The August Kitchen of the Month was Kelly of A Messy Kitchen. Kelly asked the Babes to make The Approachable Loaf, a recipe from the test kitchens of Washington State University BreadLab. According to WSU, "The Approachable Loaf is tin-baked and sliced, contains no more than
seven ingredients and no non-food. It is at least 60-100% whole wheat
and priced under $8/loaf depending on regionality."
This is certainly an easy loaf to make, and, even though I made this twice, the results, both times, were disappointing.
For the first bake, the dough rose to the specified height before the oven came up to temperature, so by the time the oven was ready, I suspect the bread had overproofed.
For the second bake, I turned the oven on well ahead of time, watched the bread like a hawk, and, after 45 minutes, it was ready. However, I blinked at it, and the dough fell. Seriously? So, I squished it down, and let it rise again. It still didn't rise, so I ended up with two flat loaves.
The second loaf had a better crumb and was less dense. but still didn't live up to the hype. Nor did it look anything like the loaves from the other Babes. Sigh. Maybe I would have had better results using all AP flour. We'll never know.
The recipe is posted on Kelly's blog, or on the WSU Breadlab website.
The other Babes made beautiful loaves, so be sure to check them out.
