Foccacia

All month long, in preparation for November’s Daring Baker’s Challenge, I carried the recipe around with me in my bag to read, during a moment’s respite, and acquaint myself with the instructions.  Last Monday all Daring Bakers blogged about their baking results.  I should have done the same, right?  Wrong.  I forgot to bake my bread and post about it.  With so many things to do, it totally skipped my mind.  Yikes! 

If you’re curious about the Daring Bakers and their challenges, this is the way Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups accurately describes the group and its goal: 

"Each Daring Baker challenge is an opportunity to unleash your power as a Daring Baker.  Daring means whatever your level of experience, you are ready to reach just a little bit beyond where you’ve been comfortable. 

The Daring Bakers, now into the 300 range, from all over the globe is a very diverse group (Have you ever heard more of an understatement).  Part of that diversity is the level of experience the individual brings to the group.  In yoga, all start with the same position.  In the DB, all start with the same recipe.  In yoga, the beginning student to the most advanced doing the same position each reach just past their comfort level, each working very hard, each look very different at the end of the exercise.  In the DBs, all start with the same recipe and most especially by design with this challenge, each presentation will be different from all others."

I really like her analogy to yoga.  Tanna chose the November’s Daring Bakers challenge — Tender Potato Bread, a recipe from Home Baking by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.  A week later, I arise to the Daring Bakers challenge and unleash the Daring Baker within.

Being a Daring Baker, I get to try new recipes, techniques, and take risks, as Tanna points out and I did it  again with the challenge of making Tender Potato Bread.  I’d never tasted this, much less thought of making such a bread.  What I liked about Tanna’s choice was that she was very detailed.  Her instructions answered all my questions before I could ask them. 

Also, I liked the fact we had a choice in the types of bread to make — loaves, rolls or foccacia. I always wanted to make foccacia, so that’s what I chose to make.  The bread making process was challenging for me, especially since the dough was very soft.  Very soft.  Tanna warned us about this but I think my dough was softer than usual.  When I put it on the board and tried to knead it, it felt like something out of The Blob.  Luckily, I was able to shape my foccacia and bake it. I loved the simple topping of olive oil, coarse salt, and rosemary leaves (Tanna also offered a topping variation of anchovy and onions). 

I really liked the taste of this bread — the potatoes really gave it a distinct or as Tanna described, savory, taste.  Very nice.  I have some left over, which I’ll take to work for lunch.  I’m having fun unleashing the Daring Baker within.  It’s a challenge, but it’s also fun learning process.

You can find the recipe on Tanna’s blog here and check out the Daring Bakers official blogroll to see what others have done. 

 Paz

For more info, go here.

Thanks to all the very encouraging and head-swelling comments I received after I tried my very first Daring Bakers Challenge, I set out to meet the next challenge — Bostini Creme Pie — chosen by Mary at Alpineberry. 

Ugh!  It. Was. Hard.  But I made it. 

I’m not sure if the pie is suppose to look like the ones in my photos but it’s what I came up with.  The good thing about these Daring Bakers Challenges is that I’m gaining baking experience and making foods that I never dreamed about making.  I’m glad I survived this experience.  Yay!

My name is Paz.  And I’m a Daring Baker.  

You can find the recipe here.

Paz 

Ed. Note:  LOL!  After looking at some of the Bostini Creme Pies created by others, I see that I put way too much chocolate on my pie. LOL!  Hey, what do I know?  I’m still learning.  To see other beautiful Bostini Creme Pies creations, check out the official Daring Bakers’ Blogroll.