Trouble Comes in Threes

This started out as a sentimental post about my morning spent baking my grandfather’s signature bread.  I’d even gotten out a picture of him to share with you.  Unfortunately, the post is not going to finish as I’d intended.

Opa’s bread is a really decadent enriched loaf, flavored generously with butter, honey and a couple of eggs.  Although he baked it in a loaf pan and never referred to it as such, it’s really a brioche.  As a child I eagerly ate slices completely unadorned as soon as the bread had cooled. 

But as you’ve undoubtedly deduced, today's loaves - one intended as a hostess gift for a Halloween party – didn’t come out well. 

I considered not posting a blog after my horrible showing.  In the end, I decided in favor of giving you more visibility into the experience of learning to bake – ugly crusts and all.  Maybe it’ll help me remember the lessons next time, maybe it’ll encourage my fellow novice bakers, maybe it’ll give you a good snigger.

Don’t get me wrong - the loaves survived.  But they emerged from the oven ugly enough that they were no longer appropriate as the gifts they were meant to be.

What started out well quickly unraveled during the glazing step near the end of the final rise.  (Gah!  Even now it galls me to think of it - how could I have gotten so far only to fail then???)  I can identify three key errors that led to my homely loaves:

The light spots in the loaf are where the towel tore away pieces of the surface - the stripes are a result of the undiluted yolk glaze.

1. The glazing error²:  my first glazing error was that I didn’t dilute my egg yolk with a little water before brushing it onto the loaf.  As the loaf baked, rather than adding a uniform warm shine to the crust, the streaks created by my pastry brush got darker and more pronounced as the bread baked.  My loaf became striped (and not in some cool, intentional way).  If that weren’t enough, my second glazing error was that I got impatient and applied this undiluted glaze before the loaf was completely finished rising, then covered the loaf back up with a towel.  When I pulled the towel off the loaf...well, do I even have to say it?  Some of the surface of the loaf came with it.  Draaaaat! 
2. The knocking error:  I was afraid the breaks in the loaf’s surface created by The Glazing Error would affect the ‘pop’ (or final rise burst) the loaf would get when it hit the heat of the oven.  Ha!  You know what really affects your pop?  Losing your grip on the panned loaf and dropping it.  One of my loaves fell about a foot and knocked hard against the baking stone I was placing it on.  Now that takes the air out of your loaf.  I watched in alarm as my loaf deflated. 
3. The real error:  In the end, the real error I made was lack of focus.  Because we needed to get to the party, I didn’t pay as much attention to the process as I need to – especially with my limited experience.  It led to some poor choices that resulted in two really ugly loaves of bread.

What I salvaged from the day was this:  having now reminisced about my beloved grandfather’s bread, I’m ready to go again tomorrow morning.  Eager as I am, I may even start tonight to see if an overnight rise in the fridge doesn’t enhance the flavor.  Look for the results tomorrow…if it turns out to be another list of lessons learned, let’s hope they’re new ones!