bread

Can I just say that I know how to cook? I *know* how to cook. I have been in the kitchen since before I can remember. One time Dad and I were home alone and decided to make sugar cookies. He could read and I couldn't yet (probably age 3), but I knew we should use baking powder instead of baking soda. He didn't think I knew what I was talking about, but the results proved me right. (yuck)
I've taken ribbons in the county fair.
I've had friends express jealousy over their husbands' eagerness to eat my cooking/baking.
I experiment and substitute. I bake and cook and stir-fry. I've made bread by hand since I was 10 at least.

So here we are. I started off this morning feeling domestic, so first thing I measured my favorite bread recipe into the breadmaker. I've made it a dozen times and it's delicious. Then I figured since I had the stuff out, I'd go ahead and mix up some dough to keep in the fridge for cinnamon rolls this weekend. I was also making a snack, getting Naysha set up to wash dishes, and watching the boys, so at first I thought it was the multi-tasking, but that is my normal MO (modus operandi). (Did I spell that right? it isn't underlined...)

I've made this recipe before, and it is always yummy. First thing, I'm supposed to mix the liquids into 1/2 the flour, salt, etc. It was so thin it was splattering everywhere, so I added more flour. Taryn wanted to help, so I let her hold the mixer for awhile. Then she said, "It's acting funny." Sure enough, the dough was climbing the beaters. So we turned it off and went to scrape down the beaters, but the stuff clinging to them was more like silly putty than dough. It stuck tight, stretched, and flopped around. Taryn got most of it pulled off, and we tried to mix it in, but it immediately jumped back on the beaters in even bigger clumpy strings than before.

I took a break. I have no idea what caused this.

I went back and left the gloop on the beaters and mixed the rest of it by hand. I think it will be okay.

Then the dough in the machine was done, so I went to divide it and put in the loaf pans, and it was totally sticky and non bread like. So I kneaded in about a cup of flour and it was still soft, but we'll see...

If it was just the hand mixing stuff I would think it was responding to my hormonal state or something, but how could the bread machine know?

I don't know what happened in my kitchen today. I'm still deciding whether I should try something else or just give up for the day. But I know how to cook.

Feels better to get it out. Hope the retelling made you smile.