Last month I had a couple of disastrous rounds of bread baking. I am learning that my ability to multi-task the way I used to is diminishing as the years go by. I am now too easily distracted and forget things more often. One of those episodes was marked by two significant errors. The first was in the selection of flour for the dough. Instead of going to the container with white bread flour, I went to a container I had mis-marked and, before I discovered my mistake, I measured out 275 grams of Type 85 flour — a whole wheat malted grain, darker in color and rougher in texture than what I usually use.
The second error was even simpler. When baking the breads, normally I start them in their covered pots at 500 º F. for 20 minutes. Then, after removing the lids from the pots, I am supposed to turn the heat down to 450 º F. for another 20-25 minutes to finish the browning process. On this fateful night I forgot to turn down the heat, so the loaves burned quite noticeably. However, having invested 12 hours of my time and a kilo’s worth of ingredients, I had to figure out how to make the best of it.
The rustic nature of the bread seemed to lend itself to strong flavors, so I made breakfast toasts using a rich goat cheese and a splash of spectacularly good Sicilian orange marmalade. They were amazing! The burnt crusts were barely noticeable.
While I was on a Sicilian kick, the next step was to make a grilled prosciutto and cheese sandwich for lunch, accompanied by an excellent Etna Bianco white wine. These were good enough to make me consider burning bread more often!
