The Dough Also Rises

As some of you may remember, several months ago I made my first sour dough starter. From that starter, I have embarked on a tasty journey in bread making. During that journey, I have learned a few valuable lessons which I would like to share with you today. To assist those who may stumble upon my original article, I will also be linking this article to my original posting of Baking with Your Sourdough Starter.

When I first began making bread many years ago, I did it the old-fashioned way and kneaded it by hand. I read that by using this method, it was almost impossible to over-knead your dough. Well, I erroneously carried that belief over to how I prepared my dough using a machine. Once the dough came together, I would let the machine knead the dough for an additional five minutes or more and guess what, I consistently ended-up with a dough that rose very little. Yes, the bread was still very good, but it was not as light and fluffy as I wanted it to be.

The result: I only use the machine until the dough is completely mixed and then I let the machine go for maybe another 30-45 seconds. After that, I shape it into a ball and let it go for its first rise. It took quite some time and research for me to discover this little secret, but since I have started doing this, my dough has not failed to rise.

Next, I was always under the impression that when you are adding the flour, the dough should not be sticky when squeezed; meaning that when you squeeze it, your fingers will come out clean. Now, I would add flour until the dough reached this "dry" consistency and I soon discovered that this was causing the bread to turn-out "heavy". You see, I am constantly working to make sure that my bread will come out as light and fluffy as possible, so once I discovered that more flour meant a heavier bread, I began to research what I needed to do.

It was only few weeks ago that I discovered that the dough is supposed to be sticky. So, over the next few weeks when made the bread, I made sure that the dough ended-up being sticky (meaning that when I handled the dough, it stuck to my fingers). Since I began doing this (along with not over-kneading), my bread has come out lighter and fluffier.

As I continue to make bread every week, I am constantly trying to improve how it turns out and even though I will mess-up every now and then, I will strive to make sure that the dough also rises.

Funny Fotos: 12/18

Happy Friday, everyone. I hope you all have a great weekend...




This was me a few days ago...

courtesy of... lolpix.com





courtesy of... failblog.org




So this is why...

courtesy of... icanhascheezburger.com

Procrastination and Exercise

As you may have gathered from the title, I am once again in one of those moods. As I sit here typing this, I have no wish to exercise today. It is cold and rainy outside, the girls have just finished their school for the day, and I REALLY don't want to spend thirty minutes on my Total Gym. For the past two weeks, I have been diligently exercising five times a week and although I still have another four weeks before I can legitimately take some time off, I just have to call it quits for today.

I have been sitting here and trying to motivate myself, but it just isn't working. I'm thinking that it would be a good thing to take a day off every now and again; after all, my muscles need more than just two days to recover. Oh, and yesterday I increased the difficulty for my incline sit-ups and as a result, my stomach muscles are not that happy with me right now. I could certainly use that as an excuse to not exercise, but what about my other muscles? They're sore, but I could still work them. You see, it's the guilt thing trying to worm its way into my head and I need to fight to keep it from taking-up residence. In order to fight the guilt, I'm going to actually practice what I write about. Now, as you check outside your window to see if there are any pigs flying around, I am going to rid myself of this guilt.

"When you exercise, for example as you lift weights, perform aerobics etc, you will break down muscle tissue in the body. The more you exercise the more tissue will be broken down. When you stop your activities, nature will attempt to rebuild the broken layers of tissue, but a little stronger than last time so the tissue doesn't break as easily. Over a period of continuous destroying and rebuilding, your muscle will grow and adapt to the strain you put on it. The skin will stretch and your body will gain size and strength.When I strength-train, I am putting a strain on my muscles. When this occurs, tiny tears are created in the muscle. As the muscle rests, it repairs these tears and that is how the muscles grow."¹

In short, the main portion of the muscle-building process occurs while your muscles are at rest. So, if this is the case, why am I making such a big deal out of taking ONE day off? Basically, because I have it so ingrained in my mind that I MUST exercise every day that when I do take a day off, I feel guilty about it. What I need to do is realize that even though I may not be stressing the muscles, they are still growing. Taking time off, now and again, is a critical part of any exercise regime, not only to repair muscles, but for your own mental well-being. Everyone needs a break and there is no reason to feel guilty about it.

Besides, Koko and Yum Yum are using the machine. There, guilt...gone.


How Do Muscles Grow ¹