Long-rising homestyle bread

To get started with this loaf, proof 2 teaspoons of (active dry - the sort I've been implicitly using all along) yeast in 1 cup of warm milk, along with 1 tablespoon of sugar. After a few minutes, add 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 3 cups of bread flour. Ah, you were expecting the usual "all-purpose flour" there, weren't you? Well, I guess I'm just full of surprises! Actually, it's just that after months of seeing bread flour sitting next to the all the other flours I finally just got curious and decided to give it a try; see if the loaf turns out substantially differently.

The very first difference comes out right away: this dough is unexpectedly tough to knead. Either that or, perhaps just as likely, my arms are just tired from moving all of my furniture and belongings twice in as many weeks. Anyway, when the dough has that usual nice, elastic feel set it in a greased bowl, cover, and let stand for the extra-long

First rising (1 hour and 30 minutes at room temperature, 7 hours overnight in the fridge)
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I'm afraid this is going to be another short post, and I'll probably not post next weekend either. But I think I have pretty good excuses on both counts... I was supposed to move into my apartment a week ago, but the leasing company made a small mistake, starting my lease before the previous tenant's lease expired. Which, on the one hand, seems like a pretty minor mistake and an easy one to make, but on the other hand...I mean, getting lease dates right seems to me to be pretty much the primary task of a leasing company. All other details secondary, and that sort of thing. Oh well; at least I got a rug out of it. Not, of course, that they actually gave me a rug as a consolation prize (unlike my previous luck with airlines and teddy bears), but they did knock one week's worth off of my rent check, a sum which I decided I ought to use by getting something for the apartment, with no real function, that I otherwise wouldn't have bought. Hence the rug.

And, as for next weekend..l Well, a week from today The Qual starts, and I think for the next week, much like the past several, I'll be doing little other than studying.
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Take the dough out of the fridge in the morning, and punch it. Gently rub the resulting slightly bruised knuckles, as you realize that after spending time in the fridge the dough has pretty thoroughly solidified. Give it an hour or so to come to room temperature, and then punch it again and to much better effect. Shape into a loaf, out in a greased 9x5 bread pan, and cover for the comparatively short

Second Rising (1 hour)
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Three things about my apartment that caught me (quite pleasantly) by surprise: First, it is a bit (say 125%) larger than I remember it. It turns out that when you move less furniture in than the previous resident moved out, the result is more open space than you might have seen during the showing. Second: I now get to walk by a rather nice fountain every day as I head to and from work. I'm a big fan of fountains (something of a mystery, perhaps, as I'm really not such a fan of water otherwise). Third (and most surprising!): I can't believe I didn't notice this when I was viewing the apartment, but it is situated one one ridge of what you might call a little valley! Now, anywhere other than here I'd more likely call it a pair of barely discernible rolls in the terrain, rising and falling at most 10 feet over the course of two blocks. But that's almost certainly more total elevational change in the space of two blocks than I had on my entire 1.5 mile walk to and from my last apartment.
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Heat oven to 400 degrees, and bake for just over 35 minutes. Discover that your new apartment, much like your old one, has a hyper-sensitive smoke alarm. Let the bread cool, slice, and enjoy!

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Tasting verdict: Excellent! This (slightly misshapen) loaf has one of the best textures of any bread I've made in a long while. And, the crust is exactly the tough, chewy sort of beast that I like sinking my teeth into as I'm starting to eat my sandwich. Definitely not a breakfast-toast sort of loaf, but I think a superb (if not particularly striking, taste-wise) lunch bread. Bread flour might have to become a standard part of the arsenal.

Currently reading: Just finishing up David Copperfield. I had forgotten how hilarious Dickens can be sometimes...a perfect book to complement the much heavier and drearier Qual-preparatory-reading I've had to do.