One of my food blogs, At the Baker's Bench, has really inspired me to finally make a change that I have been wanting to make for a long time. The lady who writes this blog is challenging herself to make all her own bread in 2009. It seems like a very large undertaking and she is planning on baking EVERYTHING herself- down to hot dog buns. I don't know that I will be that gung ho, but I certainly plan to bake all my own bread and try out new recipes for other baked goods.Once I have the baby, I am going to be working mainly from home, and so I am so excited to have more time to improve my baking skills! I have made muffins and cookies and pizza dough and bagels and really tasty cinnamon rolls (according to Matthew) and all kinds of baked goods, but it is pretty rare that I do it. Also, I don't really challenge myself to try anything new terribly often. The one skill I have wanted more than any other is baking homemade bread. I don't know if I have ever made it on my own. I have with my mom a few times many years ago. Matthew and I got a bread maker for our wedding and I use that a lot, but I want to mostly wean myself off of it. I will still use it as the very best motivation for getting out of bed on conference mornings! Nothing like the smell of fresh bread when you wake up! Works like a charm!
The At the Baker's Bench blog continues to have posts about her progress with new recipes and fun stuff from other bloggers who are committing to it, so check it out. Let me know if you decide to join in!
I already made my first bread from scratch this week. I made banana bread. I know, I know. What kind of aspiring baker has never made banana bread!?!? I have to start somewhere! I bought some bananas and waited a week for them to brown and then decided to get started. There is a whole story about how difficult this simple undertaking was that I shall relate.
I had the three bananas set aside for the bread and let them sit out for a week or so. I picked out a recipe that looked good. I had all the ingredients and was planning on making it last Sunday night- a week ago. That night I went over to Greg and Emily's to hang out and get some wisdom about what to do with this child once she comes out. I stayed later than I should have not realizing how late it was (sorry Greg and Emily). In my head I decided that once I got home, I would make banana bread. When I got home, Matthew had made this boxed pull apart cinnamon bread as a surprise! It was just done baking as I got home. It smelled so good and was very tasty! He is so great! He had used the last of the eggs and we now had this baked treat, so I abandoned my banana bread for that night.
A few days later, I asked Ellen to come over and to bring 2 eggs with her so that I could make the banana bread. I thought I might make it while we were chit chatting. Instead we ended up taking a walk (to get this baby out) and by the time we got back, my right elephant leg had swollen up to three times its size and so I just wanted to sit down. Foiled again!! I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to be able to bake my first proper loaf of bread!
The next day was Thursday and Matthew and I had an appointment at the hospital at 2:30 to go down and start the first step of the induction process for the baby. My doctor thinks that she could be about 9 pounds now and I was not at all dilated at the doctor appointment on Wednesday, so she wanted me to go down and get this gel applied that starts the process. Those of you who know all about this don't need any more information. Those of you who don't know about it, probably don't want more information, so I am going to stop right there.
Matthew and I went down at 2:30 and waited around in the waiting room until after 3 when a nurse came out and told us that they just had a number of women in labor come through and asked if we could go home and come back later that evening. Well, we were both more than willing to do it! I was really hungry and hadn't eaten much yet and Matthew had an eye on this car on Craigslist that he wanted to go test drive and possibly buy. So, we skipped out of there, went to go grab some food (my favorite- cheese quesadilla) and went to go test drive this '87 white BMW.
The car was really cute, in great shape, and quite a steal on the price, so we bought it! We have been looking for a car for a few months so that we will be able to take our baby home (as we share a 2 seater now) and we finally found and bought one! I am so excited! Here she is!
Back to the bread! We get home with our new car around 7pm and I decide to call the hospital and see when to come in. Matthew is outside oohing and aahhing over the car. He has wanted one of these old BMW's for a long time. Anyway, I call the hospital and the nurse tells me that it is very busy and she has no idea when it will slow down. She said they will call me. It could be 2 am or even tomorrow morning. No problem for me! I will at long last make my banana bread!
About a half an hour later I start making the bread. I turn on the oven, got out all the ingredients and started mixing up the liquids. Just as I am about to add the eggs, my phone rings and the nurse tells me that it has quieted down and we can go to the hospital! I am slightly annoyed- will I ever get to make this bread??!?!! So, I cover up the liquids and put them in the fridge and go down to the hospital. I shall not comment on the 10 hour, all night hospital visit other than to say that it was a horrible experience and I have enormous respect for women and what they put up with to have a baby- and I haven't even had one yet.
Matthew and I got home about 7am the next morning and slept until noon. I then got up and made my banana bread!!!!! Yeah!! It turned out very tasty! If it is this difficult to make homemade bread in the future, this whole resolution may not go so well. We will see! And no, I did not take a picture of the bread. I am just happy that I actually made it!
