January … where the heck did you go?

Doesn’t seem possible, but the first month of 2020 is in the past! When you work in higher education administration, January is a blur. That being said, I kept looking for new experiences but had a hard time finding anything that fit into my schedule.

Until the end… a friend told me about Sally’s Baking Addiction, a site with monthly baking challenges, and it piqued my interest. Oddly enough, I had decided the day before that my NEW thing for January was going to have to be something simple, probably cooking a new dish or perhaps yeast bread, which I’ve never tackled. Lo and behold, the January challenge was an artisan yeast bread. New thing found!

I actually tried the recipe twice. The first time the taste was okay, but the dough never really rose. It was sad. The dough just sat there in the bowl, a gooey lump that sort of gurgled a little but never really got up and did the requisite work to double in size. I cooked it anyway, hoping it would rise a little then but no such luck. Meh.

But I was determined to make it work, so I read the recipe again to see where I went wrong. Aha! The recipe stated that you use “cool water” but then later says use water the temperature of a baby’s bath. Those are two very different things to me; what about you? Cool, to me, means room temp. A baby’s bath temp? Well, that’s trickier. Never had one of those myself — a baby, not a bath — though I did occasionally bathe my niece and nephew, both of whom are in their 30s now. So it’s been a while. Still, I figured it had to be warmer than room temp, but the recipe basically screamed NO BOILING WATER so I went with hot out of the tap and let it be. Also added a few cranberries and pecans to the mix, and the result was….

Ta-Da! This little batch of dough made like James Brown on Got On Up! Doubled in size and then some, especially as it proofed in the refrigerator. Yes, after the initial rise you put this in the refrigerator to let it continue to rise for another day or so. I’ve eaten one loaf, will start working on the other tomorrow. I can’t say this is the best bread I ever had by any means, but it does make a nice piece of breakfast toast with a little Irish butter slathered on top.

So, there you have it: my new adventure for January. Not sure where February will take me, but it’s shaping up to be another busy month so I need to plan soon. March is set: a vacation to a snowy climate which I’ve never done. Will order some good thermal underwear soon to keep me toasty as I embrace my inner snow bunny.

What adventures are you having? Let me know if you have ideas or plans of your own!