And so it begins. Tuesdays with Dorie, Part 2, a/k/a Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia. Having completed all the recipes in Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home To Yours in the last four years, ending with December 2011, the group is finding new life by tackling a new book, edited by Dorie Greenspan, entitled Baking with Julia (the "Julia" being, of course, Julia Child, the book, the outcome of the efforts to capture the recipes presented on the PBS cooking show with the same title almost 20 years ago). The book is filled with recipes from the guest bakers who appeared with Julia Child on her show.
Let's get started with a thanks to Laurie and Julie who continue in their roles as organizers/facilitators/powers-that-be behind all that goes on at TWD: BWJ. They chose the inaugural recipe for the group, White Loaves, found on page 81-82 of the book, a contribution by baker Craig Kominiak. You can also find the recipe on Jules' blog, here, as the host each will have the recipe posted on their blog, with the permission of the author.
A few friends on Twitter and I baked the bread together a couple of weeks ago as we were all excited to get started with the new adventure. The recipe is easy to follow and the results were wonderfully delicious. While the book has instructions for using one's mixer to make the bread, or a combination of mixer and by hand, I chose to do it all by hand and it worked just fine, resulting in a delightful experience of working the silky smooth dough. Other than that, I made the recipe with the ingredients listed and the procedures described.
I did get to use a new technique that I had not come across before in bread baking, and that was the recommendation to pull the bread out of the pan about ten minutes before the completed baking time and standing it alone on the rack in the oven to bring more color to the sides and bottom of the bread. It worked wonderfully well and I was very happy with the color on the entire loaf of bread. I will remember that technique for future bread baking.
While the bread was a very nice bread, and delicious, it won't be my new "to go to" white bread recipe as I have another which toasts a bit better and works for sandwiches better...this one was just a bit dry and tended to fall apart in both instances (please note that, of course, this could be baker error and not recipe deficiency, so you should make it and form your own opinion). It did make good grilled cheese sandwiches, however.
I think in the past few years of bread baking that I have become a bit picky about bread recipes...you will just need to try the recipe for yourself and compare to your favorite to decide. It will be time well spent and you will end up with a good loaf of bread, only you can decide if it is your favorite "go to" recipe. Research is always fun, right?
