Once again, this morning I've tested the concept that even a hastily prepared loaf of bread is better than none at all.When I got home from work on Wednesday, after having just provided chili and bread for a workplace birthday party, I decided it would be good to start another batch of dough. Now, as any baker knows, once the process has begun, you pretty much need to stay on a schedule or the bread won’t be as good as it could be.
However, the forces of life tend to creep in and the schedule goes awry. Last night I had every intention of baking the bread, the oven already set to 550. Then one thing led to the next, got too tired, and headed up to bed. Around 4 AM this morning, I came down to an oven, still at 550 from last night (oops!), and the dough well proofed in my large ceramic bowl.
It was time to either put this bread in the oven or forget the whole thing. There wasn’t enough time to scale and shape. So, I basically just divided the dough into reasonable sizes, did the best I could to shape them without degassing, and slid them into the oven in two batches.
And once again, the baguettes wouldn’t win any prizes for looks, but they taste just wonderful. A very nice crumb and crust.
Sometimes it pays to just put the dough in the oven and see what happens.
