TWD Baking with Julia - White Loaves

I’m so glad to be baking with the whole Tuesdays with Dorie group again!  After finishing Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, From My Home to Yours in 2011, they decided to keep baking, and what better book to tackle next than the fabulous Dorie Greenspan/Julia Child collaboration, Baking with Julia.

So glad!

I’d bowed out of Tuesdays with Dorie a couple years ago for a bunch of reasons, but I missed it.  I missed participating.  I missed being a part of the group.  (And I’m pretty sure my family missed the constant onslaught of goodies!) 

But now, the Tuesdays with Dorie group is going to tackle Baking with Julia – a book I bought when it first came out as a companion volume – a huge companion volume – to the PBS series of the same name in 1996.  I watched the series, and I baked a lot of the recipes.  But not all of them.  Yet!  I had to be a part of this group again.  And this time around, there are only two recipes a month.  I figured I could handle that!

Our first recipe is one I almost skipped – out of laziness, nothing more.  White Loaves.  I figured, I bake bread all the time.  I don’t need to do this one.

But that’s not the point.  At least not for me.  The point, for me, is to be participating with everyone else.  I struggle with that.  With joining.  With being a part of a group.  With staying a part of a group.  So, to combat that urge to hide in a darkened corner, I baked those white loaves yesterday.  Yes, I’m a day late in writing the post.  But I’m glad I baked the bread.  (I’m always glad when I’ve baked bread!)

So here we go.

Such a simple recipe – yeast, water, flour, a bit of sugar, salt, and butter.  Two loaves. 

I didn’t take a lot of pictures initially, so forgive me for not having my usual shots of every single little step.  The one thing that was different for me in making this bread was adding the butter after the dough has been formed.  You combine the yeast and water and sugar, then work the flour in, and the salt, and then the butter is worked in.  Really?  But how…..?  Ah well – leap of faith. 

And, of course, the butter, with a lot of slapping around in my KA mixer, was incorporated just fine.

And it smelled really good.  Sometimes I think I like the smell of the dough better than the smell of the baking bread.  But then I bake the bread, and I think that smells best.

I baked this so late yesterday – right before we went out to dinner (to celebrate good report cards), and we were so full afterward that no one wanted any bread. 

But I had to taste it.  Had to.  So I cut off the heel of one loaf, spread a little butter on it, and did what needed to be done.  (cue violins)

I love good bread.  Sometimes my loaves are okay, sometimes they’re good, sometimes – once in a while – they’re really good.

This is one of those really good breads. 

I’m so glad I talked myself into baking this week!  I guarantee these loaves will not make it to the weekend!

Now, like I said, this is part of round two of Tuesdays with Dorie, so there are a lot of other bakers out there who made white loaves as well.  If you’d like to gaze at lots more bread pictures and read about more baking adventures, check out all the links on this page!  And if you’d like to try baking these loaves yourself (and you really want to, trust me), you can find the recipe in three places.  In the book (buy it!) or at slush, or at Someone's in the Kitchen

See you in two weeks with the next TWD installment!

Comments

[Di]

Yay! I'm so glad that you've decided to come back for the new book. =) Your loaves look wonderful.

[Karen Reinsch]

So glad to see you back for this round of TWD. I had those moments of wanting to go to the darkened corner too. You bread looks perfect! :)

[Nina Holiday Articles]

Oh, my! I simply adore Julia Child, she is so great and all her recipes are turning to be a success at least that is with me!

[laurie]

I am so very glad that you have joined back in. And I can totally relate. I, too, struggle with joining and staying part of a group. I am so good at backing out, calling it quits and doing my own thing. I love TWD for forcing me to keep going, even when I dont want to.

Welcome back! And GORGEOUS bread, lady!

[tracey]

These are so beautiful, I'm going to start to cry. Mainly because they're not at MY house.

I do have store-bought generic English muffins, though.

That's kind of like food.

[Jessica]

I like your photos! I'm looking forward to being a part of this group. I didn't know about the Baking From My Home to Yours and I was soooo disappointed when I found out about it. I too didn't take the photos that I usually would today, out of laziness I suppose. I will have my post up soon!

[Wendy]

Your bread looks gorgeous. And perfect crumb!

[Gretchen Noelle]

Your loaves are just lovely! I am glad to see you back to TWD - I also took a hiatus but am glad to return with the start of this book as well!

[tracey]

Also, I'm being a total cow here, but we desperately need your analysis of a confection I posted on my blog.

We are talking about you behind your back. ;-)

[Cher]

Beautiful loaves. I think this round of TWD is definitely going to be educational & challenging for most of us.

[michael]

To me the smell of fresh bread is the best smell in the world! Your loafs look amazing :)

[Jessica]

Welcome back! Your bread looks delicious - and it's so much more fun to bake together.

[Kate]

I had that some thought about adding the butter at the end, but then I thought "If it worked for Julia"... So I tried it and it worked! That'll learn me never to doubt her!