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Journey to Bread

So (foolishly) a week ago I announced to some friends I was going to host a bread party. Where I baked bread and then we ate bread. I have never baked before so I thought this would be a fun way to learn (WRONG). I gave myself two weeks to take a crash course in bread. I watched one youtube video and figured it couldn’t be that hard. This micro blag documents my bread journey.

Version 0

The first batch was pretty disappointing and not even edible. They both still had raw dough in them. Actually trying to follow the Ragusea video was pretty annoying. He doesn’t give exact measurement which I feel like IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT WHEN BAKING. He says in the video that he preheats the oven to 500f over 20min??? It takes much longer for an over to reach 500f than 20 mins. Why not tell me an exact temp? Never trust a youtuber.

Version 0.1

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Following Ragusea’s instructions I let the pizza stone and oven heat up to 500 which I feel like was way too hot. Because like the outside was burnt and the inside was raw. I also didn’t wait long enough for the pizza stone to heat up which caused it stick. I also didn’t do any rises. Didn’t realize you did rises outside of the fridge. So the bread was super dense.

Version 0.2

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I figured I might as well. bake the second bit of dough I had since I realized I had messed up the rise. This time I let the oven come up to 400f and then just let it bake for a while. It turned out a little better. I think next time I’ll aim for 420f and see what happens. I should mention that I live at a high altitude so like baking is extra hard. It takes longer for heat to transfer and things rise less. I found this guide by King Arthur which recommends raising temp and shortening bake time. Overall ready to give this thing another shot.

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