High Humidity Baking
So all is well in my kitchen, sealed away from the outside world. My AC is grumbling and coughing itself on to dispel the evil heat and then sleeping when satisfied with its cyclical endeaver. I pull the last loaf of crusty goodness out of the oven at about 3 am and decide to take a nap and allow them to cool before I'm off to the Market. I turn of the AC and wait until the rumbling settles into a sigh of resignation then close my eyes. 3 hours later my babies, my beautifully crackly crusted concoctions are now soft! Damn you humidity! Of course we all know it doesn't effect the flavor but the SOUND!! The sound of the crunchy crust succumbing to your favorite bread knife! I think we can all agree that there is a certain glee when the loaf:
1) Looks exactly the way you imagined it, maybe better
2) Tastes better than you ever imagined
3) Squeals a protest when the knife rips through it's crunchy skin. I giggle when this happens
Needless to say I look forward to baking in the winter here. If you are wondering where 'here' is it's Bermuda - the enemy of the crusty loaf.
Breadman, when looking to generate sympathy, which we are normally happy to extend, you oughtn't finish up with an "I live in Bermuda" flourish. Completely ruins the effect.
This problem of yours is merely the cosmos achieving balance.
Does Bermuda even have winter? I imagine winter sports there are something like surfing in a wetsuit?
ewwww...
I live in "Paradise" right....so why make a fuss over something like not having a crusty loaf when I want one. We always want what we don't have, don't we?
Winter sports is something like surfing in a wetsuit. I don't surf. I bake bread.
"The problem of yours is merely the cosmos acheiving balance..."
ewwwwwwww.....
This is all in fun, right??
Breadman, I'm sorry there was even an iota of opacity in my post--FUN, YES. I try to police myself excruciatingly but sometimes my grip loosens and foolishness slips out of its collar and disappears behind the neighbors' house...doesn't come home for hours...
I thought your post had a pretty light-hearted tone, see, (particularly no 3.) It didn't seem like you were making a fuss, just having a little fun--making lemonade out of your humidity lemons with a clever and fun-to-read post.
I do know it's too easy to be misinterpreted on a silent stage, though. I apologize for not being clearer in my response.
I've had the same thought reading posts from someone in Hawaii--"OK. This is just pay-back. You have bread issues, yes, but you get to live in Hawaii (Bermuda, Paradise...)" (I would make an analogy except I'm bound to offend somebody--"I make blue ribbon bread every time, BUT I live in xxx.")
More seriously I thought this: you get to live in Bermuda, wow! (The mind does run along to issues with triangles and such, but no matter--it's still wow!) I really did wonder if you have any sort of true winter there, and finally you sounded like a very confident, capable baker who probably turns out gorgeous bread regularly.
I don't even believe in "The Cosmos".