hot and not quite as long as recipes call typically for.  But, all in all, it turned out much better this time.  We will be keeping this loaf.  And we will be trying this again, trying to get it just right.