Genius Hour Goals- Week 2

I have officially decided that I would like to explore bread making for my Genius Hour!

After discussing what a good genius hour project looks like (takes some research, is shareable, etc.) I felt confident that my idea to work on improving my baking skills, specifically with bread fit the criteria and would be my focus for the next couple of months.

My question, which you can also see in the quick slideshow I've shared on my Genius Hour Proposal Pitch page, is:
"Could I improve my bread making abilities enough that I could stop buying supermarket bread?"

I have a few goals in mind for this project:
- Become a more confident bread maker/baker in general
- Develop a better, more technical understanding of the science behind bread making (ie. what is the deal with yeast??)
- Be able to make high quality bread based on a number of predetermined criteria
- Keep the cost and difficulty of the recipe down as low as possible, so as to keep weekly bread making a realistic end goal

I am very much interested in healthy eating, and have become concerned with the amount of preservatives and sugar especially that supermarket bread can contain. I also feel that I tend to take bread for granted, not concerning myself too much if/when part of a loaf goes bad, and I would like to be less wasteful. Making my own bread will help to make me more invested in consuming my food before it spoils, as well as ensuring that I have control over what I'm putting into my body. I am motivated to eat smarter in general, and I hope this genius hour will help me to accomplish this!

I am going to evaluate my progress as objectively as possible, by rating and describing each loaf of bread on the same set of criteria:
- Flavour
- Crust
- Crumb
- Texture
- What this loaf is good for
- Overall rating out of 10

I will reflect on the techniques I used and any areas I would change the next time I tried the recipe. If I feel it is necessary, I may revisit a recipe later in the project, using the skills I've developed to improve upon my original results.

Each week I would like to try a new recipe or technique. I have already started this actually, and will report on the results of my experiments later on this blog. I will continue these weekly bread making sessions until the week of March 29.

I can't wait to get started, and I know some of my friends who have heard about this project are anxious for me to start as well!