My thermometer
One of my favorite kitchen tools is my thermometer. I really could have used it during my early baking days. I cringe when I think about all the doughy loaves I’ve ‘baked.’ Some days found me with ‘burnt, but fully baked’ loaves. And then there were days where I produced ‘doughy, but golden-brown’ beauties. And of course there were those rare days where I’d get a fully baked golden-brown loaf of bread; and I never knew why. But boy was I thankful for those days.
Not long after that, I stumbled upon a site that said bread was fully baked when it reached an internal temperature of 180 degrees. Useful information, very useful in fact. I mean, I had a thermometer. Now I could just test my bread for doneness, no more guessing. But a problem remained: I was still pretty much glued to my oven. Still giving my loaves 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Still opening up the oven every two minutes or so, after the 25 minute mile marker, to see if the loaf was at 180 degrees.
Then I found it, my thermometer. Its actually a timer/thermometer. My time in the kitchen has not been the same since I got it. Now, the probe goes into the unbaked loaf right before the unbaked loaf goes into the oven. I set the alarm to 170 degrees and walk away. When the bread reaches that temperature, the alarm goes off and I remove my lovely loaf from the oven. The thermometer stays in. I set it to 180 degrees, cover the loaf, and walk away. The temperature continues to rise and when the alarm goes off again at 180 degrees I remove the thermometer. Then I remove the loaf from the pan, brush butter on all sides, allow it to cool, and cut.
Thanks to my thermometer, I have a lot more confidence and no more doughy loaves.
