Breadtime Story

 

What is the best time to bake bread? If you'd asked me this question not so long ago I'd have said any time is good for baking bread - as long as you have the time to knead, then wait for the dough to raise, then form, than wait again... and wait even more for the bread to bake and cool down just enough for you to eat it when it's still nicely warm...
But now I think there is such a thing as the best time for baking bread - that's Sunday afternoon.
My Sundays are usually lazier than all the other days. No work, no shopping to be done... Sunday is a perfect day for spending some time in the kitchen. And why do I prefer afternoons over mornings? Well, to me it's quite obvious: when I start the bread-baking process in the afternoon, my bread is ready to be tasted somewhere in the evening. Just when I'm sitting on the couch and watching TV and feel like having a little bite of something. Fresh bread with butter is one of the best somethings I can think of, really.
And if anybody wonders why Saturday afternoons and evenings should be any worse - here comes the answer.
I am not one of those TV addicted folks. I hardly ever watch anything (unless there is some interesting sports events, but that's something else - sports events do not go well with baking anything when it comes to me), but now for a couple weeks I have been watching a series that happens to be shown just on Sunday evenings...

Round Sesame Bread
(two loaves)

2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 cup milk, scalded
3 tablespoons sugar
1 to 1,1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces
1 egg
6-7 cups flour
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons sesame seed

Add yeast to lukewarm water and stir until dissolved.
In a big cup combine scalded milk, sugar, salt, and butter and stir until dissolved. Cool to lukewarm.
Beat egg lightly. Add egg and yeast mixture to cooled milk mixture.
Divide flour and liquid ingredients in halves.
Put 2 cups of flour into the bowl of food processor (with the steel blade attached), add half of the liquid. Process a few seconds until thoroughly blended. Start adding the rest of one half flour, 1/4 cup at a time. Keep doing this until dough forms into a sticky, smooth ball around edge of bowl.Let the ball of dough spin around for 2o to 3o seconds, then turn the dough onto floured board and knead by hand for a minute or two. Form the dough into a neat ball.
Transfer dough into a greased bowl and rotate to coat all sides. Cover with a towel and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 1,1/2 to 2 hours, or until double in bulk.
Repeat procedure, using the other half of flour and liquid ingredients. Do not combine the two balls of dough, unless you want to make one really huge loaf.
When the balls of dough sitting in the bowls are double in bulk, punch them down and turn onto a lightly floured board; form into balls again. Place the balls on baking sheets, lightly sprinkled with flour (I use pizza sheets with holes in the bottom) and form them into nice loaves.
Brush each loaf with milk and sprinkle with sesame seed. Cover and put in a warm place to rise for 1,1/2 to 2 hours.
Bake at 180ºC for 40 minutes or until the loaves are nicely browned and crusty.