A Daring Marathon -- French Bread

A month ago, i joined a group called Daring Baker : )
It's a group consisting of a huge group of food-loving,
courageous, persistent, knowledgeable... people --
who join in for a baking challenge every month!

Being a novice like me, of course i gotta be a part
of this group, in order to push myself further
to sharpen my culinary skills! : D

This is my firth month... and the challenge is...
**drumroll**

OH MY! MAKING BREAD FROM SCRATCH!

Everyone from Daring Baker (DB) pointed out
that this takes A LONG TIME...
(anywhere ranging from 7-11 hours!)
On top of that, the recipe was like 10 pages long,
with 13 steps & countless paragraphs of instructions!
So i figured, it's necessary for me to
set the President's Day aside for this challenge : 0

(& Goh goh thought i was a lil' nuts... -_-"
**Sigh...**
can't men be more encouraging sometimes?!)

I've never played with yeast before '_'
& i imagined it to be scary looking...
kinda like some squirmy germs or something?! 0_o

Oh but they turn out to be just some brown powders,
except with a weird smell... -_-

Dunk the yeast into warm water '_' Mix!

Dough in the mixer : 0
It's interesting how French Bread requires salt,
but not sugar '_' hmmm... the dough smells funky.

Kneading with hands!
The sensation reminded me of
playing with play-doh 0_o?!

Kneading some more with the dough hook '_'
Then leave it in the oven with the oven light on...
and wait for it to RISE! : D

3 hours later... the tiny dough -> POOF ->
occupy half a mixing bowl!!

A close-up of how it looks : 0

Take the POOFed dough back out,
and KNEAD! and KNEAD! and...
yeah you guessed it, KNEAD SOME MORE!

Then what?
Put it back and let it RISE... some more : )

Ahhhhh... Another 2 hours later...
such a pretty, creamy-yellow, POOFed ball : D
(It still smelled funky... -_-")

Then... duh!
KNEAD SOME MORE : 0

Cut the dough into small rolls '_'

The recipe called for Canvas Linen...
but i don't have any : /
So i ended up using my Crate & Barrel
lovely Christmas kitchen cloth ; ) hehe...

Guess what the towel's covering?

Taaaa Daaaaa!
The cut-up + kneaded + twisted doughs : )
In my opinion, they almost look just like
Shanghai's Soupy Dumplings / 小籠包 : 0
Except with no fillings...

(BOOOO... i never liked bread all that much,
but those with yummy fillings are worth trying : b
So these bread rolls that i'm making,
is really more for satisfying my curiosity
and desire to conquer a culinary challenge,
than the plain "YUM! I WANNA EAT THAT!" reason.
Well, coz i'm not interested in eating these at all -_-")

Another 2 hours later...

Put flour on the cookie sheet / doughs '_'
The recipe called for cardboard / wooden plank,
but neither i nor goh goh could understand
the instructions : (
hey, i thought my English is bad...
but perhaps there is a foreign baking language
to be learned over time... : /

SLASH! the doughs : 0
I didn't realize that the French slash their bread
differently...
so i ended up slicing the doughs as if
they were Pineapple buns / 菠蘿包
from the Chinese bakeries '_'

Sorry, Julia Child!

After baking them... they needed to be cooled down
for 2-3 hours before putting into the fridge.

A close-up shot : )

It was 2am by then, and i just could stay up
any longer -_-
So i left them out overnight...

The following day, goh goh tried to appear
supportive by asking to try one of the rolls...
& i tried to make it a more special treat,
by putting my newly acquired ALMOND BUTTER
as a filling : )

Verdict?
- it was hard as a rock...
- tastes nothing like bread but everything like yeast...
- the inside doesn't have the beautiful bubbles
that other DBs' bread pictures show : (

* SIGH!
a major defeat, i suppose!

It doesn't hurt my ego too much though...
coz:
a) I'VE TRIED MY BEST!
b) I PERSEVERED THRU THOSE 14 GRUELING HRS!
c) I DON'T EVEN LIKE BREAD! : b

haa : b oh well... hopefully next month's
challenge would turn out better than this ; )
Stay tuned!


Useful links:
The Daring Bakers Blogroll
-- A list of all the DBs : )
Go take a look at all these beautiful sites ; D
(oh yeah... & the ones that made the Bread successfully!)

http://breadchick.com/?p=336
-- The original Julia Child French Bread recipe : )