Everyone have a good holiday weekend?
Anyone need a holiday from their holiday? Whew. I thought it was just me. Then yesterday I realized I need a holiday from my holiday from my holiday and at this rate - I won't get anything done...
Where my fellow Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge peeps have almost finished baking the whole book, I took the holiday weekend to bake the second in a series of breads... the Artos loaf. I also decided to make it Christopsomos style, which is basically taking the Artos recipe and adding cranberries, raisins and walnuts. I was excited. It sounded like one delicious loaf of bread. Braiding and weaving and shaping aside, I just decided I would go monkey bread on it. Pour on that glaze and go to town.
Best laid plans.
But, it looks nice doesn't it? 
Taste? Oh it tasted WONDERFUL! (As you can tell from the inconspicuous tear taken from the top right of the loaf...)
It even started out great. My poolish bubbled and doubled. My Kitchen Aid even handled the rather dense dough. I added the flour and the yeast, the milk and the oil. I used agave rather then honey and it smelled wonderful for unbaked bread. I molded it into a ball and placed it in an oiled bowl where it would sit and double in size. Mmm. THIS would be a GREAT day!
BUT WAIT!
What is that little bowl of nuts and cranberries and raisins and spices I see behind the FLOUR!
*panic*...
Shouldn't that be in the DOUGH THAT HAS ALREADY DOUBLED IN SIZE?
I 911 twittered my fellow BBA'ers. They suggested to add it after the first proof, just let it re-proof another 30 minutes or so before the final loaf shaping thing...
So I punched the dough out like Sicilian pizza maker and spread a thin layer of nuts and cranberries and raisins and SPICES over the dough. (Yesssss, even the spices were omitted...) Rolled it up and started forming it into a nice ball - but wait - NO! - the nuts and raisins and cranberries are breaking through! I pinched the little raisin holes up only to have 324 more open. Pinch! Ball! Pinch! CURSE! Pinch! PINCH PINCH PINCH! GAH!!! Cover with plastic wrap and come back in 30.
In that 30 minutes the outside temperature increased. The inside temperature increased. The dough proofed to ohhhh 3x its size. With little raisins and cranberries and nuts all trying to escape... not a pretty site.
Why oh why didn't I take photos...
Now I should have just taken this as a sign to screw the monkey and his bread and MAKE A REGULAR LOAF but noooooooo... Now the big ball of protruding raisins, cranberries and nuts had to become a bunch of little balls of the same.
Someone just shoot me.
If any bread should be called a monkey loaf - this was it... as if this wasn't enough, a minor situation involving beer, chips and salsa made me FORGET about the damn thing for 45 minutes. It was all, nuts, fruit and dough trying to escape the pan.
:-|
Laughing and cursing, I threw it in the oven and hoped for the best.
Sure - It looks good in that photo - ok, kind of - but what you see is merely the top of a GINORMOUS loaf of monkey **** bread ever. This bread was 7" tall!
But it tasted AMAZING.
And the next morning - I learned that Artos french toast ROCKS!
If you my reader readers would like to join me on this baking adventure, pick up The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge by Peter Reinhart and get baking. You may have just as much fun as me...
I had a similar experience, but no computer at home, so I decided to add the fruit and nuts as i was shaping the boule. Mine also had bumps of cherry, raisins and nuts but the taste is still great, I still have not been able to get my pictures to post. Nancy
Thanks for the entertainment!! Perfection or not, still fun, educational and edible. My dried fruit stayed put, but my Greek cross wouldn't stay on my boule'. Too much oil left over from the proofing I guess. I had to punch down and re-shape and let it rise a third time. Still I love this bread. My mom always had Norweigan Julekage at Christmas and this reminds me of those days.