Now I know why Artisan Bread costs $4 a loaf.

I've been trying to bake good bread lately and decided to take on some bread that required more than one rising. Little did I know that this "hearth bread" would be such a long involved process. I was up at 4am the other day so I thought I'd just get it going. Started a "pre-ferment" sponge starter while Lewis whacked the broom against the floor. Then five hours later added the rest of the flour for kneading and it's first rise. An hour later it had not risen. Put it in a slightly warm oven, turned the heat off and let it go another hour. Good. Doubled in bulk. Punched it down and put it in for it's second rise, which I thought would be the one when you shape it. No. That's the NEXT rise! Oh well. Let it go again, but it wasn't really growing right so I put the oven on for a minute or so again and turned it off. Whoops. The bread had started to bake a little. So much for rising. This Artisan bread thing sucks! I sort of shaped it into a large stone-like blob and unceremoniously slashed the thing with a cleaver (as opposed to scoring it with a serrated blade and my eyes lovingly gazing at my work...) Baked the puppy even though it was supposed to have finished it's second rise and been shaped and risen again. Even after skipping 1 1/2 risings the stupid bread wasn't done until almost 5pm!!! The crust was awesome, flavor very good but virtually NO air inside at all. Like a solid piece of playdough that you could melt butter on. But Art and I ate most of it anyway. I will try again, but that was funny. - Jess