Recap

 

The bread is delicious.  Great crust.  Really great crust.  Okay, here is what I did a bit different/unique/this time from the White Bread with a Sponge Starter recipe in the Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition 

• raised the starter in the cold oven with a light bulb on.  (It is January in Wisconsin, folks!)  
• dumped the whole raised starter, about two cups, into the bread recipe rather than just one cup.  
• mixed the dough in the Kitchen-Aid with bread hook,
• probably added another cup of flour (because of the additional starter) to get dough with the right texture but not too dry.  Actually, it was wetter than a dough I would have kneaded on the counter.
• raised the bread dough in the refrigerator overnight.  I set it on the kitchen counter for an hour then into the cold oven with the light bulb on to bring the dough to room temperature.
• Baked the loaves at 450F for 38 minutes and added about a cup of water to another pan under the bread stone at the beginning of the bake time.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I had several questions in the comments a while ago about why I walked out of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert at the Verizon Center in DC.  I sat through the first half.  There was some music and a bit of a light show but most of it was what I consider preaching.  Preaching about being good to your fellow man and what ever else.  The vocals/preaching were not attractive and they droned on and I didn't get any thrill from any of the music.  In fact, I believe I dozed a bit.  It was blah.  I decided to cut my losses and leave at intermission.  I just expected to hear more music....well-performed music and vocals, considering the price of the ticket.  I don't mind if people preach but if they want me to pay them to do it, they darn well better disclose that before I buy the ticket.  I will not attend any more concerts by this group nor will I purchase any more of their music.  Yup, I am annoyed.
 

 

Comments

[Cookie]

I need to invite myself over for bread baking at some point. Those loaves look wonderful!

I don't blame you for walking out. You paid and went expecting music not a sermon. Thank you for letting us know. I will keep that in mind for the next time they roll into town and someone wants me to go with. feh

xo

[Diane]

yum, bread. I'd be tempted to eat the whole loaf. It looks perfect.

[Manise]

I need to go and make a loaf! In fact I need to replenish my Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes dough first.

Sorry you had to pay for something you had to walk out on. A disclaimer would have been nice.

[Squishy]

xoxo

more after noon tomorrow. :D

[Vicki]

Huh. I didn't know why they were called "steamroller," but now I guess I do!

Bread looks delicious. It always does. ;)

[gayle]

Beautiful bread!
And there's no better smell than bread baking.
Nirvana...

[Anne]

The bread looks amazing. I really need to give baking my own bread a try.

And I don't blame you for walking out on the concert. Personally, I love Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas music for background noise. It's not the kind of music I can even listen to in the car, so I wouldn't have gone to the concert. But I can't stand the preachy crap, even if it's sharing my view point, it has no place in a concert setting.

[Nora]

Oh, yummy bread.

The concert? That's ridiculous, and unfortunate. I wouldn't have lasted until intermission.

xo

[Jessica]

That looks really tasty right about now.

[Ramya]

Delish! I will definitely try when I have some more time

[opal]

yummy bread!

good for you for walking out! what false advertising!

[Carrie K]

Oh my. That looks heavenly.