Nailed It!!

summary: Timing is everything; inadvertently making flatbread; again…; establishing blame; even hopelessly flat bread tastes good;

Lately, we have been making brilliant Tartine(ish) bread, using our recipe for wild naan. But instead of butter, we’ve been adding olive oil.

This is NOT how it usually turns out:

I am really not designed for making bread! Especially wild yeast bread. It’s because it takes so long.

Not that there is any need to be there for the whole time as it does what it’s supposed to do. In fact, that’s my problem. I can’t seem to remember to notice how much time has passed.

I’ve tried making things easier for myself. I set alarms.

If I remember.

The other night around 10:30pm, I was startled to hear the alarm go off.

me: Oh yeah!! I forgot! I’m supposed to build up the starter for bread tomorrow!

I am happy to report that I remembered to check the starter the next morning. As expected, it had slightly over-risen in our still new (to us) oven with only the light turned on. So I fed the starter. And then left the kitchen.

I managed to remember to check the starter about an hour later to see that it was ready to go. I mixed everything in but the salt. And then left the kitchen.

Several hours later, about two hours or so before I had to go out for the evening, here is how the conversation went:

he: Aren’t you supposed to do something with the bread? I just turned it and it’s really risen. I think you should shape it.
me: {shrieking} I forgot! {!!&%$*s't,u!p@i!d!^%^$*#} I can’t shape it. I haven’t put the salt in!
he: It’s already overrisen! And it’s really wet.
me: I’ll add some more flour. I’ll let it sit a bit then shape it. You will decide when it’s time to bake it.

The dough should be domed — not flattened, not collapsed. (If it’s well above the 2-quart line, it has risen too much but keep going! […]) If you’re not using a marked dough tub, you’ll have to eyball it. Use your best judgment.

– Ken Forkish, Evolutions in Bread, Chapter 7

When I got home, I was amazed to see what was sitting – still warm – on a footed rack. I had expected the bread to be on the flat side; I had not expected it to have caved in on itself.

The next morning, its looks really hadn’t improved. At all.

Oh. My.

We thought we were going to turn it into bread crumbs. But after cutting into it, amazingly, the bread turned out not to be as devastatingly terrible as we first thought.

Clearly, I also have to learn to pay attention to the focus on the camera….

We were able to make quite decent Quasi Reuben Sandwiches (Polish ham, sauerkraut, Portuguese St. Jorge cheese) with it. (Years ago, when T reported in a news group about how good our Reuben sandwiches are, someone replied, “A Reuben Sandwich bloody well does NOT have ham in it!”. We are still laughing at this very very very dogmatic person. We don’t care how fragile his ego is.)

Ha! Bread really does want to be bread.

Ah! That’s what we were going for!