Back in Business: Anadama Bread!

Thanks for all your computer-related well wishes! While my new computer isn't here quite yet, my friend Sarah has kindly lent me her old laptop (she just got a new one) to use in the meantime--yay, Sarah! I probably won't be blogging at top speed until my new computer gets here, but I'm definitely back. :)

My new project is baking through The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart along with a group of over 200 other bakers from around the world! It's a big project, but I'm so excited to be part of it. I love this book, but I've only made a few of the breads from it (they can be a little intimidating!). This project is the perfect thing to kick my bread-baking butt in gear and try some new breads. Thanks so much to Nicole from Pinch My Salt for thinking up this crazy idea and doing some serious organizing.

Our first assignment was Anadama bread. It's a New England bread that's slightly sweet from molasses and cornmeal, and it's absolutely delicious! It was soft, flavorful, and pretty much the perfect bread for peanut butter and jelly. I will definitely be making this one again. Even better, when I told my mom about making this bread, I found out that this used to be one of my great-grandmother's favorite breads! So, this one is dedicated to Grandma Ada and to reviving old family recipes.

I won't really be posting recipes from the book here for obvious reasons (since we're making every recipe in the book, I would basically be reproducing the entire thing on my blog!), but I may post a few if I make significant changes that I want to remember. Otherwise, I'll just disucss my experience with the bread, post some photos, and encourage you all to go out and get this really terrific book! I made just a few changes to the recipe this time: I used half honey since a strong molasses flavor isn't really my thing; I used half bread flour and half AP, and I added about a teaspoon of vital wheat gluten to the mix.