baking with julia: white loaves

way back when, at the beginning of my blogging days, i discovered the tuesdays with dorie group.  they were hard at work on their mission to bake every recipe from baking: from my home to yours and they did.  just before christmas, they posted their final challenge.  and then the whole bunch of them found themselves with a little time on their hands-whatever would they do with tuesdays?  luckily for everyone, and folks like me who missed out on the first run, the decision was made to do it again but this time with julia child too.

in 1996, dorie greenspan wrote the companion book to the julia child pbs series, baking with julia.  it is a large book with wonderful photos, many of which are step by step process shots, that give the user a complete idea of what things should look like as you prepare the recipe.  as a cookbook author, and more importantly a cookbook user, those are the most important parts of a recipe.  nothing is worse than choosing a recipe that is new to you, it includes unfamiliar techniques and absolutely no photos.  frustrating!!!

having borrowed the book from a friend long ago, it was always on my wish list but as a mom (with 2 kids) the priority list always placed the book way down near the bottom.  then, several years ago, my mom and i were wandering through a flea market in saylorsburg, pa and i happened to see it lying on a blanket with several other cookbooks.  i immediately snatched it and when i saw the $3 price tag, yes $3, i nearly yelled out and did a stupid fist pump.  however, i contained myself and just paid the nice lady and quickly wandered off before she realized what she just sold me and how much she should have asked me to pay.  needless to say, i have enjoyed using the book.  and now, i get to use every recipe in it, something i have never done with a cookbook before.

so, the way this works, we will post the results on tuesdays, every other tuesday to be exact but in respect for cookbook authors, the members will not post the recipes-only the host will do that.  we want you to buy a book and keep cookbook authors and publishers working.  you can check the tuesdays with dorie website to see what the next challenge is and follow the links to see the results of all of the participants.

with my baking assistant, twitch, i got to work on my bread loaves

white loaves

allowing the yeast to activate in warm water with sugar

 the kneaded dough rising in my kitchen

 after shaping the loaves, they rise until they are just above the tops of the pans

 warm from the oven....nothing comes close to the aroma of bread, warm from the oven

quite possibly the best loaf of white bread i have ever made.  it made incredible sandwiches and toast too.


what a great way to start the challenge.  the technique of adding soft butter to a dough that is already mixed is a little different but experienced bakers will recall that brioche is mixed in the same manner.  this step makes  the mixing process a little nervewracking but the results are amazing.  so follow the links and see the results of all the participants then buy the book and make some bread!

what are we baking next???  i has cookbook, i will bake kitty treats...