Bread, Bread, Bread

So last weekend I spied a yardsale as I was heading down the street to run my usual mid-month errands.  I don't like to actually stop at the yard sale until I've done a drive-by so I slow down and intantly my eye is drawn to the baby items out front.  My to market a yard sale I do say so myself.  So being on a one-way I head up a block, go down the next one-way and then head back to the sale to see if there was anything else I might want.  Polite as I am I cringed at the thought that the lady chatting up the owner of the house about baby things may  have already taken what I wanted, I patiently looked around and waited to pounce for her to leave.  Happily she did not purchase the items I wanted and I quickly laid claim to them.  I also spied a end table that someone matched the one I had at home, so I asked what they wanted for each item and at five dollars each I was happy to pay.  I had no cash and that's all they would take so I hurried up to the bank and back again in less than 10 minutes.  Handing them a twenty, I waited for my changed while looking over the table I was standing next to.  Eyes widening I could not believe I had overlooked my next fablous find the first time through.  Sitting like a white snake about to bite me was a bread machine, complete with guide.  I looked it over as I was handed my changed and asked them how much, the husband shrugged his shoulders, looked at his wife and said, "five bucks?" DEAL.  I took my purchases home happy as a clam.

Now I have always been afraid of making bread, make that bread with yeast involved.  I'm a very patient person by nature, but waiting for bread to rise to me felt worse than waiting for water to boil.  I knew I would mess something up, so hence never tried.  I had two boxes of bread mix in my cupboard that were older than dirt I picked up several years ago and decided that the sourdough one would be my first victim attempt.  Adding ingredients to the machine was simple, my son thought helping mommy pour in the water was great.  I plugged the machine in, checked the settings and pressed start hoping for the best.  The machine purred to life and much to my wonderment the water and flour mixture began to look like dough without me having to get my hands dirty.  Now here's my don't do as I do moment:  If the bread mix was bought in 2003, more than likely it won't turn out right.  Yep, the dough formed perfectly but the rising and baking part not so much.  The dough didn't rise nearly as much as I expected and when the baking was down, the insides were still somewhat doughy and were not really tasty at all.

Take Two
Today I tried to make bread again.  Yes tried.  Rifling though the guide that came with the bread machine I decided to make Italian Herb Bread.   The ingredients were simple, water, flour, spices, sugar, yeast.  Only the flour stated it should be "bread flour" and all I had was "all-purpose flour".  The book did say I could substitute all-purpose if it had the same protein value as the bread flour which is 14%.  I figured I'd just add an egg.  Whoops the egg is part of the moisture or water content and I needed to use 9-11 ounces of water, so that would be 9 ounces total of egg and water.  I put in 9 ounces of water not thinking as I started to add the dry ingredients.  Oh well no egg.  I do not know if this is what resulted in the bread not developing the usual hump, but the center after baking was completely sunken in.......

To be Continued.........

Going for it - Small Town Home Cook

I love love watching Food Networks "The Next Food Network Star".  It is so inspiring to see real cooks on the show.  By real I mean the ones that learned from traditions passed on by generations not from some fancy school.  Now I am not by any means knocking cooking schools.  I would love to attend one myself to get a better grasp on some of the less commonly used cooking skills and how to cut veggies like a pro.  No, I just like seeing someone like myself become something just because of what they love to do....cook for their family and friends. 

I have decided that I would like to get on the road to becoming someone the Food Network might pick for this show.  I sat down the other night and came up with several things I believed I would need to work on to accomplish this goal.  Here they are in no particular order:

1. Purchase more fresh fruits, veggies and meats.  I rely to much sometimes on processed, frozen and pre-packaged meals.  I enjoy cooking and it's about time I did more of it.
2. Work on my speaking skills.  Anyone who knows me well knows I can talk and talk.  That's problem number one, I don't always know when to stop and tend to over share as a result.  Problem number two is a tongue twister, literally.  I think faster than I speak and sometimes I change thoughts, or think of a different word to use and end up creating new words, or going off topic.
3. Start creating my own recipes rather than using others.  I already do this to some extent.  Many of my concoctions are rather good, but I never write them down so it is hard to duplicate them later.  That does not mean I will stop altering recipes but it does mean you will start to see more original content on this blog.
4. Become popular.  This is a laugh but many of the contestants this year list their professions as a "food blogger".  Now I haven't googled them yet to see what they blog about, whether it's their own food, others food, restaurants or what. They can cook and cook really well so I imagine it's about their own food and with this blog I am on the right path, just have to keep things interesting,  up beat and up to date.
5. Keep it simple.  That's my philosophy.  Every Food Network host has a food point of view and with this I have come up with, "Small Town Home Cook" the new title of my blog.  I'll focus only on foods that I can purchase from my local grocer.  Some weeks my feature the obscure but that will be because my grocer has decided to feature it as well.  Part of being a small town home cook should involve fresh garden vegetables and as those grow I'll be looking forward to using them.

I hope you all enjoy the new path I am on.  Now I don't know if I will ever put in an application to the ""Next Food Network Star" but I do hope that this brings a whole new take on my food journey.  Let me cook.