Great smells and hot bread!

Well ,my late night bread baking adventure was so fun, while it lasted! My house smelled devine! The bread came out of the oven about 6:45, right when the coffee was brewing! I called my Mom (she is an early riser), and she walked over with her coffee for a peice of the action!!!

I wonder what the trick is to slashing the top of the dough before baking...it was really hard to do for me...I feel like I need something like a lazer to make a clean cut!!! Mine looked more like big craters in the top!

We cut it while warm, and slathered on the butter and had it with our coffee.

Critique of the bread: It was lacking in flavor, and had a crunchy crust at first, although not overly. It was nice right out of the oven. Now, tonight I cut a slice, and the crunch is gone, and the bread is not something I would even buy from the grocery! I will say that my sourdough starter is becoming more pungent...so maybe a different recipe next time with the more powerful starter will produce a better loaf! I still need to try it toasted...that might be really great...will see in the morning!

On a down note...I have become sick...sore throat, and all clogged up...I slept about 5 hours after work, and have almost no voice now. I'm taking the day off from work tomorrow to hopefully preserve what little voice I have and get to work on Friday if I can.

So that ends this session of breadmaking at A Succulent Life!!! Bye bye for now! :)

Making bread early!

Doozey woke me up at 3:30am beacuase the cat was crying to come in. Darn cat. This is how it goes for me every night...it's about to make me sick from lack of sleep!

Anyway...I sort of became invigorated at that time, and I decided to "feed" the sourdough starter...which means adding more flour and water to the mix, so it can get to plooping again real good. I already had 2 cups of it in the pitcher, so I decided to use one cup and make bread...even though it has only been 4 days! I couldn't stand the thought of throwing it away as some recommend...or giving away...but so far not many people want to make bread...

I found a recipe in my old (and favorite) cookbook...(so I would not have to sign on and find a recipe before I could start).

I found out it sure makes kneading dough easy if you just lay down a few sheets of wax paper and do it on that...it does move around a little, but the flour doesn't stick quite as bad and you KNOW you are kneading on top of a clean surface...which I always worry about. I like to keep things VERY clean in the kitchen. Counter tops are not always quite clean enough...even after scrubbing, for me. Or am I just anal???

The dough was smooth and elastic and is doing it's first rise right now...I have about 20 minutes left and I will snap a pic, then one after the loaves rise, and one of the finished loaves. What a way to spend your whole NIGHT...yikes...and I have a mandatory class, and my team meeting today...I hope I can stay awake!!! Coffee...will start brewing in only another 2 hours...around 6:30am...wish me luck! I probably won't have time to post the pics until I get home this evening...so be on the lookout!!! I'm excited. Well...I really cannot wait to taste it, all warm, and slathered with butter!!! Sorry...I must have that butter....I just have to!