“Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven.”
Yiddish Proverb
Julia Child’s French Loaf…
The 29th is finally here…it’s been such a looooooooong wait!
Presenting this month’s Daring Bakers challenge…‘Julia Child’s French Loaf’…hosted by Breadchicks Mary (The Sour Dough) & Sara (I Like to Cook). Did it evoke some response or what? There were pages & pages of comments (126 at last count) – quite a few understandably anxious & panicky (like me) & others over the moon (???). I procrastinated for long, very unlike me, because baking & me are mutually inseparable. Then read up posts & updates & websites…finally got some gentle inspiration from Dharm. The mind was made up. On the 12th of Feb DH was off to Dubai for a day & I had the whole day to overcome my battle with yeast. PHEW…sure it took all day, right from kneading from 8 in the morning! But the yeast worked & the ‘first rising’ rose & with it my spirits. I followed Dharm’s words…at least read the recipe twice – I read it thrice for good measure (once at soccer league, next dozing off at night & then at the bus stop in the morning). I could feel the panic attack but I suppressed it…just a loaf huh? Even made a table to fill in timings & generally keep a track of the steps…learning French en route!!
The recipe is all of 18 pages long (yes, eighteen) & can be found here at Breadchick Mary’s blog . Great selection Mary & Sara…the ‘Breadchicks that ROCK’, & many thanks for the challenge…my yeastly confidence increased in leaps & bounds, & I picked up some French words that I can possibly share with bakers alone! Do stop by HERE & check out the other Daring Bakers posts for the February challenge.
A couple of pictures I took along the way…
Step 3: First Rising – premier pointage temps
Step 6: Forming the loaves – la tourne; lamise en forme des patons
