On a Roll

Culinary To-Do List item 2 is finished.  And delicious.  I've been wanting to do this since I saw it on my friend's Pinterest (yes, I'm using that too now).  See, I love my Le Creuset pots.  They're so versatile.  And finding out that I can bake bread in them just blew my mind.  So, following the instructions here, I embarked on my latest culinary adventure.  You saw the pic at the end of my previous post with the just-mixed dough waiting on the kitchen counter.  Well I forgot to take a picture before turning it out of the bowl the next morning, but it had risen quite a bit and taken over the full bottom half of the bowl just about.  This is how it looked all shaped up and floured, looking kind of like a little Adipose baby (Doctor Who reference, for those who watch):

Except instead of fat, this is all flour.  And stuff.

While it baked, Mr. Pocket and I were practically drooling from the fabulous aroma of baking bread that completely filled the downstairs of our condo.  And when it came out, I kind of wanted to do a faceplant right into the pot.

Totally worth burning my face off to get a bite of that, right?

Unfortunately we couldn't taste it right away because we were going out.  But we had some with breakfast this morning and oh my.  Definitely going to be doing this again, and trying different variations.  It's a little sticky and chewy, whereas I usually like a somewhat drier bread (the better to soak up olive oil or butter, teehee), but it's awesome.  Mr. Pocket says it reminds him of the fresh bread his grandmother in Germany gets every day.  Works for me.  I enjoyed it again with olive oil for dipping, cheese, and strawberries for lunch. 

My kind of lunch!

If you have an enameled cast iron pot, you really should try this.  It's totally worth it.  And it's really easy.  I can even do this during the work week, now that I know how easy it is.  It takes seriously less than 10 minutes to put everything together (and that's if you're slow and dithery like me) and then you just leave it alone for almost an entire day.  And while the baking part seems time consuming, the only real effort you have to invest is in forming it into a ball, and then in not burning yourself on the hot pot.  Just be careful when you clean up your floured surface.  I tried to dump the excess flour off my pastry cloth into the sink, and it kinda went *pouf!* everywhere all over the counter.  *sigh*  And I had done such a good job of not making a mess with this one...