Laurie Colwin's Bread

With apologies to William Carlos Williams...

This is just to say
that I am not immune
to kitchen disasters

Lest you thought otherwise
witness this bread
made with such naive delight

It is terrible
so hard
and so flat

(This rose just fine during the first proofing stage, and it seemed to be doing fine towards the beginning of the second one, but then - in the oven - nothing. Oh, I wanted to cry. It smelled good while it was in the oven, but once taken it out it just had the strange, sour, unpleasant smell of a failed bread. But you try and reread More Home Cooking innocently one quiet afternoon and get out without being propelled into the kitchen and compelled to make something from it, I dare you. )

Oat Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup wheat germ
6 cups white flour
1 tablespoon of salt (I used a little bit less)
1/2 teaspoon of yeast

1. Put the oatmeal in a blender and grind until fine. Put the oatmeal, wheat germ, flour, salt, and yeast into a large bowl. Add 2 to 3 cups of tepid water, enough to make up the dough. Knead it, roll it in flour and put it back in the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it rest.

2.   The next morning, knock down the bread. Divide it in half and put each half into a buttered bread tin. Cover the tins with a tea towel and let rise all day.

3. When you come home, heat the oven to 400 degrees, paint the tops of the loaves with milk, and bake for 40 minutes, turning once. Let cool on a rack until cool enough to handle, then turn out of the tins and let cool entirely.

Comments

[Mary Coleman]

I have had many bread disasters in my life. I know that smell of "failed bread" very well.
But I have a feeling that you will conquer this and move forward!

[Adrienne]

Oh dear. I'm sorry this was so disappointing, but I am certain you won't let it get you down :)

[umami girl]

Oh, sadness! But your beautiful photo of disappointment is sustenance enough...especially, I would imagine, with a lavishly buttered slice or two of Eli's bread on the side. You know, just to tide you over until you're ready to try again.

[Ganda]

LOVE how the loaf pan mirrors the shape of the poem. GENIUS.

[We Are Never Full]

i love reading about baking disasters. why is that? am i a horrible person? maybe. maybe it's b/c i have had so many - i suck at baking. regardless, you tried! i posted a disaster that i had when i forgot to add baking soda to a strawberry cake. i actually kept cooking it thinking it eventually would look normal. what ended up was that i had a nasty brick with a gooey middle. that's hot!

[Aaron]

I'm confused. You make the dough one night and bake it the next? That seems like a whole lot of proofing time. What gives?

[[eatingclub] vancouver]

Love the poem, though.

[Amy Scattergood]

Hi Luisa,
This is brilliant! Made me think of writing my own Williams poem about the pickled Santa Rosa plums I made yesterday morning. How about Elizabeth Bishop's 'One Art' as a conceit? "The art of baking isn't hard to master..." Though, sadly, it is.
Amy

[Julie]

Chuckling at your poem. While I adore Laurie Colwin to the point of having read her books to tatters, and I have successfully made many things from her books, I do remember that I read somewhere that her recipes for baked goods were not very reliable. I have no idea if that's true, but seeing this makes me wonder.

[christine]

Oh no! It happens to the best of us. Even during our best efforts.

Ah well. At least you got the poem out of it. ;)

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

I've had mixed success with Laurie Colwin's recipes, but her writing, her stories, and her approach to cooking never let me down. I read her books over and over, especially when I am looking for a little push to go into my kitchen and just enjoy myself there. You'll give her recipes another try, won't you?

[Mercedes]

Oh how sad. I completely ruined a batch of banana bread the other day, just by taking it out of the oven too soon, because it looked done and I wasn't paying attention. So frustrating...

[lobstersquad]

I had the same disaster with this bread, but then I tried it again, in a smaller mold, and gave it an overnight rise, and it rose very well.
It´s not the sexiest bread in the world, but I love it reincarnated as toast.

[lobstersquad]

and, forgot, work with the wettest dough you can, it makes a lot of difference with this one.

[alexandra]

You can still have fun with that bread; go feed the ducks/swans/pigeons. If you have a dog teach it a new trick and use small pieces of bread as a reward. Or you could gift the bread to some theatrically inclined children for a staging of Hansel and Gretel.

[Luisa]

Ganda - I love being called a GENIUS, but this was, I admit, entirely unintentional.

We Are Never Full - you are not a horrible person! Kitchen disasters make for good comedy. :)

Aaron - breads actually benefit from a long proofing time. The less yeast you use and the longer you proof for, the more flavorful a bread gets. See, for example, the length of time that No-Knead Bread proofs...

Amy - a poem about pickled plums must be shared, I think :)

Lydia - always, always. I love Laurie and will be reading (and trying) her recipes until I'm old and gray.

Ximena - interesting! Did you do both rises? I wonder if I should have just done the first one and baked after that.

Alexandra - Theatrically inclined children! I love it. :)

[izzy's mama]

I made this bread long ago. It wasn't a beautiful loaf, nor did it rise that much. I think I thought mine may have failed too. Then I made it again, to the same results. It is simply a dense, odd loaf.

[Robin]

Oh, my! Two months ago I made the no-fuss bread in Home Cooking, and it was so good that I still haven't blogged about it because I don't know how to do it justice. I will post something soon. Have you ever tried it?

[Luisa]

Robin - hmm, not sure which bread you're talking about. I'll have to go check my copy. In any case, I haven't tried it. Blog about it, come on! Inquiring minds need to know. :)

[Emily]

Luisa, your poem made me laugh out loud, especially the last stanza! I think it's so great that you blog about the good and the bad. I still remember my first (and last, tho I might try again soon) bread attempt, in 5th grade or so when I tried to make a loaf in the shape of a turtle. The body of the turtle was seriously harder than an actual turtle shell. So sad!

On a side note - recent new reader, first time poster. Keep up the amazing work! I especially loved your last post. I lived in Germany, albeit only for a year, but the post really resonated with me in terms of finding a sense of place in the world. :)

[justfoodnow]

Hi - I think you have too little yeast, for starters - you should double your yeast, actually and give it a long rise. I agree with the overnight rise, tried it and it was perfect. I added some sunflowers seeds as well & used a wholewheat flour (it was a fine one), but more important & it worked! The sea level could influene it and the yeast. For the rest - stunning site!

[abw]

wonderful slow rise, but this recipe sounds totally unspecific in terms of proofing time and temperature of your room. with such an extended first fermentation there is tremendous space for error.
the recipe COULD.... possibly... work if you did your overnight rise in the refrigerator... i'm not sure. however, if your bread rose and then failed to rise the second time, it means that your dough is over-proofed; the yeast has consumed all the sugars in the dough, has no more food, and dies. if this is the case the dough will smell like alcohol. also, your final dough, after baking, will taste very salty.
At any rate, if you're at all serious about bread you should always use a thermometer. The balance point between dough rise and dough flavor is always at 75F. It sounds to me like your dough was maybe a little warm and your room was a little warm and that spelled the dough's demise.
There are people who will say that taking temperatures and measuring carefully takes away from the tactile satisfaction of baking bread, but really, it's like taking your child for a walk with your eyes closed: you don't know where you are or where you're going. Dough is like a child and you are its parent.
Oh, the joys of baking-discovery!

[Stephanie Heath Nash]

This same thing happened to me--I read those two books, got fired up about the bread, who wouldn't love an easy homemade bread??? Mine looked as bad as yours, I assumed that I had done something wrong and tried again....sad! The results are terrible!! Why???? (tearing of hair, beating of breast)

[Alexa]

Oh, no... I hate when that happens. I had the same experience making a gluten-free bread from some organic flour website last month. I was so sad. My kids told me not to feel bad that if we could slice it would made good crackers! :-) The good news is that every single loaf since has been a delight.

[Kim]

Oh, how I have been there with the promise of great bread, only to open the oven in disbelief. Your mishap inspired a wonderful poem, mine just ended up in the trash.

[Katie]

I had an almost identical bread-related trauma this weekend. So disappointing. And I'm repeatedly reminded of it as I eat whatever store-bought bread all week.

[lobstersquad]

Hi
sometimes I do both rises, sometimes not, it depends on how much time I have. I use a processor to knead, so I try to keep the dough as moist as possible, and it seems to rise a lot more.

[Alice M]

Oh my. I too have been beguiled by that bread. My result? Flat, hard and oddly gray. I so love Ms. Colwin's writings. They played a big role in developing my cooking and food philosophy. Unfortunately, I've had more than one recipe disaster from her essays. I just block it out, I guess. For the gift of Home Cooking I can forgive all.

[Randi]

I think this was the first bread I ever baked without a bread machine. IIRC, it was an article about baking bread to suit your schedule. It worked great for me and I let it rise a long time. Anyway, please try more of her recipes, I really miss her writing.

[Pumpkin]

It happens to the best of us! I once killed the yeast in a loaf of brioche during a practical exam in pastry school. It was like a dense, grayish, buttery brick. It was so embarassing, especially since mere days earlier my practice loaf came out picture-perfect.

[Jett]

My friend gave me Laurie Colwin's book - More Home Cooking - recently and it is a delightful read. I haven't tried to cook/bake anything from it yet but I am enjoying it. My friend loves Laurie and swears by her recipes. I am a horrible baker but I've been trying. That's all I can do.

[Brandy]

I had the same reaction to Laurie Colwin and tried the oat bread...with the same diasterous results. But I toasted it and ate it anyway along with fresh butter and it was wonderful. I think Laurie would have wanted it that way. If you haven't already, wait for a crisp day in autumn and make the tomato spread in "Home Cooking." It is incredible and makes the whole house smell like a country kitchen deep in the heart of Italy!