Bread and Butter

I own many years of many food magazines.  I set out to find a French Bread recipe and began scanning the indexes.  I lucked out and found one in the 4th or 5th magazine I opened, Gourmet may 1985.  I made the recipe which has (2) 30 minute dough rises plus one more 30 minute rise after the dough is shaped. 

I think for next time, I will allow for longer rises at each step.  The dough didn't quite have the texture I was seeking though it was quite good.  What homemade bread has never been good?  Well, none that I have made.  If you get a dry and cold day this spring, I highly recommend having yeast on hand so you can make some bread from scratch.  It is very rewarding.

For the butter, I beat 1 Pint of Heavy Cream with A Pinch of Sugar and A Few Pinches of Salt.  At first, as pictured, it was light and fluffy and spread easily.  We ate it with the bread the first night.  In thinking back, I recall from making butter as a kid that at some point it separated and liquid was poured off. 

Today, I decided to continue whipping it until it got to that state.  In all, it took about 20 minutes of total whipping.  Today, just as I recall, a milky white thin liquid became evident in the bottom of the bowl.  I lined a strainer with cheese cloth and strained off the liquid.  I squeezed the remaining solid until what remained was very firm, pale yellow and looked like butter. 


Except for wanting to get better at french bread, all in all, both were very good!!