My second challenge! woo!
This month Mary of The Sour Dough and Sara of I Like to Cook were given the difficult task of choosing the recipe that would be this month's challenge. They chose Julia Child's French Bread.
I cannot even tell you how terrified I was when I printed the recipe and my printer wouldn't stop spitting out pages! I ended up with 14 pages of french bread instructions! For a brief second I considered bowing out of this one but I couldn't do it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could try a difficult recipe even if I failed.
And boy did I fail.
That was attempt number one. *sigh* They were hard as rocks. The inside was actually tasty but you had to crack open the concrete-like shell to get to it. I realized after they were done that I never moved the oven rack to the top third of the oven and I guess since they were so far away from the heat they didn't want to brown, so I just left them in. For way too long apparently.
The next day I woke up early, handed my motherly duties over to Spencer, and got started on attempt #2.
They aren't pretty, but they were edible!
If you're wondering why I only have two small loaves, well, it was about midnight when I was getting them ready to go in the oven and one piece of dough just really pissed me off. Yeah, that piece never made it to it's final rise.
My dough didn't rise well either time. It rose, but not to the great size that was talked about in the recipe. I'm still not sure what I did wrong either.
Overall the (edible) bread was really good but I don't think I'll attempt it again. It was a lot of fun but I don't think I have the patience to go through it ever again. I did realize that I do enjoy making bread and since then I've made some white bread and a couple loaves of (simpler) french bread.
I am looking forward to next month's challenge though. I bet it's gonna be a good one!
For anyone who wants the recipe, go check out Mary's blog.
12 comments:
oh gorgeous looking french bread!! well done for this month's challenge!!
I'm so sorry your bread didn't turn out like you were hoping. I'm just impressed that you put all that time into trying!
what do you mean failed? They look fab! Great job!
-Clara
I will just say - you are incredibly awesome. I went to the link, and gave up *reading* the recipe less than half way through. I can't believe you made it not once, but twice! I think it looks great, and I'm sure it's so yummy!
I think you did just great! And to think you made it twice. Kudos to you!
i'm glad you decided to give this challenge a try instead of sitting it out! looks like the 2nd try worked out for you :) perhaps the temp was too low for the dough to rise?
They are pretty Amanda, & pretty edible...WOW...they look great. The fact that you made them twice is enough to quallify you for an award if any!! Lol Deeba
Edible is what counts, and they do look quite delicious. Even the hard as rock boules look like they might be good to eat. Congratulations on a challenge met!
Too bad your bread did not come out like you were wanting or expecting, but the great thing is that you face the challenge! Great job!
I blame your oven entirely. Did you try any of the steam methods (ice cubes on the bottom or spraying the bread with water) - I think that is supposed to help with the browning, but I'm still pretty new at this.
Sorry you had such a hard time with the bread. But good for you for being a real Daring Baker trooper
Thanks for baking with Sara and I
sounds like a lot of work, but homemade bread tastes so good!
blessings~
The Happy Housewife
http://happyhousewife.wordpress.com
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