Posted: 2011 May 08 (Sun) 21:25 UTC
I made a bread yesterday for an early mother's day dinner. I thought I'd give my mom a lighter bread by using more all-purpose than I normally do. I wanted the yeast to have a party, making large air pockets as a side effect.
I started with water and yeast and let that go for a while. Then I poured in some flaxseed and all-purpose flour. I mixed that up with my trusty wooden spoon. Next went in the whole wheat flour and then the spelt. I did the 2-hour rise thing, the punch down, and the forming to a loaf and another short rise while pre-heating the oven. I up'd the oven temperature to 425°F since I had more white flour. It baked for about 30 minutes. When I took it out, I brushed on some olive oil, which smelled awesome.
Now, if you look closely, you might notice something's missing. Did you spot it? Well, if you tasted the bread, you'd know immediately: I forgot the salt. I had always wondered what salt brings to the table. Turns out, it's flavor. The bread is bland. The flavors that do exist just drop off to nothing. Ugh.