Day 9 - Worst Cooking Disaster

My first thoughts when reading this topic were "Oh boy...um...."  and then I remembered when I first started making bread.

I love homemade bread; the smell is incredible, kneading it is great physiotherapy for my wrists, it's a project that's incredibly rewarding, and there's nothing like biting into the heel of a loaf, so hot you have to hold it with a teatowel and the butter melts faster than you can spread it. 

I started making bread when I was around 11.  My dad used to bake bread when I was a kid (younger than 11) and then I decided that I wanted to give it a try.  The first few times it turned out alright, and then one time the yeast didn't seem to activate as well.  I figured it was nothing major, and kept going.  By the time they were done baking I had 4 loaf-shaped bricks.

That's it, end of story.  Except to say that we actually did saw into a loaf and try it out.  And then they went to live in the compost pile.

Since then I've hugely refined my bread-baking, have some excellent and delicious recipes in my book, and know how to troubleshoot.

By the way, if you want a really good 'tutorial' on bread baking and the whats and whys, check out a book called Back to Basics (published by Reader's Digest).