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| Kitchen Disaster Baking Bread; when I was a new bride | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 4 2004, 11:26 AM (421 Views) | |
| Trailblazer | Nov 4 2004, 11:26 AM Post #1 |
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My first attempt to bake bread, when I was 21 and a new bride, was truly a disaster. It wouldn't rise, but I baked the loaf anyway. It was hard as a rock and weighed about 10 or 15 pounds, I think. My husband thought it was pretty funny and proceded to use it as a kitchen doorstop. (He really did!) I've since learned to make sure NOT to kill the yeast by dissolving it in too-hot water. I watch the yeast foam and bubble in lukewarm water. And I make sure the yeast isn't old, by checking the expiration date on the yeast package. I love making bread by hand, kneading it and covering it with a thin dishcloth as it rises. I don't have a bread maker. We might buy one someday. But I'm glad I learned the old-fashioned way. There is something very satisfying, or therapeutic, or whatever, about kneading bread. I mix all my ingredients in a very large wooden bowl and knead the dough right in that bowl. No mess on the counters. Fresh bread from the oven with butter......mmmmmmmm! I did go on to learn to cook all kinds of neat stuff besides bread such as tofu, tempeh, gluten, homemade dressings. I haven't ever really learned how to do the whole baking the turkey thing for family holidays. Maybe we should have a thread about that? |
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| mychrissy | Nov 4 2004, 01:00 PM Post #2 |
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Chrissy
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Trailblazer, I have never made bread before and really don't have the interest, but that is a funny story (using it as a door stop). That would have done it for me. My Mom was a good cook, but never was one to bake anything such as pies or bread, and that may be why I never had the interest. Now, when I make cookies, cakes, pies, etc. I always make them from scratch never from a box. I also don't buy food from the freezer that is already prepared. I may start as we have been to friends house for dinner and they have made some pretty good meals that were bought in the freezer department. I guess I tend to be boring when it comes to cooking, just a bit afraid of buying something that was already prepared. Does this make any sense??? I"m ramblin' on. |
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Chrissy | |
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| Heathertee | Nov 4 2004, 02:53 PM Post #3 |
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Heather-Central Connecticut
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Trailblazer, I can relate to the bread-baking episode. When I was first married, my aunt gave me her famous bread recipe. I had a pretty cold kitchen and my problem was, the yeast just wouldn't grow so the bread dough just sort of laid there in the bowl. Then I would lose patience and bake it anyway, and it would be like a brick; a sort of sour brick from taking so long to rise. It took a few tries before it really came out right. Chrissy, I have bought frozen chicken pot pies and they were very good (maybe TOO good!), but on the whole I think you do your guests an honor by making your food from scratch. I have eaten (or tried to eat) Italian pastries that someone brought from a supermarket bakery (for a dinner get-together when she volunteered to bring the dessert) and they were tough and soggy; just terrible. We all had to pretend to eat them, and said we were too full.....so now you know the terrible truth about me; I am a liar!
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| mychrissy | Nov 4 2004, 03:08 PM Post #4 |
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Chrissy
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Heather, That dinner and dessert you prepared for Frank and I was incredibly delicious and I know it was all homemade. We'll be back for prime rib. Jackie, We'll be back for lobstah................ you guys made our vacation all worthwhile. It's nice meeting friends over the internet. |
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Chrissy | |
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| TexasShadow | Nov 4 2004, 03:18 PM Post #5 |
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Jane
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the only bread i've ever made from scratch are flour tortillas and ranch bread...... now, my first time at cooking frijoles
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| mychrissy | Nov 4 2004, 03:23 PM Post #6 |
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Chrissy
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Jane, are you cooking beans? |
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Chrissy | |
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| Heathertee | Nov 4 2004, 03:28 PM Post #7 |
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Heather-Central Connecticut
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I like tortillas, but have never attempted making them. Mmmm....frijoles! I never thought I liked Mexican food til I went to Baja last year. |
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| TexasShadow | Nov 4 2004, 04:57 PM Post #8 |
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Jane
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the cool thing about making tortillas is you don't have to worry about over kneading them. in fact, it's good to knead the heck outta them. re ranch bread is just tortilla dough, patted out to about an inch thick and cooked in a dutch oven or iron skillet in the oven. and bacon grease is better than shortening. |
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| Heathertee | Nov 4 2004, 07:11 PM Post #9 |
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Heather-Central Connecticut
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OK, I know you are dying to hear about my disasters. Believe me there are lots of them in the past 55 years! (Yes, I started cooking when I was 9 years old.) I was madly in love with desserts as a child (still am, actually). I especially loved pies. My first attempt at a pie was at the age of 9; a lemon meringue. Carefully I made the crust, with my Mom called into the kitchen on a frequent basis to check the procedure. The crust was carefully rolled out and fitted into the pan, pinched and weighted and set in the oven to brown. It came out perfectly! I was so proud! I removed it from the oven with potholders and thought I would carry it into the living room to show my Mom. At the doorway to the LR I tripped on the rug and caught myself, but the piecrust, which had greased its own pan in the way of all good piecrusts, slid neatly out onto the living room rug, where it shattered into a thousand little golden-brown shards. Well, after I was done crying, we gathered up the crusts and put them in the oven for a few more minutes to sterilize them, then put them into dessert bowls and covered them with the filling and the meringue. They browned up beautifully, but it was a dessert I never forgot. And do you know, I never learned my lesson, because at the age of 64, I still bring beautiful dishes to my Mom to show her!(I haven't dropped another one yet, though!) |
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| mychrissy | Nov 4 2004, 07:25 PM Post #10 |
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Chrissy
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How sad Heather, but look - you are an excellent cook today. Now, if I had know that I would have made sure I carried the dessert into the dining room for you when we were there for dinner. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: |
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Chrissy | |
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| sylley2000 | Nov 4 2004, 07:50 PM Post #11 |
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Sylvia, Grand Bend ON
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Think most people can relate to this? The first time I cooked a turkey, when my stepfather went to carve it, the meat was pink around the edges. He looked at me, then at the turkey and said, "Sylvia, you did take the bag of innards out didn't you?" Sylvia: "What bag?" Dad: "This bag!" as he pulled a bag out of the turkey. Sylvia: "Oh ... how did that bag get in there? ... I didn't put in there I promise I didn't!" Dad: "They come that way from the butcher's shop ... everyone knows that!" Sylvia: "Well I didn't know -- they should warn people if they're going to leave bags in there! That's really mean to leave a bag in there without telling anyone!" By then everyone was laughing at my naiveté and he cut the pink off the meat and we ate it anyway. Sylvia |
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| Heathertee | Nov 4 2004, 08:06 PM Post #12 |
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Heather-Central Connecticut
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Sylvia, you had an excuse; you were a beginner. Now, I was at a good friend's house; this was back in the late '70's; for a pre-Christmas buffet. The hostess was well-known in the town for her charming parties and delicious food. Well, you know the rest: her husband was carving the turkey at the buffet and sliced into the bag of giblets. I had never seen Mary so embarassed! So you see, anyone can do it. Chrissy, if anyone was going to ruin that dessert, it wasn't going to be you! :laugh: |
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| Trailblazer | Nov 5 2004, 12:56 PM Post #13 |
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I sure am glad I'm not the only one who needed some practice at baking! :laugh: The pie episode is pretty funny, unforgettable :laugh: I did go on to learn to make english muffins (no baking!) and steam bread (Boston brown bread.) Tortillas! I love to make those...NO kneading...just use a rolling pin, or flatten by hand. I buy frozen pot pies...loved them as a kid, and still do, even though I seem to remember they were better back then, in the '60s. I too, stay away from frozen entrees. (Except frozen macaroni and cheese, but wouldn't serve that to guests, unless they asked!) :tomato: What's ranch bread? Thank you Sylvia for the head's up about the bag in the turkey. I know it's there, but if I ever cook the big turkey for a get-together, I might be so nervous, I'd forget about it. My mom was a great cook and loved to entertain, and now I try to copy all those great dishes she served, like Tamale Pie, Chicken Sopa, and home made ice cream. Mine just don't come out looking as great as hers! :tomato: Thanks, everybody, for sharing these experiences! |
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| PRT | Nov 5 2004, 03:24 PM Post #14 |
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Glad I'm not alone in mistakes! I've made doorstop bread, certainly left the dumb bag in the turkey, and also blew up a Pyrex bowl full of peas (of all things) by cooking with it on the top of the stove. I still have the other three bowls - and the same husband - 38 years later. Young brides do strange things when they first approach their own kitchen, I'm afraid. Back to turkey, my grandmother always called its rear end the Pope's nose! Why I don't know. She was a good Catholic :laugh: More turkey. During the depression, my father and mother were dating. My dad was going to college at night and his family had been hit hard financially. My mother's family was not affected. Anyway, no one in my dad's family liked the skin, and all my mother's family did, so he brought her all the turkey skin from their family bird as a gift. She loved it and talked about it often. Again, because of the depression, my dad refused to have stew at our table when we were young. Reminded him of bad times. We had company frequently and he used to say, "Eat hearty and give the house a good name." |
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| Heathertee | Nov 6 2004, 09:22 AM Post #15 |
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Heather-Central Connecticut
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Pat...was it the green bowl? Or the red one? I remember well the terrible thing that happened to MY green Pyrex bowl. It was full of a beautiful lime Jello salad and I was in a hurry getting ready for a pool party; pulled something out of the fridge too fast and the bowl came out with it and shattered into a pile of green Jello and green and white glass. My kids thought it was the funniest thing ever, and I never heard the end of it. My poor bowl! I forget what happened to the little blue one and the red one, but I still have the big yellow one (got the set in 1959) and treat it like gold. I use it for making bread. |
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10:56 AM Jul 13