Years ago, there was a PBS reality show called Frontier House, where a few couples and their children were dropped into an 1800's existence somewhere in middle of nowhere, Wild West. Other than the young man who built a log cabin with his dad, the person who sticks in my mind was the woman who could bake bread from memory. Oh, what's so hard about it? Flour, yeast, water, salt. You'd be surprised. I stayed away from bread baking for years, assuming it took a level of precision I'm just not built for. Then, I got a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
(the old one) from the library. And over the last few months, I've started to get the hang of the bread baking thing, just from having a big container of dough sitting in the fridge, ready to go whenever the mood the strikes me. Fair disclosure, it's the mixing that takes 5 minutes, the dough still has to proof for an hour and bake for another 40 minutes.
It's the day after Thanksgiving. You just had a turkey sandwich with a few slices of apple and a schmear of cranberry, but there's still a lot left. Why is it that of all the Thanksgiving side dishes, it's the cranberry that hangs around for days? Whether it's brandied cranberries, a basic homemade cranberry sauce or the one from a can, it's always the last to go. This year, I've got an idea for you. Cranberry Black Pepper Sweet Rolls.
Bread is fussy and variable. Some days it needs more liquid, others more flour, some times a longer rise. And the only way to really learn is by doing, trial-and-error. I'd like to tell you I whip out loaves of bread like this every day of the week, no problem whatsoever, but I'd be lying. LY--ING. In last week's chickpea and farro salad post, I only briefly mentioned the bread. The first loaf was ok, except for big hollow tear in the middle. And I had no one to blame for it but myself.
