Bread as art

If – as in the previous post - we define art as what happens when creativity and skill collide, then homemade bread definitely qualifies.

My last bread machine died a couple years ago. I received a new one as a Christmas gift, but for the life of me could not get the bread to turn out properly. I tinkered with each of the ingredients - demonstrating much creativity but still a lack of basic skills - but the loaves were still like hockey pucks. Except for brownie bread...

For some reason this was the only bread that turned out somewhat edible, though it was still pretty dense. But man cannot live on brownie bread alone, so I gave up for a while.

Then recently I came across Scribbit’s post on her basic bread machine recipe. I asked Michelle for some advice and she suggested reducing the amount of flour as well as taking the dough out after the dough cycle and baking it in the oven.

Behold:

I used her recipe, but added just less than 4 cups of flour instead of 4 ½. I also used half bread flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. (This is because I am innately incapable of strictly following a recipe – I always have to go and change something!) As mentioned in Scribbit’s post, I also sprinkled sea salt and rosemary over the top and it tasted way better than it looks - I’m still working on my food photography!

Finally, it worked! My boys scarfed down the rolls for lunch this afternoon.

Thank you, Scribbit!