Saturday: Baking Day
Doesn't "Baking Day" sound nice? The promise of all sorts of treats and hearty breads full of lovely flavor and even health?
The problem with having a Saturday baking day is that Saturday is our family day. We're usually not home.
Therefore, my way of making this happen is to bake during the week. I try to save money by combining oven meals with the baking. I've also realized that long-baking items should be done in the winter and short-timers should be done in the summer. (Sometimes I'm not very quick to figure things out.)
One thing I am DETERMINED to do is bake our own bread. I bought the book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (posted about it HERE), but I'm having trouble. Trouble with a capital "T." There's something wrong with my oven. The bread rises beautifully. The outside tastes great. The inside, however, is never cooked. Recently I had a roast that overcooked on the outside and was raw on the inside. Something is definitely up with my oven.
Once I get my oven situation under control, though, I plan to bake bread every other week and freeze the loaves. I am SO tired of paying $3-$5 a loaf!!!
My plan (when the oven is in order) will be to plan to bake something any time I need to use the oven for other dishes, and to bake our supply of bread twice a month.
But not on Saturday.
4 comments:
Ah yes, Saturday is often too busy for baking - I've been doing as you have, throughout the week baking.... bread is the only thing I haven't been able to do well...but I'm going to keep trying!!!!
Oven problems: First thing I'd do is get an oven thermometer and check that your temperature is accurate. If that's ok I'd suspect your problem is the amount of time your bread rises. If it rises too quickly (under 1/2 an hour, say) your bread can look risen enough but actually be only risen on the outside and a lump inside. Try letting it rise in a slightly cooler place for a slightly longer time. Hope this helps.
I agree with the oven thermometer thing. The thermostat on my previous range was troublesome. At least once a year, we had to have the repair guy come out to fix it...it would heat up to temp but then it wouldn't cycle right to keep the temperature where it was supposed to be.
When the thermostat started turning the oven on and off on its own (I'd have the oven OFF but it would go on for about 5 minutes before turning off), I knew it was time for a new range.
Eva--Baking bread is like the pinnacle to me. I intend to reach that goal some time before I reach 70.
Winding--I borrowed my sister's thermometer and the oven read accurately. I *think* it just kicks off when it feels like it. That roast I cooked was done on the outer 3mm but RAW inside after an hour.
I will remember what you said about the rising, though. I have been letting it rise in near the woodfire--a VERY warm place. Thanks for the tip.
Dr. Julie-Ann--I believe my oven is trying to give up the ghost. I think it's time to replace it. I guess 15yo for an oven is like 105 for a human or something.
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