Nick, Programmerman
Bread-speriment
While drinking my post-mow recovery beverage, I found myself thinking. "Hmm, I bet I could use this to make some bread. I wonder how that would turn out." Before I knew it, I was in the kitchen, combining ingredients with abandon and no measurements, so what's presented here is best-estimate:
2c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4c sugar
1/4c beer
1/4c filtered water
Throw the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and use the dough hook on the mixer to pretend you combined them in any meaningful way. Take the last of that beer and water it down some, and pour it in with the mixer on low. Once you're done pouring, turn the mixer up to medium or so. If the dough doesn't quite come together into a single unit, add a little bit of water until it does. Once it comes together, let the hook pound on the dough for a minute or two, then transfer to a floured bowl, cover with a towel, and abandon on the counter for at least eight hours.
At this point, find something else to do. Like go shopping. Or cook breakfast. Or help your friend finish packing and take them to the airport. Or all of these. And you'll still be waiting some more.
Throw a stone (I'd call it a pizza stone, but we're clearly not baking pizza here) in the lowest place in your oven you reasonably can. Turn it to 400 degrees F and let preheat for half an hour. Just because the oven dings doesn't mean it's done preheating. We want that stone to be carrying all the heat, not the air. Once you've turned the oven on, punch down your loaf (just kind of push on it a little until the big air bubbles pop or redistribute), turn out on a floured board, and pull into a round loaf shape (think jellyfish without tentacles). Leave it on the board and re-cover while you wait some more.
Once the oven's heated, sprinkle some corn meal on the stone and place your loaf in the middle. Close up and come back in 20 minutes. Once the loaf is all golden brown and crusty, evacuate to a cooling rack, or like I did, the cutting board. Let it sit for 10 minutes so the innards can finish setting before you cut.
Dig in! It's primarily bread, with a subtle taste of the beer underneath all that delicious chewy baked goodness. I topped mine with peanut butter and honey.
Bread-speriment
While drinking my post-mow recovery beverage, I found myself thinking. "Hmm, I bet I could use this to make some bread. I wonder how that would turn out." Before I knew it, I was in the kitchen, combining ingredients with abandon and no measurements, so what's presented here is best-estimate:
2c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4c sugar
1/4c beer
1/4c filtered water
Throw the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and use the dough hook on the mixer to pretend you combined them in any meaningful way. Take the last of that beer and water it down some, and pour it in with the mixer on low. Once you're done pouring, turn the mixer up to medium or so. If the dough doesn't quite come together into a single unit, add a little bit of water until it does. Once it comes together, let the hook pound on the dough for a minute or two, then transfer to a floured bowl, cover with a towel, and abandon on the counter for at least eight hours.
At this point, find something else to do. Like go shopping. Or cook breakfast. Or help your friend finish packing and take them to the airport. Or all of these. And you'll still be waiting some more.
Throw a stone (I'd call it a pizza stone, but we're clearly not baking pizza here) in the lowest place in your oven you reasonably can. Turn it to 400 degrees F and let preheat for half an hour. Just because the oven dings doesn't mean it's done preheating. We want that stone to be carrying all the heat, not the air. Once you've turned the oven on, punch down your loaf (just kind of push on it a little until the big air bubbles pop or redistribute), turn out on a floured board, and pull into a round loaf shape (think jellyfish without tentacles). Leave it on the board and re-cover while you wait some more.
Once the oven's heated, sprinkle some corn meal on the stone and place your loaf in the middle. Close up and come back in 20 minutes. Once the loaf is all golden brown and crusty, evacuate to a cooling rack, or like I did, the cutting board. Let it sit for 10 minutes so the innards can finish setting before you cut.
Dig in! It's primarily bread, with a subtle taste of the beer underneath all that delicious chewy baked goodness. I topped mine with peanut butter and honey.