Bread education.

This is not the first bread-making experience. To make bread that goes from decent or fine to good, in my opinion, you need the starter.. The biga or poolish or whatever it is called in whichever cookbook, depending on the region of the world influencing the recipe.  This can make an all-day affair turn into an all-nighter as well.  This time, I revisited Bread Alone, which I long ago borrowed from a friend. It's a long process. I'm not gonna lie. Did the long slow poolish overnight in the fridge. Then from 8 in the morning until late afternoon the dough was babied. It was cool in my house so I tried using a heating pad to raise the temp. Put a towel between the pad and bowl and monitored the temp with a thermometer, aiming for the high 70s.. close to 80. The heating pad worked great! Only drawback is the need to sit closely by to watch and adjust, turning to medium or low or off or moving off the pad entirely.

The kneading process was extremely long this time, not sure why exactly. I set the timer for 15 minutes, knowing that was the minimum set in the book. The dough still needed flour and kneading for a good 10 minutes more.  Once kneaded, the process was straightforward. The fermentation yielded a risen, doubled dough. The shaping and proofing went better than expected despite a power outage from a storm. I would have raised the temp for the proofing to make it go quicker, but there was a 4 hour period with no electricity, so no heating pad and no heating oven. The oven situation caused a dilemma. The loaves doubled, but nowhere to put them, so when the power came back on and it was time to put the first loaf in, I made a decision not to touch the loaf - just slide 'er in.  The second loaf, I experimented by deflating and reshaping then baking. This proved to be a mistake. I now know that the proofing helps create a less dense, more hole-y bread. If it needs reshaping, I think it should get another brief proofing period.  So, the result was one (the first and more round in photo) bread the way I like it - chewy, with holes and great flavor. The other loaf was too dense, but you live and learn..