When I say I am making it from scratch, I mean I bought the grain, borrowed a grain mill to grind the grain into flour, and really made it from scratch. I followed all of the instructions, but I am just not good at judging when the "dough has doubled in size". This might sound like a minor thing, but it is not. The really sad thing is that every time I make bread it comes out looking the same way, not as tall as you would expect. I consistently make the same mistake preparing bread, what exactly it is I am not sure, but I know it has to do with the yeast or how it rises or something. What kills me about this whole process is that I can spend an entire afternoon making the bread, just to have it not quite turn out right. It will still taste good, it just looks like someone squished it to about half of its normal height. Austin is such a good sport about my sad bread, he keeps encouraging me to keep trying. Maybe one day I will get it, until then we will eat really small sandwiches...
On a totally different note, after I spent all day making bread somewhat unsuccessfully, a sales person from RainSoft came out to the house to do a demonstration. If you ever get the chance to have one of their representatives come out to your house, just say no. No matter what they say you will get (for us it was $20 to Home Depot) it will not be worth the evening you will lose and the frustration you will experience. We just about had to push the guy out of our house after he had been here for almost 2 hours. He just wouldn't take a hint or no for an answer. I think I will gladly drink my dangerous, gross tap water over another night like that. The guy also claimed that his water would make my bread better, I don't think anything can help my bread, much less his magic water. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...
How long are your rise times? The recipe I use suggested 45 mins for the 2nd rise & I'm down to 11 min's. My first rise time is still 45 min's though, I think. And where do you let it rise? I think the temp & humidity of that makes a huge difference, too. We need to talk through the possibilities :) I can't imagine trying to do it without my bread machine!!!--Christie
ReplyDeleteLauren,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to introduce myself and ask if you might be willing to share some feedback with me regarding this experience. I'm Mark Vance, the Chief Marketing Officer for Aquion Water Treatment Products - the parent company of RainSoft. Please feel free to send me an email at comments "at" rainsoft.com. Just replace "at" with @ and remove the spaces. I personally monitor that email and would sincerely appreciate the opportunity to speak with you about how we can improve our service. You can also call our toll-free number and ask for me. That number is 800-724-6763.
Thank you!
Mark Vance
Chief Marketing Officer
AWTP, LLC.