The Daring Bakers February Challenge
This is what French bread is supposed to look like: And this is what mine looks like:
So what would this French bread say if it could talk? My guess is it would say something like, "Don’t' look at me, I'm hideous!" No wait, this is French bread. That means it would say, "Ne me regardez pas, je suis affreux."
When I first saw this month's challenge I thought great, another chance to work on my French bread skills. The recipe looked daunting. Twelve pages in length and a total time of close to 11 hours from start to finish. But this supposed to be a challenge, right? So I carefully studied the recipe before the first scoop of flour was measured.
All seemed to go well….until it came time to move the bread from the floured towels to the cooking sheets. Even with the heavy dose of flour covering the towel, the bread stuck to it and quickly deflated. Phooey! (I actually said something a bit more colorful) One loaf still retained it's loaf shape while the second one simply collapsed upon itself and folded over into a grotesque mass of wrinkly dough. Not a pretty site. In my frustration, I grabbed it up and rolled it into a boule hoping it could be salvaged. The result was mixed. It rose just like it was supposed to.Taste-wise it was good if not a touch salty. Texture-wise, a nice fine crumb. Looks-wise, hideous. My first (non-obscene) thought was the loaf looked like a Geoduck . See the resemblance?
And many thanks to my brother for posting this for me since I will be somewhere in the air on my way to Malaysia on posting day.
Labels: breads, Daring Bakers
11 Comments:
well my breads weren't as nice as I hoped but it was a first try.
Thanks for kneading and publishing ! It was a very long job :)
I had issues with mine as well--shaping and moving free form loaves is difficult, to say the least.
Malaysia--I'm jealous! :)
I like your geoduck loaf, it has character. I agree that I found this recipe to be a bit on the salty side, particularly when served with cheese.
You did a great job! I think it looks fine.
Hahaha cute! Love the comparison! Geoduck wasn't the first thing that came to my mind. Something more along the lines of club to clobber someone over the head with! Must be frustrating after all that time spent on the brad, for it to deflate at the last step!
I also had a lot of trouble moving the loaves to the from the cloth to the baking sheet. Mine looked a little mishapen after getting moved but they looked better after baking.
Well, at least it tasted ok and the bread doesn't look THAT bad, Not that that matters ;-)
Thanks so much for baking with Sara and I
Don't be too hard on your poor bread, it can't help it's a bit geoduckish. :) I'm glad it was tasty, good work!
Good job. I'll bet the bread was tasty. I have a much simpler version on my site: http://mollysrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/02/mollys-french-bread.html
Just do the squishing after the first raising and set the final loaf raising in pans - no transferring that way. I think it takes no more than 4 hours, and I've done it in three in the summer when the kitchen is hot.
I always struggle with the shaping. But yours still looks great!
Enjoyed your post very much!
Don't beat yourself up too much as we all have our own kitchen misadventures and cooking mishaps. I had to "re-cook" an omelet five times because I couldn't do the "flip" well enough. Other four tries ended in scrambled eggs and the last one I just plainly gave up and accepted defeat! Geez, that is but a 5-minute omelet!
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