Update: For those of you overcome with curiosity about my Japanese Milk Bread from last week I have an update for you....it was AMAZING! This bread tastes like King Hawaiian sweet bread but not as sweet and a little bit denser. The bread uses a roux called the Tangzhong which is a mixture of bread flour and water; it is heated to a paste. This is what makes the bread soft and delicious. It also helps the bread to last longer. I was immensely proud of this bread. I enjoyed it, my judgmental stepdad liked it, and my cooperative teacher Julia ate so much of it she had to skip dinner. Overall a great baking experience and then the focaccia happened. . . It looked so great in pictures
Focaccia bread is the leavened cousin of pizza dough (aka it has yeast in it). If you are following closing along with my bread baking journey you know I was supposed to bake Ethiopian bread this week, but alas I still have not found a recipe that I like so I changed up the batting order and focaccia was the pinch hitter for this week. Focaccia bread has very few ingredients but takes a long times to prepare....like 3 1/2 hours long. I was flying high off my success from last week. However, the feeling was short lived. I followed the instructions and the outcome looked beautiful but the taste left much to be desired. It didn't taste bad but it didn't taste good either. It was taste neutral. And let me tell you after spending 3 1/2 hours waiting for something to be done taste neutral does not cut it. After moving past my disappoint I thought about where I went wrong and I decided it was the rosemary. The most important part. I bought the wrong kind and that was where all the flavor and excitement comes from. I also am officially in the market for a standing mixer and kneading attachment. So if anyone has an extra $200 let me know. Although I was not happy with the outcome of my project it did not deter me from trying again. This feeling is very unfamiliar to me. I am a perfectionist so often times if I felt I did poorly on a test I wouldn't ever look at the score and the last thing I would was to do is revisit something I already did poorly on...like baking focaccia. But not this time, my interest has been peaked and I want to fix my errors. I think this is pretty great and interesting. My working theory is that because I experienced success with the Japanese Milk Bread I now feel an increase confidence and interest in the bread baking topic. This showed me that students need to experience success in order to overtake the failures.
3 Comments
3/22/2016 10:01:46 am
Morgs-
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Sophia Monaco
3/24/2016 07:27:58 am
At least your bread looked good! That is half the battle. I am sorry to hear that it didn't turn out the way that you wanted it to, but remember, there is always next week! I like the connection you made to student learning. From a math stand point, if students are not confident in the subject, they will have no interest in what you are talking about and they are only able to focus on their failures. Great post!!
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Sarah Hunter
4/27/2016 01:12:01 pm
Oh man I love King's Hawaiian Rolls! Now I'm really going to be on the lookout for that bread to give it a go.
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Morgan Conroyfuture artisan bread baker thanks 20time. Archives
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