bake a loaf of bread assignment

bake a loaf of bread assignment for students in green media

1. in addition to our other readings for this friday, read "Basic White Bread – Ten Steps to Fresh-baked Goodness," from Sunset Cook Book of Breads; Molly Katzen, "An Illustrated Guide to the Baking of Yeast Bread," from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest; and Brother Rick Curry, S.J., "Making Bread," from The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking.

2. either individually or collaboratively, bake a loaf of bread. document the process.

3. bring your loaf of bread to class on friday, february 26. also bring a plate to class so that you can sample other people's loaves.

4. along with your loaf, bring a little something to accompany it (a bread accessory!) - honey, jam, herb butter, lilikoi flavored butter, cheese, lunch meat, an avocado, hummus, aioli, olives, you name it. to avoid duplication and to give us a sense of the feast that stands before us, tweet your bread accessory once you've decided on it. also bring a serving utensil for your bread accessory.

5. on friday, after we plant our garden plot, we will break bread together.

6. using multimedia and an online platform that allows readers the opportunity to leave comments, make a recipe and share it online. once finished, and certainly before sunset on sunday, tweet about it. be sure to include a link so that others can read your recipe.


rules:

1. do not be intimidated by this assignment. have fun with it.

2. no late work accepted.

bake it: oatmeal buttermilk bread in 8 easy steps

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons dried yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 1/2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons salt


1. in a large mixing bowl, place 1 1/4 cups oats. pour 1 cup boiling water over the oats. gently mix, for about 10 seconds, with wooden spoon to moisten all the oats. let sit in bowl, gently stirring once or twice, for ten minutes.

2. in a small mixing bowl, place 2 teaspoons of yeast. add 1/4 cup of warm water. whisk it for ten seconds or until the yeast mixes into the water. let rest for 5 minutes.

3. return your attention to the large mixing bowl with (now) soaked oats. add: the yeast mixture, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 3 1/2 cups white flour, and 2 teaspoons salt. mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon for about 5-7 minutes or when the mixture falls off the side of the bowl and begins to converge as a manageable blob-like structure.


4. take the manageable blob-like structure from the mixing bowl and place it onto a clean, well floured surface. knead it for 10 - 12 minutes. while kneading, add about a 1/2 a cup, 1/8 cup at a time, of white flour. the dough is ready when it becomes ball-like. also: when poked with a finger, it bounces quickly back to shape.

5. place dough in oiled (lightly, either with butter or oil) medium bowl and cover with a towel. put the towel-covered bowl in a place where it's warm and not subject to sudden breezes. let the dough do its thing for 1 hour. go have fun.

6. transfer dough from bowl to floured surface. knead and coddle dough for 1-2 minutes, or until all the air bubbles are worked out of the dough. cut resulting dough into two same-sized chunks. gently smoosh and guide dough into bread-like loaves. place loaves into oiled bread pans. cover pans with a towel and place where it's warm for 35-45 minutes or when the dough has nearly doubled in size.

7. at some point during step 6, preheat oven to 385 F.


8. remove the towel from the bread pans. with your hands or a water sprayer, flick drops of water on the top of the loaves. with the flicked water serving as a glue, sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of oats on the top of each loaf. place into oven and cook at 385 F for 1 hour. remove loaves from oven and let sit, still in pans, for 30 minutes. run a knife along the sides of the pan to loosen and then flip the pan to remove loaf. let the loaves sit for at least 15 minutes (preferably) before diving into it.