Experiments in hardcore baking

I got up an hour later than I wanted to this morning, after dreaming about one of my old high school friends talking about this girl he wanted to date, despite the fact that she had really bad politics and half the time thought she was an elf. Not worth sleeping in to learn that from my subconscious, but I didn't bother to get up until 7:40 or so.

It was a good thing I got up. I had to proof my bread, get some homework done, and say sayonara to a roommate of mine who is going to Australia for two weeks. So now, the bread is doing its second rise, the roommate has flown the coop, and naturally I'm doing this instead of my homework. I'll get around to it, I promise.

The bread is different than usual. At about...11:30? last night, I decided I wanted to make a nice chewy tender bread to go with the soup I plan to make for dinner. So I looked up recipes, and though I'm sure something is out there, I got frustrated and wanted to bake, not be on the computer, so I stopped and just threw some things in a Pyrex container with a lid - the better to seal it up and let it rise overnight. Approximately, I used:

1 c. all-purpose flour*
1/4 t instant yeast
1/2 t salt
1 t honey

To this I added enough warm water to make it sticky and wet, but not soupy. Stirred everything together. Put it away and went to bed. This morning, after letting it do its thing for about 8 hours, I kneaded it a little - I think I did so too long; for one, the dough was super puffy when I started kneading, and so I pushed out a lot of bubbles, and for another, it is quite saturated with water, so the dough is very slack - and then set it aside. I'll preheat the oven in about twenty minutes, put the bread in at 9, and then we'll see what happens. The loaf is gonna be pretty small - I love experimenting, but I hate wasting things.

In the meantime, let me say that there is nothing more beautiful than the first light of morning, when the sun has finally burned through the haze of grey clouds that had held it back. There's just about two minutes of absolute glory, while sunlight drapes itself in golden swathes all over the mosses and vibrant green grasses in our backyard. Later, when it's gotten settled, it just looks unfathomably cheerful, but for that first few minutes, it is unreal.

-an hour passes-

My bread is AWESOME. Pictures later. School now.