Heather's Blue Ribbon Artisan White Bread

I have the upmost respect for the multitude of women who were in my Grandmother's generation of cooks.  My Grandmother passionately made homemade breads without the use of bread machines or "quick" knead results. My Serbian Grandmother did teach me to cook Sarma and stuffed peppers the way her Mother and many generations of Mother's before her did.  But, I didn't have the opportunity to have her hands hold mine and guide them to the perfection of yeasting and the ardous task of kneading dough like a fine craftsman cherishes his/her product.  I wish we had lived closer when I was younger and that I had the insight that I would be a lover of the culinary world as an adult. I am very much like my beautiful, loving Grandmother, in that we love details and bringing joy and pleasure to the ones we care about in life.  My Grandmother and her very traditional, European upbringing, in Serbia, helped pave the way for me to gain a perspective of a long lost art in the bread and culinary world.

My passion for artisan breadmaking has surely evolved over the past 2 years and I find an endless amount of ideas for creating the "perfect" loaf.  The more I read, experiment and learn, the more I discover that no loaf is ever like the one that preceeded it. For this entry, I wanted to share one of my creations.  This is my Blue Ribbon winning White Loaf.

From start to finish, it generally takes about 3 1/2 hours for a "quick" loaf to be created!  I have learned that with the use of particular ingredients and fresh yeast, some loafs of bread actually taste better, different and unbelievablly the most amazing gustatory experience ever, when letting the dough rise, get punched down, rise, be put in the refrigerator overnight and then repeated with the process a few more times the next day. 

For this loaf, however, I let the dough rise three times.  After the second rise, I proofed the dough in my bread form for another 45 minutes in my warm, but turned off oven.  After the loaf cooked for @ 25 minutes, it was ready for it's first photograph.

Photo #1

The first photo shows my white bread loaf in the oven getting ready to come out for inspection.  I show the bread from the top and side view for a better perspective of size.  Overall, the circumference of the loaf is about 12 inches.  On occasion, due to my family's request and a learned trick of my Mother's handy bread making skills, I top of the hot loaf with some fresh creamed melted salted butter.  My third photo shows how the butter not only enhances the flavor of the crust, but it gives it a beautiful sheen.

Photo #2

Photo #3

My daughter couldn't stand the amazing journey of smells in our home any longer.  As I sat in my kitchen with my Mother, talking about my Grandmother's baking skills, my own daughter entered the kitchen for some sensory satisfaction.  What a thrill it was for me on that day, while baking my white artisan bread, that my own Mother, daughter and spirit of my Grandmother were sharing in more than a six generation experience of breadmaking as an art in our family.

 Photo #4

However, I couldn't keep the joy just for myself any longer.  So, I decided to pack up the loaf and share it with a friend.  The photo #5, below, features my bread packaged and ready to bring another person, friend and loving individual the art of our family's love of Old World breadmaking.

 Photo #5

If only my Grandmother were alive today; I would relish in the idea that she could taste some of my bread, as a result of the techniques and skills I've learned and for her to know that her existence made a difference in my life, as well, as brought joy to so many others. 

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