Friday, February 29, 2008

Julia Child's Daring French Bread~



WOW- talk about diving HEAD FIRST into baking bread for my very first time. I have had "bake bread" on my to do list forever. When it came time for this month's Daring Bakers Challenge, I was thrilled to see that Mary of The Sour Dough and Sarah of I Like to Cook chose French Bread....and not just any old bread recipe- but the 18-page tribute to doing it best, Julia Child's French Bread recipe from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume Two by Julia Child and Simone Beck".



So I set aside an entire day to get down and make some bread. I was so excited to tackle this challenge, I can't even put it into words! Deciding what shape to form the bread was hard, so many options, and the very first time to try any one of them! After some debating I decided to form two boules (bread bowls). The instructions/the recipe was a very descriptive one, THANK GOODNESS!!! I really appreciated all the description and was so thankful for the tips from the experience of Sarah and Mary!! To see the full recipe, visit THIS LINK courtesy of Mary. If you are ready to get inspired by some beautiful bread check out the DARING BAKER'S BLOGROLL.


Gettin' ready for the FIRST RISE..


WOO HOO!!!! Now that's RISEN!


Gettin' ready for the SECOND RISE...

Mine could have MOST DEFINITELY been more golden, and more neatly shaped & formed, but I had a blast putting the first notch in my bread-baking belt. Now the ice has been broken and I very much look forward to baking bread again and again and many, many more times after that! This is the whole reason I joined the ranks of the Daring Bakers. I feel that innovation and creativity can truly be taken to new heights by learning and trying things I never made, and whipping up something I may not have been brave enough to make time for before. So far in my 3 months as a member, I have rolled a roll cake, made meringue with confidence and now I'm BAKING BREAD!!! I look forward to this years challenges, and can not wait to see what is up next!

26 comments:

Veron said...

Fabulous job you did making Julia child's French Bread!

slush said...

Mine could have been more golden too, there is always next time. Great joB!

CB said...

Bread looks lovely! Great job!
-Clara
http://iheartfood4thought.wordpress.com

Deborah said...

You look like a pro! I have made a fair share of bread, and I still have a hard time shaping it and making it pretty...

L Vanel said...

Really nice looking bread!

Melanie said...

Amen to your whole post! That's why I joined Daring Baker's - to learn new things and after each challenge I have a list of things to "do better next time." Regardless, your bread looked great (much more risen than mine)!

Jaime said...

great job beth!

Joy the Baker said...

That was your first time making bread!? You did so well. Really well! Go you... seriously. Go you!

test it comm said...

Nice looking bread! This was a fun challenge. :)

Carrie said...

I already tried to comment once today but manganed to mess it up somehow... Maybe blogger ate it?
Anyway, your bread looks great and it's good to know you enjoyed yourself making it! :)

michelle said...

Yay for a successful first foray into bread making! Looks wonderful!

Mer said...

Congratulations on your first Daring Bakers challenge. Your bread looks great!

Tracy said...

Wow, you were very brave to make THIS your first experience baking bread. I've baked a lot of bread and still found it a bit intimidating. Great job.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Very well done! Great looking loaves!

Cheers,

Rosa

myriam said...

congrats on the bread, nice one!

Tarah at Genesis of a Cook said...

Wonderful bread! The texture looks really good. Lovely.

hanne said...

I'm so excited about the challenges too! This was my first challenge, and it was super-fun.

I think your loaves are beautiful. Hard to believe it was your first bread!

~Amber~ said...

Wonderful bread, congratulations on a successful challenge! To the next one we go (which is posted now BTW). :)

Chou said...

Congrats on surviving the baguette! It's fun, isn't it?

Unknown said...

Your dough texture looks terrific - supple and smooth.

So what else do you have on that to do list?

Gretchen Noelle said...

Beautiful job on baking your breads. I hope you enjoy baking many more in the future!

breadchick said...

Fantastic job on taking bread of your to do list! Glad you had a such a good time.

Thanks so much for baking with Sara and I

Suzana said...

Beautiful bread! Great job on the challenge.

Thanks for dropping at my blog. :)

Sara said...

They look terrific! Nice job!

Astra Libris said...

Thanks for the DB welcome on my blog! :-)

Your bread looks a-m-a-z-i-n-g!! I love the close-up photo of your beautiful round loaf - the texture and the color look just perfect... Congrats on your flawless first bread!

the chocolate doctor מרת שאקאלאד said...

A lovely and most helpfoul post! congratulations!