I have this insatiable love of baking. It never fails to relieve stress in my life.
So using a bit of dough I saved from bread-baking over the weekend, I started a new dough. I let it sit out overnight, and was ecstatic to find that the dough had doubled by morning! I’ll keep saving bits of dough, and we’ll see how long I can keep this yeast culture going. It’s definitely a hobby I want to pursue and extend my knowledge in. For my first venture, I’ll be baking off a plain loaf, just for sandwich bread’s sake. Then I’ll attempt to duplicate last summer’s vanilla challah saga.
Here’s the thing: I’ve kind of fallen in love with the no-knead method of bread baking. Basically, instead of kneading like a madman, you let time and small amounts of yeast do the work for you. This technique is sooo pain free, and it produces this awesome texture in bread that I have never achieved in any other manner of baking. Seriously.
So instead of the standard mix it up and knead away method, I’ll be trying to incorporate my new ways into a much beloved recipe.
I’ll probably begin with the starter dough I use for all my recent bread endeavors, letting that rise for a few hours at room temperature, then transferring to the fridge (to sit and flavor up while I slave away at school). Since the mature starter is pretty much a goopy mess, I think I’ll crack six eggs or so into it, add a generous half a cup or so of sugar, and a tablespoon of vanilla extract (would use a vanilla bean if they weren’t so expensive). The eggs will give it the classic challah-y texture. After that, I’ll add flour until the correct consistency is reached. With any luck, another couple hours of rising will be sufficient to develop glutens in the flour I added. Then all there’s left to do is braid, proof, and bake!
I love challah because it makes such a delectable french toast. Plus it’s a great snacking bread, and I wouldn’t feel so bad about munching down on a few slices of bread knowing I made it myself. I also find that it’s an acceptable substitute for brioche as far as burger buns go! True story.
Will update on how that goes. Seeing as 10th week rehearsals/performances are stressing me out like no other, there will be many late night bread adventures to update on 
