I'm not precisely sure what has ignited my culinary bug, but it has surfaced with a rapidity that could prove rather detrimental to my waist line.
In the course of a few short days, I have baked the following:
4 loaves of bread
2 batches of bagels
cupcakes: 12 full sized and 24 mini
2 dozen cinnamon rolls
super easy cookies*
Peanut Butter Rollies (think O'henry bars with cheerios in a ball)
Jigglers.**
If you go back just a few weeks more, you would find several other kinds of cookies, cupcakes that look like hamburgers, dinners, rolls, and more.
My family has been very satisfied with my offerings. However, it has been a bit of a learning experience for me. So in the interest of full disclosure (Not that I ever promised such, but hey, it sounds good), I have discovered the following things.
#1. I really wish my kitchen aid was capable of mixing more than 2 loaves of bread at once.
#2. Of course if my Kitchen aid could mix that much, I would also need more than 2 loaf pans.
#3. Making 2 batches of bread back to back is an interesting experience.
#4. Following that with 2 batches of bagels makes for a very. long. morning.
#5. Homemade bagels are tasty and fun, but very time consuming and HOT. SWEATY. WORK.
#6. Baking bread is a very different experience when you are no longer 4000 ft above sea level, and instead have close to 100% humidity (hello 20 minute rise!)
#7. Requiring your kitchen aid to mix/knead for approximately 75 minutes makes the motor VERY HOT.
#8. Burn sprays are a beautiful thing.
#9. Silpats are a bakers best friend.
#10. Even though the recipe said it would work, rubbing oil on a cookie sheet is not adequate for bagels.
#11. Strange shapes left from bagel turning will look like fried chicken to a 4 year old.
#12. 4 year olds get frustrated when overcooked bread lumps do not taste like fried chicken.
#13. I am super grateful that I do not live in a circumstance which would require me to always bake my own bread. The idea of making 10 loaves at a time in a bustle oven in the summer - yuck.
#14. All this cooking in the middle of July with crazy humidity? I can only plead temporary insanity. Hopefully for all of us it will remain only temporary!
*My standard go to cookie. 4 ingredients, honestly less than 20 minutes from start to finish. If you want the recipe, just ask and I'll post it later.
**Ok, so jigglers are totally not baked. But they do make your kitchen hot and steamy, so I felt that it fit the list.
I think I gained 5 lbs. just reading your post.
ReplyDeleteI bet your family thinks you are wonderful. Now if we could just figure out how to fix for the family and not temp ourselves. Yeah, when you figure that one out, you won't need to cook, you can hire one.