Basic Hearth Bread Round Up

Marie's Basic Hearth Bread

"Soul of simplicity", that is how Rose describes her Basic Hearth Bread,  "containing only flour, water, yeast and salt with a little honey for sweetness and a golden crust."  It was a resounding success with all the Alpha Bread Bakers.  

Marie likes this bread very much and has made it often, to the point where her loaves could easily pass in a bakery shop case with perfect slashing and browned crust.  She especially likes the slight bit of nuttiness whole wheat flour gives in this recipe without any bitter taste.  Marie first learned the business letter fold years ago from Rose even though it's quite common among bread bakers today but for her, it was Rose who introduced her to this technique. Marie likes it for sandwiches and for morning toast.  "I almost resent it when bread doesn't toast well.  That's part of its job."  Touche Marie, touche!

Basically Delicious Hearth Bread is how Elle describes this basically amazing bread.  She had two teenage sous chefs by her side to "help"-if drinking warm chai lattes and texting is helping.  Although, her daughter's friend was quite intrigued with the scale, never having seen ingredients measured by weight.  Just wait, chemistry class is right around the corner!  She found the only down side to the recipe was the rise times, only due to impatience.  Totally understandable; this is a bread that looks so good on the cover of The Bread Bible.  The lovely golden, tasty loaf of bread transported her back to fancy Italian restaurants where waiters whisked away bread crumbs off the table with their silver scrapers.  Sitting on the back deck with horses just off in the distance, not a snooty waiter to be found.  Just glorious and delicious homemade bread straight from the hearth.

Michele was the only one who made the Velvety Buckwheat Loaf variation since she's made the Basic Hearth Bread more times than she can remember.  It was the word "velvety" that intrigued her and rightly so.  The pre-ferment includes sour cream which she feels contributed to the velvety texture. Michele has become quite adept with slashing the top of the dough and this bread rewarded her with perfect oven spring, opening up the deep cuts.  She describes the flavor as similar to pumpernickel but without the prominent rye flavor in darker breads.  While this bread was a picture perfect success, Michele prefers the flavor of the Basic Hearth bread.  Bonus points Michele, for trying something new!

Nancy chose to bake the classic loaf shape for her Basic Hearth Bread, thinking ahead to the versatility of the shape.  She got tricked again by the dry ingredient step, forgetting to hold back the salt until after the first ferment but no harm, no foul!  And here is where Nancy's expertise really comes into play; noticing the dough was a little dry and not sticking slightly to the bowl as Rose describes, she sprayed water right into the mixing bowl.  Genius!   Her bread turned out lovely in the loaf pan but she is going to figure out the correct amounts of ingredients for her size of loaf pan.  Keep us posted, Nancy.  We probably all have an odd sized loaf pan or two. 

Kristina takes multi-task baking to a new height; she baked two different kinds of pies and The Basic Hearth Bread overlapping a two day period.    Kristina, who starts off saying "Pretty straight forward. Grind the wheat".  This is just too charming for words!  Only an Alpha Baker would include grinding one's own wheat as straight forward.  And since it has a bit of honey in the recipe, well wouldn't it be wonderful if she had her own bee hive now, too?  If anyone can successfully raise bees, it will be Kristina.  Go have a look at the posted link on her site for the snazziest bee hive ever.  Her dough bubbled up nicely and mixed together well but she forgot a step with her baguette pans, which is a rare occurrence for Kristina.  She can make bread in her sleep.  The bread stuck a bit to the pan but really, with this wonderfully flavored fresh bread covered with fresh tomatoes, who could fault such delicious crostinis for missing a few crumbs? 

There comes that defining moment in a new bread baker's life when it just all clicks together.  The Basic Hearth Bread was that moment for Vicki.  Not growing up in a bread baking family, yeast was a foreign thing.   This dough is the first bread dough where the "feel" started to all make sense.  Pretty amazing but that just goes to show what a great guide The Bread Bible is.  This bread won rave reviews and didn't last nearly long enough.  It made great sandwiches and morning toast with tea.  

Hooray for Catherine !  She had success with elusive oven spring.  Even while not feeling well,  mixing the dough together for Basic Hearth bread was simple enough that she could manage it.  Trying a suggestion of not letting the dough rise too much during the final proof, she gave it a good slash, popped it in the oven and Voila!  Oven spring as evidenced by the opening of the slashes during baking.  Just look at that loaf of this exquisite bread! And then on to slathering a toasted slice with Vegemite!  We in the U.S. pretty much heard of Vegemite from lyrics of the  popular song Land Down Under by Men At Work.  Catchy tune that! 

To date, our little gaggle of bread bakers have collectively baked sixty-six loaves of bread!  

Beer Bread Round Up

Catherine's perfectly golden Beer Bread

Rose describes her beer bread as having a non-beery flavor but an essential ingredient as dark beer gives this bread a "soft texture, subtle mellow flavor, mahogany crust, and dark golden crumb". 

Let's see how the Alpha Bakers fared with Beer Bread.

Peggy declares this to be "a very easy bread to make".  The biggest decision was which beer to use; Kilkenny Irish Beer won out.  Peggy's husband described it as half-light-half-dark.   Beer gives Faithy hives so she didn't dare but have a wee sip for taste testing.  She thew in a bit of sour dough for  more flavor.  Shaped into two boules,  they baked into  "quite flavorful and nice bread".   Peggy prefers the interior of bread, leaving the crust behind but is forcing herself to savor the chewy outside.  There is actually a word in Italian for those that prefer the interior of bread and those that prefer the outer crust, leaving the soft middle behind.  On your next trip to Italy, you'll be in good company, Peggy!  When in Rome....

Oven spring, where are you?  Catherine is calling your name and evidently so are a lot of other bakers.  After googling Why why why no oven spring? she found many kindred spirits united to lament their frustration at the lack of "spring" ie the rising of dough during the first ten minutes of baking, making for a lovely texture and crumb.  Catherine advises they might also consider therapy!  She ended up liking this bread, it was "dense and soft with a nice crumb", pretty much Q & E in a bread sense and great company for hearty soups and stew.  She used a pale ale made in her home town of Adelaide, which was mild enough for sipping leftovers. It may not have sprung to Catherine's dream height but it was an absolutely perfect golden loaf of bread. 

Kim has been looking forward to baking the Beer Bread since the beginning of the Alpha Bakers start up.  In her beautiful bowl she got to work, eager to see how beer would affect the bread.  She first found the dough sticky and unpleasant, but after a twenty minute rest it was smooth, and even more so after five minutes of kneading.  As Kim stretched the dough forming a perfect boule, she noticed a gluten skin formed over the top.  The more she stretched, the tighter it became and to her surprise, never broke.  She opted for a tricky spiral slash design.  The texture and crumb were nice and even, toasting up beautifully.  

Jeniffer proclaims this the best adult bread to "serve for BBQ entertaining, served with equally strong flavours;  spiced burgers, mushrooms bitey cheese, roasted capsicum dip and the like".

She also found a video of Rose actually making the Beer Bread and linked it on her site.

Cooper's Best Extra Stout from an Australian Brewery made its way into Jeniffer's bread, by way of recommendation from Catherine. Perhaps the most adorable memory this Beer Bread evoked was the robust flavour reminded Jeniffer of her mother, who always loved a high tea on one hand but partook if the opportunity arose, to share in a ploughman's lunch-no cutlery, rip apart bread, suck down a pickled onion and wash it all down with beer.  Doesn't she sound delightful and loads of fun?  Jeniffer, you must have been the envy of your teenage friends!  Her suggestion of topping the Beer Bread with hummus and spiced marinated pine nuts sounds delicious.

Kristina enjoys bread baking but observes there is not a lot of visual interest but one thing that is exciting, is the opportunity to bring out her deluxe flour mill.  Kristina grinds the most beautiful flour from wonderful selections of grains.  Jay, her husband, chose Old North Mocha Porter from Ontario.  She also pointed out that Rose bakes this bread a lot but uses water since her husband doe not care for beer.-the beer-less beer bread.  Good tip!  Kristina chose the lantern slash for her design and enjoyed slicing off a piece from the baked loaf, slathering it with softened butter from her butter bell,   all the while sitting on the counter while her husband made dinner.  Fair exchange for fresh Beer Bread.

Nancy baked the Beer Bread at the beginning of August and blogged about it at the end of September.  Nancy is quite the traveler, off to exciting places and still manages a full work schedule.  She remembers choosing Guinness and that the bread rose enthusiastically.  Nancy prefers the mixer method and with all the successful loaves of bread she has made, she has this bread thing down pat.  Claiming this to be a good tasting bread, a bit extra yeasty from the beer, it had a nice amount of "chew".  The picture on her blog show an amazing interior texture and crumb with beautiful height. 

Root-Beer Beer Bread.  Elle and Vicki made this bread together while under the same roof.  Neither being one for beer,  the perfect solution was beer that professed to taste exactly like root-beer.  Indeed it did;  both smelling and tasting like root-beer with nearly 6% alcohol content.  We found the dough easy to mix up with the Kitchen Aid mixer.  It was watched like a hawk for over browning.  The dark caramel root-beer gave the bread a lovely deep golden color and faintly sweet flavor, perfect with cream cheese and jams. 

Seven loaves of Beer Bread made with seven different beers and all excellent outcomes.  Another bread baking success!

Prosciutto Ring Round Up

Kristina's Prosciutto Ring with balsamic vinegar from Italy and olive oil 

Rose never dreamed she would have recipe in hand for the Prosciutto Ring from her neighborhood bakery, Zito's.  Luckily,  one of the owner's sons described the making of the bread in perfect detail, enabling Rose to recreate this flavorful, simple bread.

Kristina coined it best when she said "This is another one of those recipes that I would never try making if it weren't for a bake-through project like this, so I'm glad I signed up for this group."

Making this bread transported her back to Italy where she toured a prosciutto producer's facility in Modena. Kristina even used malt syrup.  Her husband Jay pulled out the authentic balsamic vinegar they had been saving from Italy and while happily dipping warm bread in oil and vinegar, savored their wonderful memories.   Kristina also points out that she would not have nearly as much experience baking different things if it weren't for the past five, six years of baking through Rose's Heavenly Cakes, The Baking Bible, and now The Bread Bible, which have been "like taking a series of classes from a master chef".  I think you summed it up perfectly for all of us, Kristina.   Mangiamo!

Nancy was caught in a bit of a muddle while going over the recipe, noticing there was no mention of lard in the ingredients in her book yet lard was mentioned in the anecdote heading.  Once again, the Facebook Bread Bible Bakers site solved the mystery.  Nancy has one of the earliest copies of the book before Rose revised the recipe which doubled the meat quantity.  Nancy resourcefully substituted bacon fat for the lard and spicy Spanish-style chorizo for soppressata,resulting in a wonderfully tasty bread for supper.  We are so glad Nancy is baking bread with us and her family next door is probably more so!

"A coarse, rustic bread just waiting to be ripped apart" is how Jeniffer said it best when describing her first bake with The Bread Bible Alpha Bakers.  With her photograph of a charming antipasto platter, the Prosciutto Loaf got star billing. Jeniffer comes by way of talented genes; her grandfather and uncle were master bakers with their own bakery in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.  Her great uncle lectured at the culinary university in Melbourne, particularly on wheat production. Jeniffer has carried on the family tradition with fabulous baked creations that honestly look like works of art.  Read her bio for the subjects she studied during her technical school years, quite impressive. Jeniffer rolled up her sleeves and rendered wet bacon fat into lard for this loaf.  Prosciutto, salami and bacon rounded out her  bread into a substantial, meaty ring. She has excellent suggestions of using leftover Christmas ham to make a loaf for Boxing Day, and delicious vegetarian ideas. 

Peggy loved the crackly black pepper bits and along with her family, couldn't stop eating the flavorful Prosciutto Ring. In fact they finished it in under one day.  Peggy bought spicy Sopressa but decided to use salami and bacon with the prosciutto, opting for bacon oil instead of lard. She also added some leftover sour dough to the mix.  All in all, this made for a successful loaf of very tasty bread. 

"Meat, meat, glorious meat" exclaimed Catherine in describing her Prosciutto Ring.  The dough, with the pink combination of meats at first did not look  promising, but once baked "melded into deliciously savoury.flavour".  Incredibly easy to make in the stand mixer and fast to rise,  the texture was wonderful and not doughy, as one might expect, even with her "It'll do principal" which she suspects is foreign to Rose!.   All in all, a big success. 

Kim loved the perfume of the prosciutto against the fullness of the spicy, black pepper off set by the salty cure.  The dough was mixed together in a very special bowl, a gift from her mother; a huge beauty weighing in at nearly eleven pounds and seventeen inches in diameter.  The bread crumb turned out perfectly and more than justified the bowl's  rightful place in Kim's kitchen.   She found the delicious bread more mellow the next day, with the soft crumb and chewy crust which Kim found to  perfectly compliment a bottle of red wine.

Michele knighted her ring St Thomas's Bread, since she baked it on the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle, without prosciutto.   Michele has baked weekly out of The Bread Bible for many years yet this was one recipe that she had not baked before.  Joining up with the Alpha Bread Bakers, the opportunity came early to tackle the Prosciutto Ring.  She substituted capocollo for prosciutto, which is a traditional Italian pork cold cut.  The lard lent a silky feel to the dough, even if not highly recommended for cardiac rehab patients.   Michele's ring of rising dough was perhaps the most classy to date; under an exquisite crystal cake dome.  Brushed with bacon fat and baked to perfection, Michele declared the ring of bread crusty, fragrant and delicious served with shaved slices of Gruyere cheese. So one more in Michele's repertoire, which is why she loves the Alpha Bakers!

Elle aptly described the Prosciutto Ring as stuffed full of three kinds of meaty goodness, plus lard and bacon fat (or butter) for good measure. The catch is, as a vegetarian, this wasn't something to taste-test. Luckily she has a built in appreciative audience with her husband's co-workers so all was well.  The unseasonably high temperatures turned her kitchen into the ideal proofing box. The meat sprinkled dough resembled fun confetti and the leftover bits were eagerly consumed from a less than patient canine sous chef.   The warm bread reminded her husband and teenage daughter's friend like pizza without sauce.  They suggested a hearty marinara for dipping on the side.. She found the bread so easy to make and it smelled wonderful, which is saying something for a vegetarian! 

Like Nancy, Vicki's book was a case of the missing lard.  With the same early edition, the recipe was slightly different than the revised edition, but this suited a vegetarian just fine!  With the lesser amount of called for proscuitto and no other meat, it would be easy to taste test a crumb here and there, especially using butter instead of bacon fat.  The addition of olive oil rather than lard made for a light and fluffy dough, with the faintest hint of olive oil flavor.  A fan of black pepper, the flavor shines through in the savory bread.  It was very well received among the Italian inlaws. 

All in all, the Prosciutto Ring was a resounding success for all who baked Rose's favorite neighborhood bakery's bread.

And finally, a big resounding thank you to Glori.  I don't think there is anything more frustrating than having an idea which is near and dear to one's heart yet lacking the expertise to execute it.  Glori took my original idea of starting this Alpha Bread Bakers group and brought it to life with her exceptional technical skills.  Not only did she set up this beautiful site but also carried the load of writing clever  Round Ups.  . 

 Life is full for Glori and she has stepped down from carrying the technical side of things but her founding efforts will be endlessly appreciated.  I was hopeful perhaps three of us would bake bread together but we have quite a nice group now.  We have a gathering place where we can enjoy the baking and breaking of bread together for many days to come.   A place to encourage, inspire and applaud our yeasty efforts.  Thank you Glori.  -Vicki

Ricotta Loaf

Ricotta Loaf
Photo courtesy of Elle from Pancakecroissants

This month the Bread Bible Alpha Bakers tackled the Ricotta Loaf. A simple and sort of quick bread to make. The ricotta gives the bread a different texture and taste which some of the bakers liked and some didn't. I was one of those who didn't quite care for it but it did smell amazing while it was baking.

Let's start off with Elle who took that awesome picture you see. I don't think it's quite fair that she has such a great little helper in the kitchen. Elle chose to do the free form version of the bread and I think it looks great. She also had a little help from her Mom, Vicki, who suggested making an aluminum boat to hold the ice cubes. Genius! Elle thought the bread was decadent and dipped it in Earl Gray tea with cream & sugar, of course.

Vicki, Elle's Mom described the loaf as not a fluffy yeast bread, not a dense tea bread but somewhere in the middle with a flavor all its own. She tried it with some lemon curd she just happened to have in the freezer. (Don't we all?) The bread was good, it's very good, too good with jam and even better with lemon curd.

The person who had the most help with the loaf had to be Patricia. Her daughter actually made the dough since Patricia had to teach a cooking class. After much struggling with the food processor, her daughter wound up kneading the dough by hand. She forgot the salt but they figured they could just knead it in when it had risen. The poor dough was tossed in and out of the refrigerator for 3 days just waiting to be baked. When it finally came out of the oven, it was beautiful. Also very tasty because it didn't last long.

My favorite post came from Marie. Remember, she's baked all these recipes once before. The second time around for this one was just as good as the first time. Unfortunately her food processor died but as Marie put it, for a good cause. The first time making it, Marie opted to not slather the bread with the melted butter, being health conscious and all. This time, butter! Her new motto - "When you're 70, you can do whatever you want to." The caveat to this is you have to actually be 70.

Our over-achiever of the group, Kim did some experimenting and actually made 2 loaves. Not really on purpose but rather because she started with the wrong flour. I've never done that before :( Anyway, she used both unbleached bread flour and unbleached AP flour. The recipe called for AP flour. I thought her experiment was cool and it seemed that the bread flour loaf rose higher, was heavier but had a more open crumb. Unfortunately, Kim didn't like it enough to make it again but the experiment was awesome!

Nancy decided to add a little extra butter but the food processor wouldn't have any of that. So Nancy had to knead the dough by hand. She thought the loaf had a lovely even crumb and wonderful flavor. I want to go to her house for breakfast because she had the best breakfast. Sliced ricotta loaf with leftover ricotta, arugula and a fried egg. Nom, nom!

Dense and delicious! Handsome? Why yes! That's what Catherine thought of the bread especially after the coat of melted butter. In my mind, butter makes everything handsome!

Kristina had my thoughts exactly. There are not a lot of photo opportunities when all the ingredients are white, more white and brown. Unless there is a pop of color - eggs! She thought the bread had good flavor and served it with butternut squash soup. That sounds mighty tasty.

Finally, Faithy thought the dough had moon craters in it. What a fun description. She thought it was a cross between a scone and bread. It tasted good but Faithy prefers a more fluffy, cottony bread that will last at least 2 days. Precisely!

So another month in the books. Next month it will be the Prosciutto Ring. A "meat loaf", hehe!

Glori

A Touch of Grace Biscuits

Touch of Grace Biscuits
Photo by Patricia at ButterYum

Is it a biscuit? Is it a scone? Should it be sweet? Is it too tender? These were some of the questions asked by the Alpha Bakers this month concerning the Touch of Grace Biscuits. Rose's biscuits were inspired by Shirley Corriher whom she calls the Queen of Southern Biscuits. Heavy cream or buttermilk? Butter or shortening? More questions. I think it's safe to say that with all the questions about these biscuits that most of the Bakers liked them.

Of course they weren't without their problems though. Vicki liked the light texture and even made them into strawberry shortcakes. A little dark on the top but that adds texture, right?

Nancy wrote an awesome post comparing Shirley Corriher's recipe to Rose's recipe. No problems in Nancy's kitchen and she even made Cherry-Chambord butter to go with them.

This was the second time around making these for Marie. The last time was in 2006. How do I know this? She has a picture of the 10 year old bag of flour that she probably used the first time. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has out dated ingredients in my pantry. For Marie, the biscuits were hard to describe. Were they soft, fluffy, tender, too tender? All in all, she prefers the more traditional biscuits.

Patricia's came out just beautiful. That's why I chose her picture for the post. She described them as a little sweet but she opted for the cream instead of the buttermilk. Her final verdict? Pretty good!

A couple of the Alpha Bakers went a little above and beyond. Kristina made her own self rising flour. Rose gives a variation in the book for doing that. Although Kristina thought the biscuits were weird looking, they were tasty and didn't even need any butter. Catherine was one that was questioning whether it was a scone or a biscuit. She also made her own sour milk. I've always wanted to try that. She also liked them and served them as part of a (loosely) Middle Eastern spread. I want to have dinner at her little house on the prairie!

Faithy decided to cut the recipe in half and thought they were pretty good biscuits. She preferred them when they were cooled calling them "just right".

My favorite post was from Michele. She literally has a lot of grace in her life. Not just biscuits. Her grandmother, her aunt, her cousin, and her good friend are all named Grace. Wow! She described the biscuits like her cousin, Grace - tender, sweet without being sugary, a pleasure, and leave you wanting more. Great description.

I would also like to have dinner at Kim's house. BBQ chicken and biscuits - my mouth is watering right now. Kim appreciated the simplicity of the recipe and was able to use a very old ice cream scoop that was her grandfather's. She thought they were delicious!

If there were an award for baking not matter what, it would go to Elle. She just had a baby in April, an adorable baby girl. Having a baby wasn't going to stop Elle from making the biscuits. She might have had to concentrate a little more but had no problems with the recipe. Although the dough might have rested a bit longer than it needed to since there was an interruption called baby done with nap time. Elle thought the biscuits were scrumptious and her eldest daughter wants them again - tomorrow!

Another month in the books and I think it was a successful bake. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to make them since I was recovering from cataract surgery but they are definitely on my to do list. Next month we will be baking the Ricotta Loaf.

Glori

Pita Bread - The Art of the Puff

Pita Bread
Courtesy of The Knitty Baker

This month the Alpha Bakers tackled Pita Bread. It just amazes me how a few simple ingredients can turn into something as wonderful as pita bread. Rose's recipe is basically the same as her pizza dough except the flour. It seems the biggest challenge for most of the bakers was getting that "puff". Myself included.

There were a few that couldn't get the pita to puff at all like Vicki. She thought the flavor was amazing though and if she can master the puffing part, she'd have a pita party with a buffet of different toppings. I want to come to that! Patricia also struggled with the puff and used her antique cast-iron griddle. But she would not be deterred and instead turned her pitas into pizza. Brilliant! Fresh "mootz", basil and tomatoes. Can't go wrong with that.

What seemed to be a common thread among everybody was what to have with the pita. They are not just for sandwiches, oh no, pita is very versatile. Marie created a fantastic dinner sandwich using cheddar, thinly sliced apples, toasted walnuts, thyme, bacon and parmesan cheese. Okay, she used bacon, doesn't that make everything better?

Kristina referred to one of my favorite things, the "yeast" sock puppets on Alton Brown's show "Good Eats". I love those sock puppets and how they burp. Her pita puffed nicely and used them for tuna melts.

And then there's Elle. She amazes me with her Now Fully Armed & Operational Proofing box and the fact that she's 36 weeks pregnant and baking away. She also is wondering if Captain Hook was secretly a bread-making whiz. Her pita puffed nicely and made nut burgers.

Catherine went a little outside the box and used bread flour instead of the all purpose flour but they turned out beautifully. She had her pita for breakfast  - toasted and filled with ricotta and tomato. Stealing that idea :)

For some reason, I don't think of bread not being vegan. Maybe because I'm not vegan but Jenn's husband is so being the clever Alpha Baker that she is, Jenn omitted the oil. By looking at her pita, you couldn't tell at all. Just look at the great picture at the top of the post!

Pita with sambal egg, sotong and curry chicken can be from none other than Faithy. Her pita puffed up perfectly. Unfortunately it wasn't her favorite bread. She prefers Naan or Roti Prata/Roti Canai. She did think that the pita was better than store bought though.

Nancy had no problems making the pita after rolling them a bit thinner. She got a nice puff and filled them with sausage with pear and mustard greens. Wow, that sounds really healthy.

Michele loved them so much that she made a second batch only this time they were whole wheat and served them with hummus (my personal favorite). In fact, the pita's didn't sit around long at all. Good thing she made a second batch.

So that just leaves Kim. You have to go to her website to see the crazy beauty shot she did. Brilliant! She was hooked on watching the pita puff in the oven so much so that she wanted to drag people off the street to watch the process. Her and Captain Canada (her husband) had the pita with hummus while watching movies. Better than popcorn for sure!

So another month in the books. I'd say that the Pita Bread was a success on almost every count.

Glori

Rosemary Focaccia Recap

Kim's Rosemary Focaccia
Courtesy of The Finer Cookie

Our first month is in the books! I think it would be safe to say that everyone really liked the focaccia although it did give some a little bit of trouble but not too much. I also think it's safe to say that most everyone ate too much of it, myself included. It was just so darn good it was really hard to stop eating it.

Faithy nibbled off all the crusty sides first and just couldn't stop eating it. She also had to keep an eye on her mixer while it was mixing the dough so it wouldn't walk off the counter. Nancy thought it was wonderful and it was hard not to eat half the pan. Although she did call her dough ball a "gluten sort of glom" - LOL. Speaking of dough, Kim said that the feel of the dough gave her the "willies" but it was so, so tender. Her and her husband would rather eat it than get the wonderful picture of it, which is shown above.

One of the best posts was from Marie. She has already baked through The Bread Bible and decided to join us and do it again. The focaccia was the first bread she made and she definitely had her problems with it but out of those problems came a wonderful friendship with Rose. "It's hard to understand how I could have such fond memories of the biggest baking disaster of my life--this very same beautiful rosemary focaccia, the first bread I made from The Bread Bible, and one that almost led to the death of my nascent bread-baking hobby." I'm glad that didn't happen! My favorite quote from her post - "Don't you sometimes marvel at all the food that you use routinely now and had never heard of 20 or 30 years ago?  Maldon sea salt is one; actually, focaccia is another. Probably some of you young people never had to undergo a life without focaccia, but I did.  And I also walked 5 miles to school." I'm wondering about that 5 mile walk to school.

Vicki takes us way back to 1980 when she first tasted focaccia in San Francisco. A delightful post for sure. She also went the extra step and made the poached garlic, some pesto and some garlic oil. Speaking of overachievers, Mendy wins that award this month. Not only did he make a double batch of dough but he mixed it BY HAND! This dough is runny and soupy enough but to mix it like he did - oh my.

Michele also used the poached garlic but she just happened to have some already made in the fridge. Don't we all? She also said it was the "best focaccia ever!" Kristina didn't have to buy rosemary at the store, oh no, she had hers growing on her windowsill. Don't we all? Even though she accidentally used the dough hook, her focaccia came out great, good enough to serve to her friends around a winter campfire. She's braver than I am :)

Jenn was quite the trooper. She made the recipe twice! After figuring out that she needed to use the flour Rose suggested, her focaccia turned out wonderful although she isn't a huge fan of focaccia, Jenn thought it was much better than what you can get in a restaurant. 

Catherine swore it was beginners luck that hers came together just like it was supposed to but after looking at the pictures of her dough, I'd say she knew what she was doing. She also baked it in her convection microwave. She was another one who couldn't stop eating it.

And then there's Elle. She is the newest member of our Bake Along and her Mom is none other than Vicki. I laughed the whole time reading her post and the best part was when she introduced her Magical Proofing Box of the Future. Her poor husband had to go shopping with her to get what she needed for the recipe. Lucky for her dog DJ, he was the recipient of a new squeaky toy from the shopping trip! Unfortunately she used the wrong yeast but her bread still turned out good. I'm glad to hear that she would definitely make it again - but this time with the correct yeast :)

I didn't have too many problems making the focaccia either. I used too big of a pan so it came out a little thin but still oh so good.

Next month we will be making Pita Bread. Something I've always wanted to make but just never have. No excuses now!

Glori