The Incredible Edible Bread

My first attempt at baking bread did not go so well. 

I followed the recipe's instructions to a T (or so I thought), and when I went to form my dough into a ball after letting it "rise" all night, I was left with nothing more than a soupy, sticky, doughy mess. I had no idea what went wrong, so I Googled "baking bread troubleshooting." I quickly found out that I had made two mistakes: 1) I did not activate the yeast in warm water before adding it to the flour and 2) The water that I added to the flour was too cold. Welcome to the amateur hour, Molly. 

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The second time around I wanted to bring my A-game, so I busted out the thermometer and carefully tested the water temperature when activating the yeast and when adding the water to the flour/salt/yeast mixture. I mixed everything together, covered the bowl, and said a little prayer. 

The next morning I slowly peeled back the saran wrap and touched the dough. It was definitely tackier than the first time and looked like it might actually hold its shape! I dumped the dough onto a floured cookie sheet and threw some more flour on top of the dough, trying to make a ball. The recipe said that this step should take about one minute, but my dough was clearly spreading too fast and sticking to my hands, making it very difficult to form a ball. Luckily Matt was there to assist, and we added a considerable amount of flour to the dough to help keep its shape. The recipe mentioned nothing about having to add flour, so I am not sure if this is basic baking knowledge that I should have already known or if I am totally incapable of following instructions. I finally formed the dough into a football-shaped loaf, sprinkled some sea salt on top for good measure, and popped the loaf into the Le Creuset (and prayed again)...

....And look what came out of the oven! 

The crust was nice and flaky and the bread, though a little dense, tasted pretty good for my first time! Next time I will definitely add some rosemary or other herbs to give it more flavor. For dinner that night I made baked goat cheese marinara using some of the fresh cheese that we purchased the night before at the Atlanta Cheese Festival. The homemade bread was the perfect accompaniment to the dip, which we polished off easily. 

I foresee many more bread making attempts in my future, because from what I gleaned online, practice makes perfect in the world of baking bread.