Baking Kitten “Loafs” of Bread

French loaf kittens

I didn’t start out intending to compare my baked bread to my foster kittens, but when I set the loaves out to cool, I couldn’t help but to see the similarities.

This was a particularly busy day in the kitchen for me and my oven was being used for multiple projects. Unfortunately, I did not time the rise of my bread appropriately and it way over proofed. Which, went well with the fact that I also over kneaded. Oh well. It happens.

The bread was really good when it was hot and fresh, but quickly became too tough even for ripping and dipping in soup. I’ll do better next time (or eat it quicker!).

French Bread

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 tsp yeast

• 2 C warm water

• 1 T salt

• 6 C flour

• sprinkle of cornmeal

Mix the yeast into the warm water in a large mixing bowl and let sit for 15 minutes, until foamy. Add in the salt.

Using the hook attachment on a mixer, begin to add in the flour, one cup at a time (can also be mixed by hand). Add additional flour if necessary to get to a smooth dough.

Prepare your surface to knead the dough with a silicone mat dusted with flour. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Grease the bowl and place the dough ball in it. Cover the bowl and leave to rise until doubled in size (2-3 hours).

After proving, tip out the dough onto your silicone mat and use kitchen shears or a multi-purpose chopping/shaping tool to divide the dough in half and shape into loaf shape. Handle the dough as little as possible to avoid losing the air.

Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal and place shaped loaves on it. Let rest for 5-minutes while setting a kettle full of water to boil.

Score the top of the bread with slashes. Lightly brush the dough with water and place in a cold oven. Pour boiling water into an oven safe dish and place on the bottom rack of the oven. Turn oven on to 400°F. Bake the bread for 40-minutes or until lightly golden. Remove bread from baking sheet and let cool on a rack.

Happy baking!

Adapted from the book Baking by contributing editor Carole Clements