slices of bread

Since the new year began, and with it my bread-making resolution, I have baked several loaves of bread. Nothing has turned out award-winning, but nothing has been inedible either. It all actually has tasted pretty good, if I may say so, especially the whole wheat bread. I'm starting to get the hang of this bread-baking business, so long as the recipe requirements are not too complicated. Kneading has become more therapeutic than confusing. I've learned about ingredients I'd never before heard of (hello, vital wheat gluten), and I've discovered ingredient variations that have improved the quality of the time I spend baking as well as the taste of the bread that results (hello, instant yeast and white wheat flour). I've learned that using an electric knife to cut the bread is a thousand times easier than using a regular bread knife and results in more even slices (thank you, FoxyJ, for the tip!). I have a growing stack of recipes I have yet to try and a growing list of experiments I want to test out on recipes I've already made. So as you can see, the whole endeavor has been rather thrilling for me.

Which isn't to say, however, that it's all been an easy piece of cake thus far. I've encountered some difficulties, though not of the sort that I would have thought. The New York City take-out or have-it-delivered culture is not very conducive to the home baker. It has been surprisingly difficult to find even the most basic ingredients. For example, my local supermarket doesn't always stock yeast of any kind. Varieties of flour are also difficult to track down. And that vital wheat gluten, which I was originally told was a common enough ingredient to be found in a normal baking aisle, took an extra bit of creativity to find. They say you can find anything in New York City, anything you could ever want or need. And that's probably true. But it's never all in one place and so a wild goose chase in search of whatever it is you're looking for is often required. Luckily the internet, and especially the people behind King Arthur Flour, exist to help people like me who find themselves too exhausted to keep searching locally.

Finding the time to bake bread has been another challenge. And when I can find the time, it's sometimes tricky to make sure that I can be available in the kitchen during those moments when the dough needs to be punched down or shaped into loaves or put in the oven. Instant yeast has been helpful here, and has so far proved worth the wild goose chase it took to actually bring it into my kitchen.

The next thing I'd like to tackle are rolls. This time it's not the dough-making that bewilders me. It's the dough shaping. All the roll recipes I've ever seen have instructions along the lines of "Knead dough. Shape dough. Bake dough." But what exactly does it mean to "shape dough"? And how close together do you place those shaped pieces of dough on the pan -- if indeed a sheet plan is what is used? Or do rolls need to be baked in something deeper, like a 9x13 casserole dish? Or in something specialized, like a muffin tin? Of course, I realize that answers to these questions will depend on the recipe, but where I stand now any bit of basic instruction would be helpful. So if any of you more experienced roll makers have any insight, I'd be much obliged. Also, if you have any favorite roll recipes you think I should try, please share them.