Posted on 11/25/2014 8:37:44 AM PST by SandRat
It is an indisputable fact of modern times. We are far too busy.
If you are a stay-at-home parent, then your busy is magnified. Taking on the homemaker and parental role would snap Mister Fantastic’s rubber band. It does not matter if you have one child or a truckload. You are bent, folded, pulled and prodded in countless directions. For those who work outside the home and have children, you are multitasking on steroids.
So, just to amp things up several notches on your stress scale, do not forget that we are now approaching the holiday season at breakneck speed. In other words, you will continue with that amazing juggling act and add the holiday insanity factor.
Of course, one of the fun parts of the insanity factor is the nearly out-of-body flurry of baking and cooking we do. Baking special treats and cooking dishes we only prepare during the holidays can be a tad stressful, but you will manage. Right?
As we approach the preparation and execution of those delectable pastries, we salivate in anticipation. What we may forget is that baking cookies and other goodies demands our undivided attention. If you are aiming for success, no multitasking can be permitted.
Ah but, you can set the timer and dash to another room for just a moment. The timer will ding and all will be perfect. But there is a pesky flaw in your plan. The operative word is “ding.” If you are in the back of the house multitasking away, the expected “ding” will be muffled by the walls separating you from the timer.
That moment between perfection and ghastly is fleeting. By the time you smell the cookies, they moved on from golden to black. You race to the kitchen, grab the oven mitt and reach for the cookie sheet with the unprotected hand. Suddenly, you are speaking in tongues because the cookies are burned and so is your hand.
You cautiously taste a darkened cookie, hoping it and the others just “look” charred but are still edible. Sorry! Delusions are not allowed when baked goods darken beyond recognition and are only fit for the gods as burnt offerings. In our family, unless there is chocolate involved, the dogs become the beneficiaries of baking and cooking disasters. After all, they are omnivores and so much nearer than the gods of Olympus.
Baking homemade bread and cold weather go hand-in-hand. The weather turns cold and I bake bread. My recipe is a multi-step process and very forgiving when it comes to the elapsed time between steps.
Since our children were involved in various sports, I could start step one and leave. After the game, the rest of the baking process had my full attention, sort of. On one occasion, I reached step two before we had to leave. This rising step entails sealing the kneaded dough in a Tupperware bowl, placing the bowl in a cold oven to avoid drafts and waiting until the seal pops open.
On one occasion we were gone longer than expected. The seal not only popped open, but the dough rose about four or five inches above the bowl. The seal was stuck on top of the yeasty version of the Blob, but the finished bread was perfect.
Recently, with temperatures in the teens I felt the need to bake bread. Unfortunately, the expiration date on the yeast packets had long passed. It was too cold to drive to the store, so I decided to use three packets of yeast instead of two. Then I took a nap.
When Sleeping Beauty awakened, the dough was now The Blob and moved one step beyond normal rising. It oozed down the bowl and onto the oven racks. After cleaning up the mess, I baked the bread. In spite of my neglect, it turned out great.
The next time I decide to bake and take a nap, the timer will be on the pillow next to my ear.
Let your children bake. So they forget to flour in the cookies ... it was a chemistry experiment. Maybe your neighbor’s dogs will it eat. Then it’s a biology experiment!
I’ve been there, even without beer.
Yeah, I don’t know how that happened! But the bread’s totally worth it. And the cookies, and brownies... Sometime soon, Homer Simpson donuts!
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