bad mood baking, created something great

Normally baking helps to relieve stress or uplift my mood on mentally distressed and gloomy days. Being presently unemployed and watching the economic destruction of my life savings due to the greed and corruption of bankers on Wall Street, I knew I had to retreat to my kitchen for a release.

This past Friday, I made a white wheat poolish in anticipation of making sandwich rolls Saturday afternoon. When Saturday afternoon rolled around, I finished the dough and without thinking (because I was thinking too much), I made a much slacker dough than I normally would for sandwich rolls. After shaping, I put a tray of them in the fridge to retard overnight and told my wife to take the tray out in the morning if she got up before me, which she did. Needless to say, the rolls, although five inches across and nicely rounded, were a good bit flatter than normal. I gave them an eggwash, dusted some with Kosher salt, others with a spicy pepper mix and some with sesame seeds and baked them off anyway.

After proper cooling, I sliced one open and realized that the generous open crumb structure and mere inch and a quarter of height of the rolls were perfect for pannini. I whipped out my George Foreman electric grill, cooked up an egg and cheese pan frittata and placed the bread and egg between the grill plates for two minutes. I now have a new Sunday morning breakfast favorite. Bad mood plus slack dough equals great sandwich. Now if only the S&P would rise like my spirits.