SMAC attack! - Braided "Country Fair Bread"

This one is for Sarah, who managed to put in her request for a braided loaf both by comment and by phone...

I have to admit, though, that I almost didn't make a loaf this weekend...My coursework is a bit more than usual (exacerbated by having to spend all of Saturday listening to talks), and since I had an extra loaf in the freezer (the left over loaf of marble bread from last week) I had planned to just thaw that out and not spend any time in the kitchen Saturday and Sunday. But when I woke up this morning my clock read 5:05 (and, as I found out in a little bit, that clock was in fact an hour fast, so it was actually closer to 4:00). I tried (and rather failed) to go back to sleep for a while, but eventually I just had to get up. Anyway, it was still much too early to go into the office, so I decided to do some early morning baking after all.

This bread starts off a bit unusually...no proofing of the yeast. Instead, combine 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and about 1/4 cup of sugar. While that's just sitting in a bowl, not doing anything, heat up in a saucepan 1 1/2 cups of milk and 4 tablespoons of butter (cut up into small pieces so that it all melts before the milk gets too hot). Once it is warm, add the milk to the flour mixture, along with 2 eggs, and stir for a good five minutes. I'm not really sure what this accomplishes, other than tiring out one's wrist, but this week I have a recipe again, and that's what it says to do.

Once the mixture is very...well, mixed, stir in 4 1/2 more cups of all-purpose flour and start kneading. There will be a bit more of it than usual this time around, but this dough kneads very easily. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, put in a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm, draft-free spot for the

First Rising (1 hour and 20 minutes)
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Well, after complaining last week that teaching was a bit less fun this semester because there is no question asked, nothing that happens that I hadn't already heard last semester, My students proved me wrong last semester. First, some back-story...

Once in a while (say, two or maybe three times over the course of the semester) I like to bring in doughnuts or cookies and juice or some such for my students. On the one hand, I just like randomly being nice once in a while. And, a bit more selfishly, I have definitely noticed that after a burst of sugar my 8 am sections are definitely more attentive. Anyway, you have to say something the first time you bring food in, and this semester for some reason a bunch of my students asked me about my "food policy." Well, I haven't been in a classroom where a "food policy" was relevant since high school, so I was a bit taken aback at the time. But, that gave me a perfect excuse to introduce doughnuts with the following rather cheesy approach: "Last class someone asked me about my policy on food...(blah blah blah)... so anyway, of course, food is fine. But you know, I've always believed in sharing, so if you bring in food wouldn't it be nice to bring in enough for everybody...So, for example, today I wanted a few doughnut holes, so..." well, you get the idea. Anyway, the class and I have a good laugh over that, because we all know that no student is every going to buy food for all twenty-five of us.

But then, last week, one of my students in my Thursday section brought in a giant bag of cherry Hershey's kisses to share with the whole class. Now, no doubt they were just leftover Valentine's Day candy, but still...I thought that was just great, and was glad to be proven wrong.
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Punch down the dough and divide into six roughly equal pieces. Roll by hand each piece into a cylinder about 10-12 inches long. Then, simply "braid the strands together." Now, perhaps you know how to make a six-stranded braid, but I certainly don't! Now, I'm not quite sure how to describe what I made up, so let me try the nerdiest possible way with a bit of expanded cycle notation:

Press the strands together at one end, and label them 1-6 from left to right. The first two moves are (123456) -> (612345) -> (623451). Now that we've basically just switched the first and the last strands, relabel them 1-6, because we're just going to repeat the following four moves over and over until we're done: (123456) -> (231456) -> (523146) -> (523614) -> (536142). Make sense? Anyway, I'm not sure if that's how one is supposed to do six-braids, but go ahead...try and tell me that doesn't look pretty sweet!



Second Rising (40 minutes...the bread could have risen for longer, I am sure, but it was about to spill over the edge of the cookie sheet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some of you perhaps already know about my bizarre, retrospective "To Do in Life" list. Whereas, I suppose, most people sort of have an idea of the big things they want to accomplish or experience (Become president? Learn how to fly? Go over Niagara Falls in a barrel?) I've only ever had a list of little things that I realize that I've always wanted to do, but only after I've done them. These have ranged from the monetary (I first became aware of this list when I flew into Los Angeles and there was a guy waiting for me, with a car and a big sign upon which my name was writ large. This made me aware of the fact that, despite not being aware of it, I had always wanted to be picked up in a fancy car from an airport - thanks to Cousin Scott's wedding for that one!) to the cheesy-romantic (successfully pulling off the gallantly-give-jacket-to-shivering-girl routine) to the just plain silly (umm...the whole cult thing springs to mind). Well, I am happy to announce that I have now added a fourth thing to said list: last week I managed to compose, in a bout of both whimsy and pure, muse-like inspiration, a letter that was entirely written in verse. Even down to the date, opening, and closing. Admittedly, that was probably one of the silliest "happy birthday" letters ever written, but I had a lot of fun with it...I hope the recipient likes it as much!
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Set oven to 375, and while the oven is coming up to temperature brush the top of the bread with 1 tablespoon of cold water beaten with 1 egg white to give the crust some texture. Bake for 45 minutes.

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Tasting verdict: First, speaking of things written in verse, bonus points to anybody who can guess what book (that I last read the summer after my sophomore or junior year of high school) the above picture made me think of. Anyway, as you can see, I haven't tried a slice from this loaf yet, a result of my eating two breakfasts (cereal, and then a cheese omelet on the last of last week's marble bread) while waiting for it to rise and bake. However, if the past six weeks (and my knowledge of the ingredients of what went into this one) are any guide, I'm going to say that this bread will have a much lighter texture than most of the breads I've made so far, and will almost certainly be a rather rich and sweet loaf. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be great for sandwiches, if a bit too large and oddly-shaped to fit into the plastic sandwich bags I have.

Currently reading: Too busy to do as much reading as I would like...still working on last week's book.

Next week: Well, we've had two requests in a row...can anyone make that three? If not, probably some sort of whole-wheat loaf.