This morning, I wanted to cook a turkey breast and bake some bread. The turkey went into the oven with its attendant vegetables and then I turned to the kneading of the dough.
I usually knead the dough, let it rise, put it in the pans, let it rise, and then bake it. This time, because the turkey was in the oven and the bread rose faster than I expected it to, I punched the dough down and let it rise a second time before I put it in the pans. That was Grandma Lena's way of doing it and I knew it wouldn't hurt anything.
Just as the turkey was finished and I was about to trade it for the bread, when a transformer in the neighborhood blew. No electricity and bread ready to bake.
My first reaction was to turn the dough out onto waxed paper, pack it in a plastic bag, and freeze it until the electricity came back on.
It didn't take as long as I thought it might for the power to return. So I grabbed the dough out of the freezer and discovered that it had been working even while it was cooling off. The waxed paper was a bear to peel off of the dough, and I had to let the bread rise yet again before I could bake it.
The long and the short of this story is that bread dough doesn't like to rise four times before baking. The final product was flat and bitter. I ended up starting from scratch and baking a whole new batch. Phew!
I'll use the flat bread to feed the birds. It won't be wasted.
Thanks for visiting with me,
Kathi
I usually knead the dough, let it rise, put it in the pans, let it rise, and then bake it. This time, because the turkey was in the oven and the bread rose faster than I expected it to, I punched the dough down and let it rise a second time before I put it in the pans. That was Grandma Lena's way of doing it and I knew it wouldn't hurt anything.
Just as the turkey was finished and I was about to trade it for the bread, when a transformer in the neighborhood blew. No electricity and bread ready to bake.
My first reaction was to turn the dough out onto waxed paper, pack it in a plastic bag, and freeze it until the electricity came back on.
It didn't take as long as I thought it might for the power to return. So I grabbed the dough out of the freezer and discovered that it had been working even while it was cooling off. The waxed paper was a bear to peel off of the dough, and I had to let the bread rise yet again before I could bake it.
The long and the short of this story is that bread dough doesn't like to rise four times before baking. The final product was flat and bitter. I ended up starting from scratch and baking a whole new batch. Phew!
I'll use the flat bread to feed the birds. It won't be wasted.
Thanks for visiting with me,
Kathi
