Yay, my first DB challenge!

I had a lot of ideas for things to do with this recipe, lots of pesto and garlic and cheese floating around in the back of my mind, but what really happened was I got busy, I had to host Thanksgiving, life in general was not kind to the idea of me doing something interesting and yummy with this bread. So, I just got a chance to make the bread yesterday, and I really wish I’d had time to work with it a bit more. I made it simply as the recipe described, no time to get Daring, but I would have liked some added flavor. The end result was okay, but I’ve made better bread. I thought it was a little bit salty, and it just didn’t stand out as “great bread.” My husband really liked it for a turkey sandwich; he described it as hearty, and he liked the chewiness.

As for actually making the bread, I enjoyed working with the soft dough, although it was challenging to knead because of the stickiness. It has been a long time since I’ve made bread by hand, but I think I’m going to let the bread machine and the KitchenAid take a rest, and do it the old fashioned way a little more often.

I’m not sure if my kitchen was really warm, or what happened, but it rose a lot more than I expected, and my large loaf ended up overflowing the loaf pan and getting a mushroom shape.

I braided the rest of the dough, but instead of rising up, it sort of oozed out sideways. Maybe I should have put the braid into a loaf pan to contain it and make it go up.

So, in conclusion, I really liked that this challenge got me in the kitchen making bread without machines, and I plan on doing that a lot more, but I don’t think I’ll be making this particular bread again. I can’t wait for the next challenge, and I am proud to now officially call myself a Daring Baker!

Brooke