Fibermania

O No! Not another post about Bread!

But wait. This time I finally got it right. This is the largest loaf by far of all that I have made (there were two actually) and it came about sorta by accident.

I usually am careful to make a preliminary sponge first. That is a little bit of flour, water and yeast. I let that bubble and then come back later and gently sift in the flour, water and salt until the water is all absorbed.

That's not the usual recipe but then I was trying to make a smaller loaf that could be eaten easily in one day.

Now that I have house guests who are mega-bread-eaters, I need a larger loaf, so it was my intention to do the full recipe, using some whole wheat flour to add color and flavor.

Well, I was in a rush so I put the three cups of flour, teaspoon or so of salt and 12 oz. of water together, no sponge, no careful sifting, in fact I just scooped up the cupsful and dumped.

Ooo Pooh! I forgot the whole wheat flour. Darn. So I put a scoop of that in too. More flour but y'know the water was taken up and it looked OK.

Cover and fuggettabouttit.

The next day.

O. I have bread dough I must attend to.

It had risen perfectly overnight and I floured the board liberally and poured out the dough for it's one time only mini-knead. I discovered that this incorporates a bit more flour and that makes a nicer smooth looking loaf. So I added about a cup more flour in this mini-knead and let the bread rise another two or three hours, covered.

Bake as usual.

To my intense delight the two loaves came out higher and better and yummier than ever. I guess I finally have this down pat.

I am now over baking bread.