French Bread and a Winter Wonderland

What do you do when you’ve been traveling constantly for almost five months, you’re hopelessly behind on the BBA Challenge, and you awake to a winter wonderland?  Why, you bake bread, of course.  Peter Reinhart’s French Bread, from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  As a reminder, the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group (BBA) is baking its way through The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.

I didn’t feel as bad about just getting around to baking this bread when I saw that Nancy over at the Corner Loaf had just tackled it , as well. My latest attempt at French Bread confirmed my conclusion that I need to practice making French Bread.  I need to practice a LOT.  I didn’t get the crust the way I wanted, and the internal texture was off, too, but it tasted pretty good.  Actually, judging by the way I’ve been ploughing through the bread, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be when I first pulled it out of the oven, but there is definitely a lot more room for improvement.  Very nice, toasted, with some hot tea while I look at this, and whisper a prayer of thanks that my EMT class was canceled for tonight:

Yes, in a moment of insanity, I signed up for an EMT course. To take in my spare time.  Bwa – ha – ha!

You can see what everyone is making this week at our Flickr group, on Twitter (#BBA), or check out the challenge page. This recipe also appears on Google Books.  To see what others have been baking this week in the way of breads, be sure to check out YeastSpotting!