Friday, August 29, 2014

BBB: Polenta Bread

The Bread Baking Babes challenged everyone to make Polenta Bread this month.  And, a challenge it was!  

Not the dough-making part, or the baking part, or, even the eating part.

No.  It was the shaping part.

This is a very slack dough, and when I oh-so-carefully placed it on the baking sheet, it instantly became the Blob that ate New York.   sigh

It's the reason I don't use brotforms or other basket/cloth-based techniques.  First, the dough always sticks no matter how thoroughly I flour or grease the container.  Second, the sticking thus causes the dough to deflate, creating the aforementioned blob state.  Third, the baker then deems herself a total failure, even though she has successfully been baking bread for decades.

No one else had this problem (view the perfect loaves), so clearly this technique eludes me.

Upon further study, I have determined that a confined space and a super hot oven temperature are the best roads to success.  I might try again.  Might.

That all being said, the bread, itself, is absolutely delicious.  I relented at the end and photographed some slices before they disappeared.



Elizabeth was the Babe responsible for August's recipe.  You can find it and links to the other Babes' loaves on her website.  Best of luck!
.

3 comments:

Sweet and That's it said...

If I had to choose between a perfect shaped bread with an awful taste and the blob that ate NY with a delicious taste...I undoubtedly would pick up the latter...
But Judy, your slices looks perfect and delicious to me.
We loved this bread as well...I will bake some tomorrow (aftertomorrow)...
Greetings from Switzerland

Elizabeth said...

Well, rats! I hate it when the bread sticks to the basket! But how great that it became bread anyway, even if it was flat and misshapen.

Many thanks for baking with us! I do hope that "might" changes to "will". Because it is awfully good bread, isn't it?

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Challenges come in all forms, sizes and shapes literally ;-) but always the ultimate test is ... 'is it good to eat'.
Your crumb looks beautiful and so does the loaf.