I did it !!!

That is made my first edible bread 😀 after uncountable failure attempts finally yesterday with the first day of my baking course I managed it 🙂

At this point of time I am so happy that I can’t explain… he he. There are a few wrinkles on one but that can be improved later infact the other two are more or less wrinkle free

I specially like this one, though the shape is pretty simple this one is almost perfect

And here is the crumb shot

If I look back on what I was doing before and what I did yesterday in the class, I think I have two major learnings to take home

1. The kneading : I was always kneading the flour no doubt but man never knew had to knead so much. I kneaded it for about 25 minutes yesterday slowly adding water to it all along. Basically the more you knead it and add moisture to it the softer the bread that comes out, a  good test is that take a small piece in your hand and it should be able to stretch to a thin very thin sheet without holes.
2. Yeast : As I always always always suspected its the yeast, I worked with fresh yeast yesterday the first time in my life and here see my bread 🙂 and they sell fresh yeast too….

PS: I have not been able to reply to any of your comments in the past post, life feels like running on a fast track right now… will do it ASAP

Edited to Add: On popular demand as lots of you have asked me the recipe of this bread… here it is

Ingredients

• Maida – 500gms
• Salt – 10 gms (u can go easy here and add about 8 too)
• Sugar – 20 gms
• Yeast  15 gm (we used fresh yeast, bread has never worked for me with dry yeast, try at ur own risk)
• Water – 300 gm
• Fat – 20 gm (use ghee, olive oil or any other oil.Avoid using butter as it has too much moisture)

Method

• Mix yeast and sugar in 100 ml of water and keep seperately for about 10 mins
• Mix salt and flour together and then make a well in the centre.
• Pour the yeast solution and water in the centre of the well and make a dough out of it.
• Knead Knead and some more knead, when will one know when the dough is ready the typically the “WindowPane test” aka gluten test or membrane test. Basically when u take a piece in your hand and stretch it should not break. See this video for understanding what I mean.

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The video says he is kneaded it for 10 minutes I think he is God if he has achieved that consistency in 10 minutes, in the last week the two times that I have kneaded the dough about 30 minutes atleast.

• Add the oil and knead a little more
• Cover the dough and keep aside for about 45 mins – 1 hour, a good test on when the fermentation is done is that when u slightly depress the dough it should NOT spring back
• After the dough is done with raising and fermentation, do a knockback on the dough i.e. remove all the air from the fermented dough. Basically tap the dough with your hand a couple of times.
• Divide the dough into equal parts and Roll the dough inwards keeping it smooth and wrinkle free (this will come only with pratice). U can roll it in any shapes. You tube is full of lovely videos of how to shape, here is one with basic shapes

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and this one explains braiding

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• Keep it for proving for about 30 minutes in a closed place, a kitchen drawer works perfect
• Brush with milk/egg and bake at 200 C for about 15 mins or till done

I really can’t believe myself that I am writing this post, there are so many number of times I have screwed up the bread and Mandy had to do a step by step post for me but still it didnt happen

And now finally I have done and it and posting it 🙂