Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Pizza Pillows

While sitting in class today, I decided to bake bread. Implusive baker! I missed the feeling of soft dough in my hands...And there were still many yet-to-be-tried recipes from my Richard Bertinet book. A reward to self for paying attention through a 3hr lecture... which I was, for the most part.

Love those curves!

The main problem I have with baking bread in Singapore is that it is too warm. Although the plus point is that it's humid enough that your dough will never dry out. While Monsieur Bertinet has to turn his oven on to get the heat going in the kitchen, I have to bring a fan in because the heat makes me antsy when I'm trying to concentrate. 

The warmth gives rise to 2 main problems:

1. Dough rises too fast! Since longer rising time = better flavour development, shorter rising time = quick but bland breads.

2. I can't follow the rising time stated in most cookbooks, which means I have to gauge for myself when the dough is ready to be turned out and shaped. If the dough is over-risen, it will not rise again after I've shaped it, so the baked bread is denser than it should be. Over-risen dough is also disobedient to shaping.

So this time, I tried to draw out the process by letting the dough rise in the fridge, covered with a damp tea towel. It worked! When I checked back at the appointed time, the dough had roughly doubled and there were little air bubbles just under the surface.

After the first rising

After being shaped, they rose well at the second rising. Nice and poofy.

Good luck, you guys!

And the baked result was yum! But I'd like a more intense bready-ness. I wanna get punched in the face with heady bready flavour! Which means I need to find a way to draw out the first rising even more. Perhaps adding less yeast and more salt could buy me some time, next time! 



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