The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

I Confess My Deepest Darkest Baking Secret

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

I Confess My Deepest Darkest Baking Secret

Mebake mentioned that I seemed to be a very busy baker of late and I knew that I had been caught with my dirty little secret.  I confess it isn't all me in my kitchen.  For the past 7 years, nearly 8 now, I have been fortunate enough to have a full time German Baker's Apprentice.  She is well trained and has an especially fine (if big) nose for what is good and has become my go to tester and taster for everything I make in the kitchen.  She is sort of short legged, so I have to get things down for her from the high cupboards, but that is small price to pay for the depth of skill and experience that she brings to my baking and cooking in general.

Yeah, I know!   Most posters don't have the luxury of being able to find such a well trained kitchen cohort much less be able to afford one from their ancestral homeland.  But, I think an apprentice is key to perfecting one's culinary skills.   You should consider getting one of your own, regardless of cost and resuting hassles and complications an apprentice brings to the kitchen.  Plus, you need to train the next generation in the culinary arts.  Teaching is pure generosity at its base and generosity is by far the hardest good character attribute one must have to be successful at anything, along with about 100 other ones that are slightly easier to have to hold dear. 

So don't be too hard on me for not exposing my little secret from the beginning .  I consider it a character flaw too, just like you should, but I'm the one that has to live with it and her. I hope to be forgiven by the good folks at TFL over time and wish each of you an apprentice of your own that is even better, and hopefully less sour dough and longer legged than mine.......Happy Baking ....... here's some picks of my little SD

 

Here she is after a hard day of baking - and full tummy.

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I love your assistant!  She would get along great with my "4" assistants...Mookie, Misty, Lucy and Cosmo as long as she can deal with cats!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is my assistants name too!  She also goes by the alias of 'The Poo Dog'.  Cats and Lucy don't hit it off too well I'm afraid. She is a determined German and bred to not be very bright.....eeerrrr.....stupid.   This breed is supposed to want to go into holes in the ground and  drag out a badger or two - and you must be very stupid to do that at 14 pounds !!  But she will eat anything and beg for more - just the kind of assistant I need :-)

Isand66's picture
Isand66

My Lucy and yours would get along just fine!  My Lucy is afraid of her own shadow so once she saw your Lucy she would go hide under the bed never to be seen again until feeding time!

Here's my Lucy.....

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Mine's named after the the daffy Lucy on 'I Love Lucy'.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I have 3 other cats, Mookie, Misty and Cosmo....we have no kids so they are spoiled rotten.

shastaflour's picture
shastaflour

...except I think she is mostly of UK heritage (though who but her Creator truly knows?) She is fantastic at picking up anything that accidentally goes airborne, and keeps the rug in front of the sink warm (one of her favorite spots). However, I do have to be sure her long golden locks do not end up as a garnish. She is so generous with them! :) Her name is Sugar, by the way, and she's a bit short in the leg as well. 

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

sure is a cutie!!!  Dogs and wild, long  hair mean lots of work brushing and mine bites when you try... but she only bites the family.  Anyone else can brush her no problem.  Go figure?

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

My sister (gmabaking2) confessed recently that her result on a baking project was slightly hindered by Cordie's inability to be accurate in her reading, she omitted the sugar in a recipe.  This is a prime example of how some cats cannot be trusted! Cordie is usually very reliable, but in this case, as you can see... she had a rather "relaxed" attitude and therefore skipped a very necessary ingredient.  She will only be allowed tasting and consulting in the future... her head chef status has been reduced.

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is diabetic and just trying to save herself from sugar?

aytab's picture
aytab

My assistants are two Chihuahuas named Ginger and Paris, as well as an 85 pound Johnson American Bulldog/English Bulldog mix named Haley (who snuck in the kitchen and ate an entire loaf of my Italian bread one time). I couldn't bake without them.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

day I went to the freezer to get a frozen piece of salmon about 8 oz.  I left it n the coffee table and Lucy jumped up, snatched it and took it outside to eat in backyard privacy.  I didn't find out until I started looking for it hoping it was defrosted so I could cook it for dinner.  All I found was the plastic wrap, part of it, in the back yard.  She didn't want dinner that night for some reason.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I grew up with dogs and remember on several occasions when my dogs helped themselves to our dinner before my Mom had a chance to cook it.

Several years ago I stopped eating my tuna sandwich to take a phone call, and out of the corner of my eye I saw one of my cats running down the hallway with half a sandwich in her mouth!  My litttle guy Cosmo, loves to help me eat my cereal in the morning amongst other things.

You gotta love our furry friends!

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

 

 

 

hang around and hope that I will drop something... anything... on the floor! Zeus is on the left, long haired chihuahua... and Tripp is on the right... Rottie/Lab/Golden Retriver mix.

But the real taste tester of the family is JC... he is a cockatoo! And a discriminating taster.

 

 

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks like you have a great crew!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is the boss in the kitchen? I'm guessing the little guy - or the bird who can talk and tell the others what to do :-)  or where to go !!!  I once had a bird who could ring exactly like the telephone.  We had to let the phone ring 3 times before answering because the bird only rang twice.

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

this silly bird whistles for the dogs! He also says Hello anytime the phone rings... But calling the dogs seems silly when you consider the big dog is about 80 pounds... he has cornered a couple of my chickens and pulled a few tail feathers! They are all fun when the baking is going on. 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Hehe.. its ok.. most of us had the same urge at some point along the way, nothing to confess here :)

Nice dog! he must be in heaven, considering that he eats bread that most people on earth have not tasted.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

and everything else that gets within snatching distance.  This dog will eat anything.  The other day she refused to lick up the leftovers in my breakfast yogurt bowl.  I thought I had finally found the one thing she won't eat besides really bad smelling pesticides and defoliants.  When I reached down to pick up the bowl she gave me that look she has, a warning toothy smile that says 'just try it buddie' and jumped in to lap it right up.  I guess she wanted to save it for desert later or something.

Thanks for the inspiration for this post - and yes I have been a busy little baker.  My wife says the electric bill has gone up dramatically this past month.

Frequent Flyer's picture
Frequent Flyer

Sir Charles Winston, normally occupying the kitchen rug in front of the sink.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

besides looking very handsome and comfy, also looks hungry and trying to get a treat I think?

Frequent Flyer's picture
Frequent Flyer

...you malign, slander and othewise defame my canine companion!  :)   However, you are so correct.  That dude's hunger has no "off" button. 

FF

teketeke's picture
teketeke

What a nice dog you have, dabrownman!

Our dogs are nothing like yours! LOL  They are not well trained, of course!  But I love them.  It is really nice to have a pet, isn't?

I also enjoyed seeing other TFL members's pets! They are so lovely..

Thank you for sharing,

Akiko

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

She isn't well trained either and thinks she can get by or get what ever she wants on her god looks alone :-)

Let's see a pic of your pooches? I bet they are cuties!!

teketeke's picture
teketeke

Here they come.....

  Yuki --10 month old .. A super high drive white Swiss shepherd..  He is a crazy happy dog.

Chichi- 4 years old.  A half poodle half chihuahua  He is the boss.

Cookie  3 years old.  Chichi's sister.  but different mother. She is submissive.

These are my most favorite pictures.  We have 5 chickens, too.  One of them has been suffering from impacted crop, actually pendulous crop so that she stays with us.   She used to eat something weird stuff that she couldn't digest outside and her crop  were expanded like a balloon.  Her crop was emptied safely, but her muscles were too damaged to hold her crop tightly.   Anyway, Chichi loves to play with the chicken Bumpy.

Cleaning is a must....  Sometimes it becomes stressful though...

Akiko

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Love your beautiful friends.

teketeke's picture
teketeke

Thank you so much, isand66!  My closest neighbor has 4 cats too!!  They like to chase after mice, that is like " Tom and Jerry"!!  Can't miss this post as an animal lover!! :)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Your dogs aren't trained?  They are trained not to eat chickens!  Your dogs are very cute and having chickens means fresh eggs and no dog is going to give you those unless you train them to pinch them from the neighbors chickens.  Sorry bumpy is injured but glad she found a canine friend.

teketeke's picture
teketeke

We didn't train them not to eat the chicken... I think they see me taking care of Bumpy everyday, then they know that they can't hurt the chicken..    Well,, The white Swiss shepherd ... He is in the crate when Bumpy is out.  He is too crazy to treat the chicken nice.  One time, I forgot the Swiss shepherd were out of the crate even Bumpy was walking around the living room... He did't hurt Bumpy.. he didn't care at all.. That was a phewww moment..

Thank you for kind words for Bumpy!  She is happy to stay with us for sure.