dough boy fresh

Title. Today was a wake and bake kind of day. It was Sunday, rainy and I had the house (mostly) to myself. But in the interest of being moderately productive with the day, I decided to make soda bread instead. I first thought I'd have a second go with cuisinart bread, but was quickly put off by memories of the waiting/rising process, etc. I had also failed to celebrate St. Patrick's Day (unless you count getting drunk and belligerent on Guinness when it was still light out and proceeding to get in a physical fight with one of my good friends as celebrating St. Patrick's Day...), and soda bread seemed like a good tribute to my Irish non-brethren.

I attempted to find a recipe for soda bread I had found successful previously (not the oat one I wrote about in here). I am pretty sure it came from the Bread Bible, but upon comparing the B.B. recipe with one I found in the Big Book of Baking, I decided to try the latter. I made a minor adjustment, adding 2 cups of whole wheat flour (I had done this the first time I made soda bread to my immense delight. Flavor and fiber!), but otherwise was content with the simplicity of the recipe.

American Soda Bread

adapted from recipe from The Big Book and Baking

* 2 cups flour

* 2 cups whole wheat flour

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 3/4 cups buttermilk (I made the genius error of reading 1 1/4 cups at first and was most perplexed when the dough was excessively floury and dry until I finally learned to read)

Preheat oven to 425˚ F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Mix the flours, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Make a well and add the buttermilk (ideally the proper amount). Stir until the dough just comes together. It should not be too wet.

Turn dough onto floured surface and knead a few times. Shape into a 8-inch circle (NOTE: THIS STEP IS CRUCIAL). Place the loaf on the cookie sheet. Make a cross on the top with a knife. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Now for the fun part: I was very pleased with my first impression of the bread. It was a gorgeous color and well risen, if slightly lopsided. The first slice I tasted was the perfect temperature, slightly crunchy on the outsides and subtly flavored. I immediately went in for a second piece, only to discover an oval of raw dough in the center of my bread. I cut another piece to see if the dough problem had invaded the whole loaf. It had. Now, for anyone who knows me, raw things are not problematic. I will eat most things from raw mushrooms to, as it happens, bread dough. This was a little troubling, though. I ate the pieces I had cut with some buttery spread while pondering 1) how I could fix this and 2) how it happened. I re-heated the oven to 350˚ and put the bread back in for 3 minutes before deciding that this was not a good idea - the rest of the loaf was borderline dry already and this would most likely ruin the whole thing without fixing the central problem (hehe). I removed it, ate another piece, then grabbed a spoon. It was time to excavate. I scooped out as much of the raw part as possible and shaped it together into a mini loaf. I stuck it in the toaster oven at 350˚ for about 5 minutes, then shoved this small, mostly baked piece back into the cavernous loaf. I am nothing if not creative. And crazy.

As for what happened, Dani proposed that I did not sufficiently flatten the dough (hence above warning at the shaping step). I think I also failed to tightly pinch the dough seams together, which, while this might not have contributed to the un-baked factor, is always important in bread making. Duly noted.