Overly ambitious

A few weeks ago my parents both underwent a minor medical procedure, together.  I found out the only way my dad would see the doctor was if mom also went.  Now that's love.  Anyway, after the procedure I picked them up (they had been under anesthesia so no driving) and took them home.  They both hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours and what were they craving?  Pancakes.  I wasn't really up for that challenge.  I'd like to think my parents are both oblivious to the fact that I am not the baker. There was a slight unreasonable fear, that if they found out I was a dud, they might realize I was switched at birth.  Before I could even find a mixing bowl in my mom's kitchen, she had the batter made.  Ok.... how did she do that while she was still coming off sleeping drugs?!  I figured I would just flip pancakes then....nope she ninja'ed that as well!  Whew, my secret is still safe from my parents at least...

Needless to say, that image of my mom making homemade pancakes before the anesthesia had even worn off had stuck in the back of my brain so, on Monday I was feeling overly ambitious and decided to make sandwich bread AND New York Pizza dough.  Sandwich bread because we were out and the pizza dough because my husband's family is from New York and he has been begging me to try and make it.

Full disclosure - I also bought sandwich bread because I was skeptical how it would turn out.

The pizza dough seemed easy enough.  It rises in the refrigerator for 1-5 days so you have to pre-plan your meals in enough time to make the dough (no making it 2 hours before you want pizza).  We are having it on Friday so I'll have to let you know how it goes, but after one day it already looks like it's doubled.  Hopefully it won't take over my fridge!

The sandwich bread recipe didn't seem too difficult; just a lot of time rising.  I noticed that the directions mentioned it could be mixed and rise in the bread maker, but one still has to take it out to shape it.  That's when I decided, I am giving up my bread machine.  It takes up way too much precious space and if all it does is mix, I prefer my kitchen aid.

The directions for the bread said to dissolve the yeast in warm water.  I was a little nervous and really prefer proofing the yeast so I know it's working, so I added half of the sugar the recipe required to the water as well.  It seemed to have worked though after 4 hours of proofing (the recipe recommended 3 hours) it still hadn't risen as much as I had hoped.  I didn't want to throw it out and start over at that point, so I just went ahead and baked it.... and look!

Not bad, huh?  Still a little on the short side...

We were nervous to cut into it but it looked better than the cement bread I made a few months ago.  After my husband and I each tried it, we decided while it was not sandwich bread, it was rather yummy.  It has more of a biscuit-y texture and we were both craving stew after our taste test.  It can't be all bad as one day later, less than half the loaf is left!  Maybe I should just follow the directions next time and see if it is more like sandwich bread.

Since I was on a roll, and I felt like treating the family, AND the local farmer's market had bathtub peaches...I also decided to make peach cobbler!

I've decided Peach Cobbler is basically made for people like me.  You get all the joy of a peach pie, without it having to look super fancy.  I was so excited, I actually took it out too early!

I thought it looked done....but when we went to serve it, it was not...back into the oven!

Much better! Luckily, this recipe was forgiving and I was able to fix my under-cooked mistake!

As I feel better and better about making breads... I'm thinking it might be time to start decorating... this is where the big failure is.  Luckily there are three birthdays in my husband's family coming up. If I can talk my mother-in-law to letting me make the cakes I'll have plenty to practice on.  Unfortunately, she loves Pinterest and is always looking at desserts so we'll see!