While perusing food blogs the other day I stumbled upon an interesting challenge at Pinch My Salt. There is a group of bakers working their way through The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Having recently purchased the cookbook I've decided to join them. First up: Anadama Bread.
Anadama bread is common in New England. It has corn meal and flour, and makes for a mighty tasty sandwich bread. The lore behind the name is that a man was upset with his wife for leaving him and leaving a bowl of cornmeal mush. He made bread with the mush and said "Anna, damn 'er" as he baked it.
I wasn't damning anyone when I made, but I did swear. I walked away for a few minutes and my mixer kneaded itself off of the counter. It smashed one of my kitchen tiles. I haven't fixed it yet, so I curse a little to myself every time I walk over it. Lesson learned: don't leave the kitchen when kneading a lot of heavy dough. Luckily the mixer is fine.
I was pretty annoyed with myself for walking away from my mixer, which led to me not letting the bread rise long enough. My version turned out to be more of a dense bread than a sandwich bread, but it's still pretty good. It makes excellent toast.
I am excited to work my way through the Bread Bakers Apprentice. I'll be working my way through the book; I like not having to decide what bread to make each weekend. Almost all of the breads take two days to prepare, so I am working on planning ahead for my baking.
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8 comments:
Holy COW! I can't believe your mixer danced right off the counter. Glad the mixer is fine, but too bad about the tile. Can you get some sort of wacky filler glaze stuff to mend it? Although now you'll always think of this bread when you're in there.
LOVE the story behind the bread. All of your great bread baking has been so inspiring. It's always been something I've wanted to do. I'll keep my eye out for this book and now I have to make this bread.
Sorry to hear about the broken kitchen tile. But still: welcome to the BBA Challenge. Looking forward to reading more about your bread adventures. Check out my blog - I've made quite a few BBA breads already...
Welcome to the BBA! So sorry to hear about your tile ~ I've had my mixer walk across the counter before and even catch on fire while I wasn't looking!
Your story sounds like you will have an adventure. I'm looking forward to more of your posts.
Your poor floor :( But I'm glad the mixer is okay!
Welcome to the BBA Challenge! Some of us that started last year are near the end, but I love reading new posts about the first breads and I love that people are still joining.
Too bad about your floor, but at least the bread looks great!
Welcome to the Challenge! I was also a late starter (which is actually kind of good because there are lots of informative posts to read before you start each new bread); I'm just a little over half way, getting ready to start pizza. I can't believe your mixer story!! What a good lesson to us all; I often leave mine running to go get a start on the dishes. And sorry about your tile. =(
My mixer would be willing to help your mixer vandalize the kitchen. I just read that a fold kitchen towel under it may help. Haven't tried it yet. Have fun with the challenge
I still haven't made this bread but when I saw it at the farm I visited yesterday I thought of you and had to pick up a loaf. Now I'm sitting here eating a couple toasted slices with strawberry rhubarb jam and wow... it's really good! I love the corn meal.
Now I really need to start making this on a regular basis. Or I could walk down to the local grocery store and pick up this exact bread there... the convenience!
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