If it isn't hot enough, I decided to try a new bread recipe my brother recommended. It was a traditional recipe that asked to knead by hand, etc. Well, I'm so in tune with with making bread using my bread machine that I decided to do it MY way. 'Cept there was so much volume both with liquid and flour that I felt it would be prudent to have the machine do only the kneading part, which left me to put the dough in a large bowl for the first rise.
Well, it's blast furnace hot here, so I decided to take advantage of Mother Nature's hot flashes and set the dough to rise out on the front porch. I put it in my large 26-cup mixing bowl, oiled the top of the dough thoroughly, covered the whole shebang with a large, clear plastic bag and set it outside.
Holy catfish, Batman! I'm glad I didn't leave it in the machine for the first rise. It darn near met me at the front door. It completely filled the bowl and rose way over the top.
The recipe said to fashion the dough into two loaves. No way! Instead, I made three good-sized loaves, which ended up being perfect. The loaves rose beautifully the last time and baked to a golden brown and, of course, the smell was almost more than we could stand. Can't wait to taste it. I have a feeling this recipe is a keeper.
If you're interested, check out this recipe for
Honey Buttermilk Bread.