Bread!

Part of my new year's resolutions was to cook new things, especially from my collection of cookbooks. I sure am happy to cook the same thing over and over again, kind of like how I love to reread books and rewatch movies. I approach these things like old friends, comfortable and warm. Old habits are hard to break, and while I don't exactly see mine as particularly bad habits, I see the benefit of a little more exploration. So once a week I've taken to going grocery shopping after taking a good look at my cookbooks and my new favorite haunt, foodgawker.com. (For dinner yesterday, I found an absolutely delectable eggplant curry on foodgawker. It was amazing.) 

So what about the other half of my resolution to cook from my cookbooks? Well, for Christmas, I was given this cookbook, which houses a variety of techniques or ingredients (sauce, dough, water, saute, and soup, to name a few) and although I haven't paged through the whole volume yet, there are a few things that I love already about this cookbook that make it different from others I have.

Each technique has five recipes that accompany it, and at the beginning of each section Ruhlman spends time explaining the why of cooking, the science of each step. I consider myself a decently good cook, but I don't know the purposes behind of a lot of things that I have been taught over the years. I know never to rush the onions in a dish (thanks for that tidbit, Dad!) I also know that in baking, it really does make a difference if you let the butter soften, instead of melting it in the microwave (though I rarely do this because I am so impatient when it comes to cookies!) But I've never been given reasons or facts that back up little tips I've learned over the years. 

In the explanation of each technique, Ruhlman provides both scientific and lay answers to a lot of cooking practices that I take for granted. For example,  I have been trying a variety of bread recipes for weeks now. Every week I've tried a new recipe for bread, following it exactly and hoping for the best. Rulhman's recipe for bread (in the Dough section) was paired with good reasons and explanations for why it's important that it rise twice. He explained that weighing the ingredients instead of measuring would make a difference. He told me about the proteins in the dough elongating and matching, and what each step of the process should look like. He stressed that letting bread rise the first time for two to four hours was normal, which I hadn't encountered yet, and that in cooler temperatures the rising time should be longer. There were photographs that accompanied the recipe. And then, miraculously, after a few hours...

You should probably be jealous!

There was bread! 

It wasn't dense or chewy like my previous attempts. Sure, I had to pry it from the dutch oven I'd cooked it in (note to self: no such thing as too much flouring) but despite that minor hiccup, it is perfect. It is delicious. I can't stop munching. 

I feel so domestic. I love it.

I can't wait till it's gone... so I can try again!