Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Bread of Life

We've been here not quite a week. It has been a rather difficult reentry this time.  I don't know why some times its more difficult than others, but.... it is.

Anyway, we are now feeling pretty human again. I've started to paint the upper cupboards in the kitchen, Part II, after last time.  We have a carpenter coming to give us estimates on Saturday for some little odd jobs - the biggest one being putting the soffit back up in the kitchen.

And yesterday we made bread.  We have a weird new bread Thing called the Lékué bread maker.  It doesn't actually make bread - you make the bread in it. You weight, mix,  knead and shape and, finally, bake all in this one odd flexible silicone bowl/container, Thing.




Last night, the COG started our first loaf and baked it this morning. We used our standard No-Knead recipe, but the Lékué technique.  So it was mixed last night in the Apparatus and sat in it over night, then we just put it into the oven without even shaping it.  After 40 minutes, we took it out, turned it over and put it back for 10 minutes to dry the bottom.

It made a beautiful little bullet shaped loaf, which I am happy to report  was really really good - crusty and chewy and delicious.


The COG costed it out at about 50 or 60 cents (American) a loaf.  Not counting the £20 we spent on the Thing, of course.  He also figured out that we will have paid for the Thing after a mere 10 or so loaves (calculating using the most expensive bakery loaf we know).  All neatly rationalized.

It's a beautiful day here. The COG is going for a walk and I am staying home to sand cabinets.








2 comments:

Vivi said...

Hmm. looks luscious.

Is the technique much different from "normal" bread making?

The Bride said...

The technique in this case was to mix, leave and put straight into the oven without shaping or kneading or anything. And then, to take the bread out and cook it upside down for 10 minutes.

It's not a complicated technique, but it's a bit different than regular bread.