Monday, January 7, 2013

try, try again...

'Tis a lesson you should heed, 
If at first you don't succeed, 
Try, try again.

I've learned my lesson well.
I don't give up easily!


I've been making Anneliese's French bread for the past few years.
One recipe yields two large loaves.
Quick and simple...
and ready in no time.
Usually.

Just before Christmas we had plans to go to a concert with friends.
The plan was to have a quick soup supper together before we went.
I offered to bring fresh bread.
Anneliese's French bread.
I mixed up a batch of dough...
and realized it was missing the secret ingredient.
Yeast.
I added it after the fact...
but decided it was not likely going to produce bread to share with friends...
so I quickly mixed up the second batch.
 It went into my favorite large, red Tupperware mixing bowl...
and I tucked it into the oven to rise in a warm place.
I turned on the oven for 15 seconds...
then turned it off and went back to the sewing machine.


Well, I thought I turned it off!
Some 10 minutes later...
the lid of my nice bowl was a molten mass on top of the rapidly rising yeast dough.
Not only was my favorite bowl ruined...
I still had no French bread for supper.
So I mixed the third batch.
All went well...
and it came out of the oven just in time!

I just thought I'd share that things sometimes go terribly wrong over here as well.
The lesson I've learned...
try again! 

There were a few happy endings to my story.

The first batch of bread with the yeast added after-the-fact turned out just fine in the end.
And so we had our fill of French bread.
And my favorite red bowl which was ruined...
has already been replaced.
My friend just happened to have a green one that she was saving to give away...
and so I was the lucky recipient.

One more thing...
you too can be baking Anneliese's French bread in your kitchen soon.
The recipe will be posted in the new Celebrations cookbook...
coming in spring...
along with all the variations including bread sticks and pizza rolls.
Just keep your Tupperware bowls away from the oven.
I'm just saying!

Enjoy the day...





20 comments:

  1. Oh dear! I know I shouldn't have laughed......but I did!

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  2. Uh oh! Just glad your bowl didn't melt all over your oven. That's what happened to a friend when her son tried to heat up leftovers in a Tupperware bowl in her oven. A real mess! Glad you had bread to take and that you got a new bowl!

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  3. Bread looks wonderful...shame about the bowl. Dont we feel stupid when we have done something like this? But we all do these things at some point in our lives :)

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  4. I like your determination and your advice to "try, try again". The bread looks wonderful.
    I can hardly wait for your new book to come out!

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  5. You know, it's the doing of such things (don't ask how I know) that begins the family wondering/worrying about us. LOL! Oh, I'm glad that all is well that ends well.

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  6. I am just so excited for the new cookbook to be released - can't wait to get my hands on it!

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  7. oh no!!!!
    thanks for taking a picture though ;)

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  8. Oh boy...that sounds like something that would happen over here. I'm glad things turned out well in the end...

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  9. Ah, Judy - you're just making the rest of us feel good about our kitchen bloopers! I'm glad you still have a favourite bowl - that would have been the worst of it!

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  10. Oh my, that's a shame. But you did get a new bowl to replace it and you learned a good lesson, or two. The bread looks very good.

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  11. This is good for a morning chuckle, and a nod of "I've been there, too."

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  12. Wow, I did the same thing with my most favorite bowl. Sigh. I had to order on-line because they are not sold where I am. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again!

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  13. Oh and even on the third try, it still tasted excellent. Those bowls come in handy and it's like everything else...don't we always have a bit of extra wrapping paper? just a few extra cards and napkins? Some just happen to store a few extra bowls.

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  14. I am loving learning the hard way via someone else's efforts!

    I am officially naming such blog posts as Blooper Reels!

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  15. Oh.. too bad about your nice red bowl! Do you mix your bread in a stand mixer? I just cover the bowl with a plate and the warmth from the mixer that has just finished running seems to make it rise well and quick. When it's to the top of the bowl it's ready to roll. Just a hint to save your green bowl! =)

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  16. Oh that is so ME! I had no idea that my Judy who I always thought did things with the same calm you carry on the outside...would be capable of doing the things that hurry up Lovella often does.

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  17. Never fails....

    I've been making Yorkshire pudding for years without a failure. Until my uncle was teasing me and asked me what kind of Yorkshire pudding I made? I said, it was the best! So I made him some.

    Only time in my life I've had a failure. Serves me right! :o)

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  18. What an encouragement this post is for me today! One as gifted and skilled in the culinary field has moments like this, helps me realize it can happen to everyone. It did bring me a smile this evening, mostly because it reminded me of the Saturday afternoon baking of gingerbread men, when I forgot to have my granddaughters add the eggs to the mix. I guess it shows us that we can still learn at our "old" age. Great post!

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  19. Been there, done that - not just once either! So glad you had time try again...and again. And a friend to the rescue is all good!

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  20. Oh dear . . . good for you to keep going! I might have been tempted to buy a loaf :)

    I'm looking forward to that recipe - I love French bread!

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'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson