second loaf, still flat

2025 · 01

Second go. I really thought I had it this time. Took my time, let it sit the full couple of hours instead of yanking it out of the bowl the second I got bored, did everything I was supposed to. Came out flat again. Not the doorstop the first one was, but low and spread-out and sad, and the same gummy pull in the middle when you tear a bit off.

I've decided it's the oven. I know how that sounds. I stuck my hand in near the shelf while it was heating and it just doesn't feel as hot as I think bread wants, and I've convinced myself it runs cool, which is a very convenient thing to convince yourself of when the alternative is that you're doing it wrong. Might buy one of those little thermometers you hang off the rack. Might not.

We have eaten a lot of heavy bread this winter, the two of us, and there's more coming. I'm not stopping. I just wish somebody would tell me the one thing I keep getting wrong.