Baking 101, part II

A while back, my friend Lindsay suggested that we take a cooking class one day, just for fun and some Mommy time. I agreed without hesitation. After many e-mails we found a class that we were interested in and that fit into our busy schedules (and those busy schedules of our husbands too).

BREAD.

Need I say more?

So Saturday, Lindsay and I had a nice relaxing lunch, no kids, and spent three hours watching, learning and tasting bread. No kids. (oh and I found clearance Christmas M&M's for $.39 *score*)

We learned techniques for pizza dough, potato rolls, olive tapanade bread, and a yeasted German almond bread.

I enjoyed the class. Maybe a little too much.

Scott came home from work yesterday and asked me if we were opening a bakery. I went to CostCo and came home with 25 pounds of bread flour. (shrugs)

I'm planning on bringing a dessert to Bunco on Thursday (usually it is brownies) so I decided to try making the yeasted German Almond Bread. Let me just say on Saturday, by far, my favorite bread. Sweet, almond-y, yum. Because I would NEVER want to try out a new recipe on the day I have to take it, I decided that today would be a great day to do a test batch. or two. or three.

My first batch, the yeast didn't rise too much. I felt like it was wrong right away so I started a second batch almost immediately.

Because our house is on the cold size I had some trouble with the rising part of this whole bread making adventure. It just takes a bit more time. After I picked up the boys from school and the bread had been rising for 45 minutes or so I knew that the first batch was not quite right. The second had already grown in size. It was at this moment that I decided to mix up a third batch, since I still had everything out, and put it in the refrigerator to be proofed and baked on Thursday when I need it. (I think I might even bake it there so it is nice and gooey fresh out of the oven.)

I began this bread making adventure at about ten this morning, and by five I had two pans of yummy goodness. One, a little more dense, and the other fluffy and light. Both tasting delicious.

You can tell,

they were both pretty good, because I could not stop eating them. I'm pretty sure I just ate my weight in Yeasted German Almond Bread. Or at the very least ate enough to negate the 90 minutes of Bikram Yoga I did this morning at SIX AM!!! (sigh)

(Damn, I couldn't even get through writing this post without having another piece. This stuff is deadly good)

And now I have to go find some bread to make tomorrow.