Bread
10 December 2006 | The Galley
Hideko
So what is there to do when you are on a small island for one week? Read? Sure. But how about baking bread?! I have wanted to bake French Baguettes from scratch for quite some time and now I have all the time in the world.
It took me a day and half following a recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. What was not included in the recipe though was patience. I had to wait overnight for the first fermentation and then hours of waiting for proofing (secondary or final fermentation) on the second day. The three baguette loaves turned out to be pretty good regardless of having a small boat oven and not much control over fermentation temperature. I had the idea of selling bread as a hobby in crowded anchorages in the future. To break even I would have to sell bread for way more money than you can buy the famous Bimini bread. My conclusion: I will keep baking as a hobby. Later, Ellen on Eryne, a French Canadian cruiser, told me that she had a bread recipe that took only an hour and a half! I better get that recipe!