{"id":10756,"date":"2014-06-30T17:21:30","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T21:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=10756"},"modified":"2014-07-30T10:19:12","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T14:19:12","slug":"dorm-chef-returns-with-bread-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2014\/06\/30\/dorm-chef-returns-with-bread-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"Dorm chef returns with bread venture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kingarthurflour2a\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t follow directions well. I didn\u2019t tell NCPR this at my interview last spring, but I\u2019m coming clean: when I\u2019m in the kitchen, I do as I please. While cooking is about improvisation, baking is more like chemistry, and I almost failed chemistry in high school when I created some noxious blue liquid out of something that was supposed to be as safe as Playdough. When I recently decided to make bread, I was a little worried that I would end up making something out of Goosebumps.<\/p>\n

You could say that I started out a little ambitiously; I had my dad sent me a copy of a King Arthur bread recipe called Paine `a L\u2019Ancienne, which is both a baguette and pizza dough recipe. Like a warning label, this bread has a French name because you don\u2019t mess around with French foods. Look, I know `a la mode just means \u201cput some ice cream on it,\u201d but it still sounds like a culinary masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to the baking. The recipe for Paine `a L\u2019Ancienne begins with this sentence: \u201cThe technique by which this bread is made has tremendous implications for the baking industry and for both professional and home bakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Um, what? My loaf of bread seemed to have \u201ctremendous implications\u201d for all of Western civilization. Apparently, making bread is easy if you a) have a bread making machine, b) have a Kitchen Aid, or c) buy the right ingredients and follow directions. I have none of these things.<\/p>\n

The only ingredients in this bread are flour, ice cold water, salt, and instant yeast. My first challenge was that I bought active dry yeast instead of instant yeast. This crisis merited a thorough Google search and a call home to make sure I hadn\u2019t toppled the baking industry with my amateur foolishness. Basically, you can mix active dry yeast with a little water and sugar, and then use less water when making the dough and it works just the same.<\/p>\n

The second crisis occurred when I dumped this yeast mixture into the bowl, along with the flour, salt, and all of the water. I realized that I had added about a \u00bc of a cup of water to the recipe.<\/p>\n

It was about this time that I also realized that all of the directions were for an electric mixer. Since my last food blog post, I have acquired some more cooking utensils; for instance, I now have a wooden spoon. (Side note: thank you to all my generous coworkers who said they would give me another pan. However, I drove by somebody\u2019s yard the other day and they had a sign that said \u201cFree\u201d next to a pan and vase, so I\u2019m all set now).<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>

Photo: Nathaie Dignam<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyway, I took my wooden spoon, and attempted to calculate the difference between mixing on low speed with a paddle attachment and using a dough hook on medium speed. In reality, I just mixed really hard with my spoon.<\/p>\n

Once the dough was sticky on the bottom but easily released from the sides of the bowl, I transferred the dough into another bowl coated with oil, sprinkled the top with oil, and went swimming for the afternoon. Honestly, I didn\u2019t time anything.<\/p>\n

The next morning, I took my dough out of the fridge and kneaded it for a few minutes. Then I put it back in the bowl and let it rise on the counter for a few hours (a.k.a. I went swimming). I came back later and baked a pizza and some rolls.<\/p>\n

Voila! With the approval of my fellow NCPR interns, I realized that I had successfully made bread, even while pretty much failing to follow baking directions. The moral of this story is; bread is forgiving and you, too, can bake!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A bit of corn meal in the pan prevents sticking like this. Photo: Nathalie Dignam<\/p><\/div>\n

Natalie Dignam’s internship at NCPR is supported by the Stan Macdonald Journalism Fund<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t follow directions well. I didn\u2019t tell NCPR this at my interview last spring, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[9883,12962,36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10756"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10756"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11441,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10756\/revisions\/11441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}