A Tale of Lost Virginity and Freshly Pinched Loaves.

   Guess who is no longer a Bread Baking virgin... This guy right here! And now that it's all over and the heat is no longer on and the sticky mess is all cleaned off my hands... and the floor... and the sink.... and the counter... and the cabinets... I can say it was awesome!

Poolish in a bowl... in case your eyes don't work.

   So I flipped through the book I bought and was just gonna start at the beginning and work my way though it. Maybe do some basic beginner bread baking stuff. Then I thought about it and decided fuck it, that's not how I roll! So I jumped into the middle and decided that my sherpa up the mountain of bread making would be a sexy ciabatta loaf.
   First I made a poolish. Which is what is in the bowl to the left.  Then I let that bitch sit on the counter for a few hours then I chilled her out in the fridge for a night to retard. Next day (today, the 26th) it was time to make the dough and start baking this shit!

The start of the dough about to get mixed up hard!

   Added the poolish to the flour and all the other shit and it is dough time. Some of these people (most of them, and they're probably smarter than me) are using mixers with bread hooks and bread machines and all kinds of fancy as fuck electronics. I'm not. I wanted to rock it old world style. I'm doing it all by hand.. which is real intense, but kinda fun. I get to do this fucking wet claw hand thing while spinning the bowl. Its pretty impressive. Trust me, you'd date me cause I can do this! Speaking of... I'm available... and easy! Anywho, I mix it all up and make a sticky ball-o-dough and then plop that bitch onto the counter that's all sprinkled with some flour. Then I get all kinds of domestically violent and start stretching and folding the dough.  Then just left it on the counter like I don't give a fuck about it... no worries, it's part of the process.

Chillin. Just fermentin and shit

   Lets skip ahead to the couche.. cause this is getting long, and I like the term couche cause it reminds me of the word douche. It's basically a towel all fucked up with oil and flour. It looks professional... so I like it. Then I baked them using a hearth baking method. Steaming shit at 500 degrees is sweet! However, I don't have a baking stone (christmas present idea!!). How about some pictures?!

Don't forget to couche!

So long story short (too late) I cooled them and ate them. here is the rest of the process in the pictures.

Cool down time

Floury as fuck. I got excited, sorry

 I cracked it open and it tasted pretty awesome. Without the baking stone the bottom of my bread didn't get crusty really... but it wasn't raw so that's all good. The crumb looks better than I thought it would turn out. Not as many open air pockets and stuff as it should probably have but I don't care. I JUST FUCKING MADE BREAD BY HAND LIKE A BOSS!!

Cut it. Ate it. Good

Tomorrow... Tuscan Bread. Bet I screw it up?? So do I. Check back for all the action!