FRENCH BREAD ~

Today I baked my first batch of French Bread!!! I'd been wanting to make some for quite some time. It was a romantic adventure. (What could be more fun than busying about the kitchen making bread and getting dreamy on the ozone fumes?)

They tell you it takes a good four times to get the knack of it. I still have trauma leftover from the last time I tried making bread from a Secret Garden book I was given for Christmas. I had set the dough out to rise and it NEVER rose... I waited and I waited and the next thing I knew the dog had eaten the dough. [He couldn't eat for three days on account of a distended stomach and got the nick-name "Dough-boy," I got two empty bowls and a fear of stubborn dough. ;)] In addition to this paranoia I had to worry about having had to use deviations on two of the four ingredients- and having added a fifth. ;) So you can imagine what hope it gave me when my dough began rising. Ah! lovely dough! Soft and spongy. :)

Everything was going well till I put my French Bread in the oven. I had been instructed both by my book and by my video to steam the oven when putting in the bread- to literally take a 1/4 cup of water and THROW it in the oven.*** The video showed me the resulting steam. ;)

Well. I threw water in. It steamed. I put the bread in. And the steam was gone. So I quickly grabbed some more water and hurled it into the oven. BAD IDEA!!! I threw it on my bread!! (AAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Thankfully the egg-coated crust was a deterrent and it only landed on one loaf and I kinda tipped the cookie sheet and it all slid off and added to the much needed steam. whew

Around this time my brothers began complaining about the bread "taking all day". Uh, yeah. ;) I told them they should pity women who once had to do it every day. Dad reminded us that that was only French women. ;) [No wonder they revolted. :P]

Well, the bread made it safely out of the oven and looked lovely. I put it on the table along with chicken soup.

a tavola! 'Come to the table. We prayed. We buttered our bread. And the ensuing chorus of mmmmms made it all worth while. :)


Above: a picture of my loaves... along with my beloved Indian steel cups. :)
.*** [In some ovens can be dangerous. Don't try at home. ;)]

- 6/12/10