I've always been impressed with people who can make homemade yeast breads really well. I've asked several different people, "How'd you get so good at making bread?" They all give me the same lame answer: Practice.
Ugh. Why is that always the answer?! :)
With the cold weather approaching, I've added "become a better bread maker" to my list of winter to-dos. You see, I like to hibernate stay busy during the winter, and I don't like to get out in the weather much.
Today Baby Beau and I started "practicing" by making a batch of focaccia for AEDM.
I always make my kitchen helpers swear by oath that they won't drool into the dough. :)
We also whipped up a batch of Crock Pot Pizza Soup. Some friends of ours had a baby last week, so we delivered this meal to them for dinner tonight (along with some of those sinful cookies from yesterday!)
The dough was made using the good ol' Betty Crocker cookbook that's in its gazillionth printing. The dough after rising:
Beau helping stretch the dough to prepare it for baking:
The raw dough after being poked:
Whenever Beau is in the kitchen with me, I let him take a whiff of spices, zests, cut fruit, etc. He apparently likes Emeril's Italian seasoning blend. BAM!
Here's the final product. It turned out better than the last batch I made (not enough kneading that time, I think), but there's still some room for improvement.
However, they do look and taste pretty darn good...and they will be PERFECT for dunking in pizza soup!
Now that you've seen the final result, check out this exclusive interview with my sous-chef, Beau.