Bread is complicated. It can be easy and hard at the same time.  I see it as a bunch of gluten holding things together with yeast bubbling it up like a balloon. Then you bake it and set everything into place. It goes well with so many things that you can actually bake those delicious additions inside it. Some additions are herbs, cheese, meats, olives, and roasted garlic (don’t do fresh garlic … I’ve tried that … it stays fresh and doesn’t roast in the bread).

I say it’s easy because you just mixed things together and then knead it a little, then you walk away. You come back and move it around a bit, then walk away again. Then  come back, put it in the oven and then …. walk away. Your house will have a bouquet of a freshly baked bread. Your roommates will be envious as you devour your delicious … I think I’m going a little off track. Lemme talk about my experience (even though it didn’t turn as well as I hoped). 

A while ago I tried to make some bread … I realized that I have a lot of learning before I can make a decent loaf.

It may look good … and it tasted alright … but it was blobby and didn’t rise the way i wanted it to. I liked the self-contained sandwich idea tho.

I started with some hot water. Doesn’t it look pretty? It needs to be just barely unbearable … or if you’re nerdy like me and have a digital thermometer, then between 110F and 115F. If you hit 140F, then you’re killing your yeast. 

Then I added some yeast to it. 

And some salt. Why salt … too much is bad for you isn’t it? It’s not for you, it’s for your yeast. You want your yeast to grow, and so do they … but they need salt to do their yeasty functions. It’s good for them …. too much will kill them, but that’ll take alot of salt. So just do a little over a teaspoon. 

Then a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down … In a most delightful way. Well, it’s actually for the yeast again … sorry. This is some quick sugar for it to grow. You might get some of the sugar, but they yeast may digest it before you. 

I stirred it some. 

And then proofed it some. 

Then I stirred in some flour to get it mixed in well. 

Then I added the rest … holding some to knead into it of course.

I mixed it. 

And I used my hands … it was very sticky. 

I then put it on some flour and kneaded it. 

I finally got it to where it wasn’t so sticky, and then i put it in a bowl and placed some saran wrap over it to keep dust off, etc. I’ve used a wet towel to keep it moist as well, but i felt it was too heavy for the dough to rise. Then a dry towel, but i felt it still was a bit heavy and saran wrap would do better. 

VOOSH! It’s huge! 

This was actually the dough for the whole wheat. I have this thing where I feel bread should be easy. I think that the different stuff in bread attribute to it’s quality. For example adding whole wheat will logically  make it a bit more dense.  Each bread loaf I make is like a science experiment :). 

The whole wheat dough was going to be the olive bread. I smashed some olives in a colander so that the juices didn’t get into the dough. 

So put the whole wheat dough on the counter and flattened it out. I placed the olives on the dough.

I then sealed in the edges. Muahahaha!  The olives are sealed away to away their delicious fate!

Now I rolled it up into a loaf, hiding the seal. 

Placed it on the baking pan for another rise.

Then I worked on the baguettes.

I decided to do a white-flour baguette instead of the whole wheat I used for the olive bread. I stretched out the dough a bit. 

 I filled this one as though it was a sandwich. It has turkey, pepperjack cheese, olives, and mustard. 

I sealed it up and rolled it around a bit to make it look more like a loaf. I put olives ont he one that was stuffed. The rest of the dough I made regular loafs. I sliced a few slits with a sharp knife so that the steam could escape. I put them on the baking sheets and covered with saran wrap to let them rise. 

Blah! It spread outward and not upward. I think that’s why there is the couche. I could have made a couche, but I didn’t realize how important it was …. grr blobbiness. 

Same thing with the whole wheat olive bread. 

So I baked them anyways. 

It turned out well, but I feel it would have been better if I couched them or something.