Gourmet Chefs!

I really love to cook. At Ricks and BYU my roommates and I each took a night to cook. It was fabulous. I only had to cook once a week, but got a 4 course meal each night! Life was good then!

Since moving down here, things have been a bit different. My roommates and I each work such random hours or usually dont get home in time to fix a gourmet meal. So we end up throwing together a meal for one. Every once in awhile we decide to see if we still got it though. Tonight was one of those nights.

Yesterday my roommate said to me "Lets make bread tomorrow." Feeling all domestic- I agreed. We decided that we couldn't get married until we knew how to make this apparently crucial thing! (We figure that's the reason we're not married yet! I guess we have to prove that our kids wont starve :) ) And I mean, how hard can it be? I made bread once in my BYU cooking class. I felt like a pro. (Of course I didn't remember that my roommate was the "yeast queen" at the time and I am sure she helped me!)

We invited one of our friends over for dinner at 6:00. We planned to start everything at about 5. We figured the Pork Chops and potatoes shouldn't take too long. Why the length of time on the bread didn't phase me, I still do not know! At about 4:30 part of my brain clicked that in order to make bread with yeast in it- it needs time to rise. Like lots of time. Oops! Maybe they could be a good dessert! Somehow, I got put in charge of the bread. (It may have had something to do with my "cockiness" that I had done it before. First problem- the yeast. It said dissolve yeast in water. But how much water. Sarah and I both called just about everyone that we knew. No one answered. Of course they were all probably talking to family members since it is Sunday. But really, they should have been talking to us! :) Finally my sister answerd. So I ask her- how much water do you dissolve yeast in? She asks me to read the directions to her. So I begin "Dissolve 1T of yeast (then to the next line) in 1/2 C water." I felt like a fool! I didn't keep reading! It told me right there! Arg! Thanking my sister for her help in getting me to actually READ the directions we hung up. So the yeast was put to the side to"dissolve".

Next step...add milk, baking soda, sugar and shortening. Then it said to beat well. Well, I dont know if you see a problem with the whole list of ingredients, but shortening doesn't really mix all that well with the above list of things. And then adding the beaters on top of it...I had milk flying everywhere! I just sat there staring at it---what is wrong with this?! Should it really look like this?I was laughing to hard to continue. I told my roommate that we were changing jobs. She was the one that wanted the bread in the first place! So she should have to deal with the clumpy milky mixture! I would do the Pork.
She opted to start over. Then we found problem #1 I used baking powder instead of baking soda. I dont think that is what caused the mixing disaster, but had she not started over- I doubt the taste would have done much for our delicate taste buds!
Our other roommate sat on the couch and watched the whole interaction take place. "This is better than a comedy" was her comment. I agreed.

She found the same mixing issue (helping boost my self-esteem a little more). However, she decided to not use to the beaters and just add the flour- to kind of help the clumps out--and it worked!!! Amazing! But then problem #2 surfaced. Not enough flour. We both thought the other one had more. But that was not the case. We were about 2 1/2 Cups short!!! I thought our other roommate had some, but it turned out to be pancake mix! That would have been interesting had I mixed that up! "Well", we thought, "Lets just let it rise and see what happens". My favorite quote from my roommate as she was mixing/beating the dough, was "Man! This pioneer stuff isn't very easy!" I laughed a good long time about that one. But the truth of the matter is that it is very very true. I couldn't have done it. Making bread by scratch every day...killing chickens and cleaning them..etc.. I really respect them- so so much!

The Pork Chops were surprising delicious. As was the squash and potatoes. Once dinner was over and we decided that the dough for the bread was ready... problem #3 arose. Umm...we dont even own a bread pan!!! Why the 2 of us decided that we made a good pair at cooking is beyond me! Laughing, we got the muffin tins. We let them rise again and 20 min later they were in the oven. The smell was heavenly (which might not have been so, had we had left it with baking powder vs baking soda.) And believe it or not they were some of the yummiest rolls ever! I think my other roommate said that they were better than restaurant rolls! "and I'm not just saying that because you re my roommates". Was her comment.

So I guess it doesn't matter if you are 2 cups short on flour or don't have a bread pan. Take what you got, and give it a try --- You never know what youre going to get!
They were so good that I didnt even have a chance to take a picture before they were gobbled up!