Learning to Sing

Bread is a staple in all communities and cultures, in endless forms. My sudden interest in bread started when my boss mentioned some amazing book that he owned, written by some super successful chef. So I figured I might as well see what all the fuss was about. I took the book home and went from there. This book was Jim Lahey's cookbook, my bread. It is truly all my boss made it out to be and more. It includes his fascinating personal journey as well as his revolutionary techniques. He perfected the no-knead method, allowing basically anyone to make amazing bread, the right way. If you have any interest whatsoever in making bread, buy this book! As he recommends, I started with his basic no-knead bread. The first loaf I made was off to an interesting start. The recipe for this bread calls for a 12-18 hour rising process. When I first read that, I was surprised. It seemed pretty excessive in comparison to other breads that I had made. However, he is an incredible and accomplished chef and I am 17, so I took his word for it. Somehow, my amazing brain thought that if I made the bread at 5pm then it would have risen enough by 8pm the next day. I know. It makes no sense. All I'm saying is don't count with your fingers. My dad realized this at about 2:30pm the next day and asked why my bread had to rise for over 20 hours. I didn't know what he was talking about and told him, "No dad, its only been 9 hours". Then it all clicked. I'm an idiot. My dough had risen for about 23 hours at this point, all because I am terrible at math. When I realized this I quickly moved along with the process. When I transferred the bread all the signs of good bread were still present. The beautiful gluten strands were very clear when moving the bread to a cloth to rise a little while longer. After this second rise was complete, I very carefully transferred my dough into the preheated pot. It is very important not to drop the bread into the pot, because it will cause it to deflate. My dad learned this the hard way when transferring on of my doughs last night. Your bread will still taste good, it will just look flat and a bit dense. So, just try your hardest to be careful. Anyways, I put my bread in the oven and waited eagerly for the result. It was surprisingly good! It was the perfect dark color, smelled amazing, and sang beautifully. And for those of you who might think I am crazy, bread "singing" is normal. It is signs of the last baking process occurring. It's a good thing. This is why you should not cut the bread right when it comes out of the oven. No matter how good cutting into bread fresh out of the oven sounds, the cooling process is vital. This last step allows for all of the moisture of the bread to rise and seep into the crust. I was able to delightfully share my bread with my parents and grandparents, all of whom were quite impressed. This mistake actually resulted in my favor. It made me realize that the extra time may be a necessity this time of year. My house, naturally, is colder in the winter, so to allow for proper fermentation, the time needed to be increased. I recently made bread to the exact 18 hours, and it still turned out delicious but it was not as bubbly and dark as the first loaf. Therefore, I encourage anyone interested in making bread to experiment with different amounts of yeast, as well as various fermentation times. I didn't think such minuscule changes could make such a difference, but they really can. However, I was pleasantly surprised with my first loaf, and I am excited to keep making more. I landed myself the job of making bread this thanksgiving. I was happy to hear that my grandma trusted me in contributing to her amazing stuffing. I am thrilled to help out with the McGee family feast this year, and will be back later to share.