Yes, My Bread Has Risen Today! Hallelujiah!
After moving to Bella Coola, I discovered that nowhere in this town was there good, healthy, wholesome, heavy bread to be found, and I started baking my own. I have never had a problem with the good old "Purity Flour Cookbook" recipe for whole wheat bread. True, I use water instead of milk, olive oil instead of shortening, and I often add other things to the recipe, such as 9-grain cereal, cracked wheat, or sunflower seeds....BUT....I have always had delightfully edible success.
Today, was bread baking day. I started my yeast feeding in its nice luke-warm sugar water, and mixed the other liquid ingredients in my big bowl. Then, I added the first six cups of flour into the big bowl, and mixed vigorously for a few minutes. "Hmmmmm....," I thought. "The batter is usually much more liquidy and easier to mix. I wonder what's wrong? Must be the new bread flour I'm using. Maybe it needs more water?" So I added some more water. Beat, beat, beat. Then, I added the 9-grain cereal, the sunflower seeds, and the next six cups of flour, set the timer for 12 minutes, and started kneading. I was working up a sweat when I decided to check the timer on the stove to see how much time was left.........and there was my yeast, all fluffy and puffy, sitting on the stove in the measuring cup, and NOT IN MY BREAD!! I had this nice ball of kneaded bread dough...with no yeast in it! Right! What to do? Start over? Well, there was no way I was going to waste all the ingredients I had put into the yeastless ball of dough. So, I plopped the dough back into my big bowl, and poured the liquid yeast mixture on top to try and mix it in. This was like trying to work water into a ball of clay, but I persevered, and with yeasty slime coating my fingers and creeping up my arms, I poked and prodded and mixed and kneaded all that yeasty water into that ball of dough. Then it was back onto the counter for more kneading....but with all the extra liquid, the dough was pretty wet, so I added more flour, and more flour.... Then back to kneading and sweating. There was a trace of doubt in my mind, however. "Would the dough rise?" This, you realize, was the farthest I had ever departed from my trusty recipe. After the kneading, I put it back in the bowl for the first rising. I came back after an hour and a half, and what did my wondering eyes see? The dough had risen indeed, so I made up a little ditty for the occassion. Any of you who happen to recognize the melodic reference for this ditty can sing along. For those of you who don't know the melody, go to http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/j/j038.html and hear the melody. Then, sing along with my lyrics! It's very seasonally appropriate!
Yes, my bread has risen today,
Hallelujiah!
My triumphant baking day,
Hallelujiah!
Songs of praise then let us sing,
Hallelujiah!
In my bread the yeast is king,
Hallelujiah!
Happy Easter!
After moving to Bella Coola, I discovered that nowhere in this town was there good, healthy, wholesome, heavy bread to be found, and I started baking my own. I have never had a problem with the good old "Purity Flour Cookbook" recipe for whole wheat bread. True, I use water instead of milk, olive oil instead of shortening, and I often add other things to the recipe, such as 9-grain cereal, cracked wheat, or sunflower seeds....BUT....I have always had delightfully edible success.
Today, was bread baking day. I started my yeast feeding in its nice luke-warm sugar water, and mixed the other liquid ingredients in my big bowl. Then, I added the first six cups of flour into the big bowl, and mixed vigorously for a few minutes. "Hmmmmm....," I thought. "The batter is usually much more liquidy and easier to mix. I wonder what's wrong? Must be the new bread flour I'm using. Maybe it needs more water?" So I added some more water. Beat, beat, beat. Then, I added the 9-grain cereal, the sunflower seeds, and the next six cups of flour, set the timer for 12 minutes, and started kneading. I was working up a sweat when I decided to check the timer on the stove to see how much time was left.........and there was my yeast, all fluffy and puffy, sitting on the stove in the measuring cup, and NOT IN MY BREAD!! I had this nice ball of kneaded bread dough...with no yeast in it! Right! What to do? Start over? Well, there was no way I was going to waste all the ingredients I had put into the yeastless ball of dough. So, I plopped the dough back into my big bowl, and poured the liquid yeast mixture on top to try and mix it in. This was like trying to work water into a ball of clay, but I persevered, and with yeasty slime coating my fingers and creeping up my arms, I poked and prodded and mixed and kneaded all that yeasty water into that ball of dough. Then it was back onto the counter for more kneading....but with all the extra liquid, the dough was pretty wet, so I added more flour, and more flour.... Then back to kneading and sweating. There was a trace of doubt in my mind, however. "Would the dough rise?" This, you realize, was the farthest I had ever departed from my trusty recipe. After the kneading, I put it back in the bowl for the first rising. I came back after an hour and a half, and what did my wondering eyes see? The dough had risen indeed, so I made up a little ditty for the occassion. Any of you who happen to recognize the melodic reference for this ditty can sing along. For those of you who don't know the melody, go to http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/j/j038.html and hear the melody. Then, sing along with my lyrics! It's very seasonally appropriate!
Yes, my bread has risen today,
Hallelujiah!
My triumphant baking day,
Hallelujiah!
Songs of praise then let us sing,
Hallelujiah!
In my bread the yeast is king,
Hallelujiah!
Happy Easter!
posted by Beth Jay at 4:14 PM
2 comments
