Life &Times...: Bread Part One:

Brad always jokes at the amount of shows I record from the Food Network station. 90% of them I never watch, but those that I do watch sometimes give me ideas of things to try, techniques, or heaven forbid another gadget I need. Brad once asked how can you watch all those cooking shows. My answer or rebuttal was: 'How can you watch stuffy men argue over politics or sweaty athletes run up and down and up and down and up......' You get the point. So did Brad. If you like it, you like it! With Brad and Thea in Utah and Tatum down for what I hoped was a LONNNGGG nap, I grabbed a recipe and.........the packet of yeast. My first attempt in a few years. The last.....waste of money, time, and defeating. Seriously 105-110 degrees? So this time armed with my candy thermometer, I went after Focaccia bread. With a semi easy recipe from my favorite restaurant California Pizza Kitchen.

I liked it because it was exact, and also had to sit in the fridge over night. Which would give me a break from the oft labor intensity of baking bread! First round was going well, until I realized the honey I had plopped in was NOT stirring in and dissolving. Was is because it was from a tub of brick solid crystallized honey? Duh, first batch. PLOP.

In the hope that it might just turn out on a fluke I went ahead on readied it for a rise. Looking a slightly lumpy, I started after another batch. THIS TIME.....melting the honey...BUT then letting it cool so as not to freak out the ever so temperamental yeast! Ugh, give me some salt and pepper and a stove top! But alas, Tatum was still asleep so I forged on.

BATCH ONE

My second batch turned out smoother and I had to add another 1/4 cup to make it smooth and doughy. When verified by my baking sister, that is normal. Whew!

BATCH TWO

So after a 2 hour rise, Tyler and I punched them down. Tyler liked that part. Then we rolled them back up and put them in the fridge for an overnight snooze.