Anadama intrigue
I made the BBA Anadama yesterday (thanks to the cornbread thread that put me in the mood!).
I spaced on one of the soaker steps and added the molasses in with the rest of the ingredients for the 1-hour "pre-ferment". Anyway, all turned out well, though the bread is a lot darker than I remember from the last time--do you think the molasses stained the crumb? I did throw a bit of WW flour in the mix, but only about 4 ounces out of 20 total, so I don't think that would add much color. Interesting, anyway :)
I baked it free form rather than in a loaf pan, and think it turned our rather pretty:
I've now made a note to myself (next to the one that says "great toasted with cheese") to remember to divide up the ingredients next time--I wish recipes would do that more--especially when the rest of the instructions are on the next page, ha ha.
Beautiful.
Yes, gorgeous, and I'll bet keeping it free-form rather than using a loaf pan gave it a nicer crust.
Did you also bake this in your mud oven? I am very impressed with your mud oven pics and now I just have to have one...I ordered the book you mentioned, showed my husband your pics, and I think I have a seed planted for a new spring project ;-) Having one in the yard rather than in the kitchen is a good idea for being able to bake in the warmer weather when we may not want to heat up the house. No shortage of natural clay on our land either, it's like a brick, every hole has to be dug with a pickaxe.
Looks good. qahtan...
Thanks, I didn't use the mud oven today, though I've been meaning to fire it up for a winter baking sometime soon. I have it in my head to send people "mud oven granola" for christmas, but what with other holiday business I haven't had the time yet. Oh well, maybe they'll end up getting a January gift instead--might be fun for those healthy eating resolutions!
Let me know when you get started on your oven, that would be cool. I can send some links of places I had good info from during my project. It is nice for the summer months, though I did learn that tending a fire in hot summer weather isn't exactly the best trade off to a cooler house, ha ha!
It will be interesting to try it in really cold weather, though I figured a 30 or 40 degrees difference in outside temps won't make a huge difference when the oven is at 400-500 degrees...it's hard to say if it will cool off faster or not...