Gluten get a bad rap these days. I have to admit that I’m a little skeptical that it’s really the gluten that is the root of the problems that people are having with bread. If you look at the ingredient label of bread you buy from the grocery store these days you will see a bunch of things that don’t necessarily need to be there.

However, just like anything that is mass produced it is done in such a way to make it as consistent as possible as well as make the most money possible.

When a loaf of bread or buns never starts to mold…..that’s a little suspect to me.

Anyways. I’ve been on this little baking adventure for almost two years now. Sure it doesn’t show in my blog, but I’ve been making our sandwich/toasting bread for our family for over a year now. I’m still learning things on how to shape the loaf and the correct times to let it raise and bake. The two biggest variables that I have been working on right now are developing the gluten and not letting the dough over raise.

These four loaves last us about a week.

Developing the gluten is important because it is the structure that holds the gasses the yeast produces in. If it isn’t developed right then the loaf doesn’t hold up well and the texture suffers.

So that is the quest as of recent. Develop the gluten and don’t let it raise too long.

I thought that pretzels would be fun and something different to try.

 Rolling out the pieces of dough I cut, even if it isn’t quite uniform..

Then for the fun shaping.  A loop in the middle…

 You attach one end to the loop…

And the second end to the other side of the loop.

Dissolve some baking soda in some warmish water.

Dip each pretzel in it.  It helps create the chewy outside that you want with a pretzel!

Dry them off a bit.Then let them raise until nice and puffy!

Bake until golden and then..

Sprinkle some Kosher salt on!  Yum!

Focaccia.  First I had to learn to spell it.  Then I had to find a recipe that I wanted to try.  Also, what the heck to do with it once I bake it.  Sure I could just eat it plain, but I wanted more from my creation.  We had lunchmeat so I decided it was time.

I found this recipe on the webs.  Had I read all the steps I think I may have looked elsewhere.  The number of steps didn’t bother me it was having to do something with it ever 30 minutes or so.  We were out of milk and I needed to run to the store.  The hubster was working a 12 hour shift so it was just me and the baby girls.  Thirty minutes is not enough time to pack them up, load them up, drive, shop, drive, and unload.  So I threw the dough into the fridge.

If I had just left it out to keep fermenting it would have risen to enormous proportions.  The fridge calmed the yeast down, but it still rose a bit for me.

I got impatient.  I also think I used a pan too big for the amount of dough I had.  I didn’t wait long enough for it to rise before baking.  Guess what?  It still tastes good.  Not as thick as I would have like for splitting for sandwiches, but it will do just fine.

The garlic and rosemary are so good together.  Really they belong together.  True love if I’ve ever seen it!

I think I will look for another recipe to try for my next focaccia adventure.  But I may end up coming back to this one.  Would someone move closer to me so I can give you baked goods and we can get chubby together!

There were lemon languishing in my fridge.  It would have been wrong to let them spoil.  They were speaking to me and wanted me to make them into something naughty.  So I did.  I made the braids again.  They are so pretty, they taste good, and they are a little different than that other bread I do.

The dough for these is more of a brioche dough which means there are lots of rich things in the dough like milk instead of water and butter!  You start with…a starter.  =)

Yeast and sugar.

Some flour.

And warm milk.

Beat that stuff together until smooth.

Then cover it in plastic wrap to keep is warm and let it ferment for 30 minutes.

This is how it looks after 30 minutes.  The yeast are happy!

Then start throwing more flour in and other things like eggs.

Once it’s mixed smooth again I get to add an entire stick of butter piece by piece.

Yep, the whole thing.

Adding enough flour to form a kneadable dough and knead it until smooth.  I cheat and make my mixer do the kneading.  It doesn’t have feelings and doesn’t care that I cheat.  Work smarter, not harder.  Or something like that.

Let it raise for 2 hours and it gets all puffy looking like that.  Then you deflate it, cover it back up and let it party in the fridge all night long!

This is the beginnings of lemon curd.  Mmmmmmm….lemon curd.  These are the lemons that were languishing.  They are thanking me for making them feel useful.  Squeeze enough lemons to get a half cup of lemon juice.  Before squeezing them use your microplane zester to zest about a tablespoon of zest.  Wow, that’s a lot of zest in that sentence.  My little plastic juicer… 50 cents at Savers.  Baking makes me happy…and so do deals.

For the other half of our lemon curd I whisk eggs and sugar together until smooth and pale yellow.  These metal bowls my husband brought to the marriage, they are great for double boiler use.

Double boiler action!  Heat this up and then add in the lemon juice and zest and keep whisking so you don’t scramble your eggs you temper them.  Once it gets thick, take off the heat and let cool and roll out your dough.

On your new rolling board with your new rolling pin.

I didn’t show you the rest because I already did.  If I have to tell you twice then you weren’t listening the first time!

I shared these I promise.  I sent an entire one to work with my hubby and it was gone by 10am.  I think next time I am going to divide the dough by four because the braids just get so big.  If they are smaller I can fit them into bags easier, which means I can freeze them, and that would be a good thing!

Recipes Used: Lemon Curd Braids

I made these the other day.  It had been quite awhile since I had made them and some friends were coming over.  Nothing says thank you for coming over like fresh baked bread!

I use this recipe.  
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-baguettes-and-stuffed-baguettes/i-recipe

I like that recipe because it uses a starter.  A starter is where you use a portion of the flour water and yeast to get a head start on flavor.  You mix it up the night before and leave it out for the yeast to do its work.  In the morning it’s all bubbly and smells so good.  Then you throw it in with the rest of the flour, water, yeast, and salt to mix up the final dough.

We usually just slice it and put butter on it to eat it.  But it would be a great base for bruchetta or even sliced lengthwise for hoagies.

And yes, these are already gone.  =)

This is my new rolling board and rolling pin.  They are handmade by my husband’s uncle!!  I got them for Christmas and the timing couldn’t be more perfect.  All my croissant practice has broken a bearing in the rolling pin that I had been using.  I was going to go out and buy a new one, but this came just in time.  It is quite heavy which helps with all the rolling.  The board is a heavy resin material and looks great on my counter as well.  They will both get a lot of use.