A lighter side of baking.
Yesterday I was going to test some new French flour, the night before I prepared my levain. Upon awaken, I checked my levain and it was full of small bubbles somewhat like beer foam, so without thinking I added a spoonful of starter to hasten the development, added it to my flour and water, allowed it to autolyse for an hour, then added my salt and proceeded to S&F every 30 minutes for the first 2hrs of bulk fermentation. Slowly I noticed my dough was becoming slack and slacker and full of larger bubbles. Finally it dawned on me, that instead of bread dough, I had just created a kilo plus of fresh levain. So, I covered it for it to fully develop. So do you have any idea, of what I'm doing now? You got it, I'm testing my new French flour! I hope some of you, have moments of idiocy you would like to share, please. I can not be alone in this behavior, I hope.
When I baked that Vollkornbrot Hamelman has the formula for commercial bakers and large batches I was inches away from making 8 - 4.5 pound loaves . I caught my error when scaling...thinking gee this seams like a lot for two loaves.
Not long ago I did an ice cream topping with fresh blueberries. Found out just before serving I swapped the sugar for salt...
It happens.
. . . there is a Spanish stew I prepare regularly and the finish is a saute of minced garlic and a Tbs of paprika. So last time I made this, I used cayenne pepper instead of paprika -- both are in un-labelled glass jars. The cayenne now has 3 big X`x on it!
Regards, Brian
Hi Minioven,
I hope that you have some gems, to add. I know that you are good, I hope that you're not perfect. Share something, please.
Nope, can't remember a thing! :)
I do know I'm not perfect. I did try to pour milk into the coffee maker soon after arriving here and I did pull the plug on some dishwater only to find out that when I turned around, the table behind me was loaded with dirty dishes. Oh, well.... ...and I almost lost my starter not paying attention.
Had a bat fly into the kitchen a few nights ago. I managed to capture it in a large brown paper bag and set it outside to find its own way home. The whole time DH (dear husband) was singing "batman, -- batman" while I was balancing on a chair. The dog didn't seem to care.
This kitchen is great for playing cards. It has a table in the middle under a bright light. I've played more rounds of Cribbage than baked loaves of bread. So far. Almost burned a roast today but that wasn't funny. It was just so nice outside this evening (like so many) that time just flew by.
Just moments ago stirring flour and water into my starter, I walked 6 steps to the pantry and forgot what I was supposed to get. I began to think I was "loosing it." It is reassuring that others do such things! Back to the baking!
Thank you for being kind to the bat......embth
Guys don't make mistake, or you're too proud to own up to them?
my poor apprentices fault - good or bad, but she is a doofus with a small cranial orb so it is usually bad:-) Here she is begging for forgiveness,
is a very pretty little doggie! With eyes like that I would give her a really nice treat!!!
Regards b
Hehehehhehe, shame on you!
Link
Rather interesting development...
Enjoyed reading all this today and while thinking of all my missteps on the way to perfect bread...(obviously not there yet) I looked through TFL for plum cake recipes. Found yours Mini from 2009 and started gathering ingredients. Decided it would be a recipe worthy of the New Zealand unsalted butter that I have been hoarding, er, saving, for a special pastry. I measured out the butter and as I reached for the sugar, I thought wow that is a lot of butter. Having just baked Carl Hitz's scones though I wasn't too concerned. Thank goodness when I went to weigh the sugar, I thought how strange that it is the same amount as the butter. Not! So I would have ruined the cake and after waiting for the end of summer very ripe plums, we would have had a gooey mass of buttery dough! It is now in the oven so I'm hoping for a late evening dessert that will remind us of the years we lived in Germany. Thank you for the recipe.
Barbra
your welcome!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10900/plum-cake-pflaumenkuchen-got-recipe#comment-60726
I can use this recipe Tomorrow! I forgot where I put it (silly me) and funny how plums and leaves turning go together.