I had not baked bread in a while, so I thought I'd start with one of the 3 foolproof breads I can make, Artisan in 5 (others are focaccia and Cuban) So on 4/19 I put a batch using my new Honeyville flour in the fridge, intending to make it in a week. Well, it did not work to make it while DD and the grandkids were here. Then last week the air conditioning went out and now way was I going to turn on the oven until it was fixed. Then I got a severe allergy attack and was down for a few days. So yesterday (5/5) I thought I'd better bake it. Got my parchment, my gloves, my rice flour and my LC pot ready and took a chunk out.
Well tried is a better word, it was very very wet, but finally I got about a pound and a half on the parchment on the scale. I then tried to form a loaf and that is when the fun really began. I've never seen dough travel so fast. It was like one of the blob movies. No matter where I corralled it, it oozed on another side. finally I stuck the parchment on my gratin dish and got a cup of flour from the cubbard. I'd never had to do this before with this bread. Put the parchment back on the counter and the blob began doing its thing again. I kept adding flour to no avail. Corralled it again and by this time, convinced I was wasting flour, but stubborn as always, I got another heaping cup of flour. Started adding slowly and turning to incorporate and finally just dumped it in, grabbed as much of the blob as I could and tried to make a ball. By this time there was dough on the counter, oozing down into the sink on one side and down the edge to the cabinets below. I swear it oozed up on the cornstarch jar I had on the counter waiting to be refilled.
I'd gotten another piece of parchment, so ever optimistic, I put rice flour on it and dropped what was a ball in my imagination only onto it and put it in the LC pot for the 2nd rise. This is a dough that is minimally handled, but by these time, I had been working with it for a while incorporating flour so I held little hope.
I then transferred the remainder of the batch to a smaller container, cleaned my container saving a third of a cup, and got a new batch going. Used a cup less water this time and will try to make it later in the week. I had originally planned to make pizzas with the remainder but not sure it would be worth the hassle, though if I did, I'd add 2 cups of flour while still in the container.
Anyway I baked it as usual, and though it did not get tall (should have started with 2.5 lbs) it browned nicely. Here's a picture of the garlic bread I made with it.
. It tasted as good if not better than I remember for plain white bread.
