Dead camera and risen bread

They are the theme of today. I am baking bread for my church's mid-winter lunch 'The Big Soup.' Somewhere in the announcement it said that there would be home made bread so I walked up to the organizers and volunteered myself for the task.

To that end I baked today:

6 French Baguettes (Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt)

3 Batards (same dough as above)

2 Rosemary Focaccia

2 40% Rye Bread

1 100% Whole wheat Boule (in the oven as I type)

1 70% Whole wheat Boule (queued up next)

1 70% Whole wheat Baton (queued up next)

All in all we are talking about 8.5kg or 19lbs of bread. This will be consumed with gusto by about 50 people. I say with gusto because they look and smell so very good! I finally mastered (well let me say accomplished) proper kneading technique of the baguettes. They look, sound, smell and taste wonderful! (Yes we had one, well part of one I made a baguette too big and had to chop off the end so I could close the oven door.) The rye bread looks and smells scrumptious. The Focaccia is smothered in rosemary and olive oil, need I say more?

The two wheat loaves have me worried. I am not sure how they will taste having never made them before. The actual reason why I made them is that I purchased organic whole wheat flour by accident and thought I better use some of it.

Oh how I wish the battery was working on the camera today! I would have liked to have shown you the mess I made in the kitchen, the steaming setup that I use, and of course a baguette or two coming out of the oven.

Dennis was very helpful today from running around and getting things for me to holding hot bread and pans as needed. Chris on the other hand just cleaned up the kitchen for two hours while I baked and baked and baked. Without her it never would have gotten done.