Anyone else getting concerned

[Kaido]

Yeah, it was some pretty dense bread. She may have done other things wrong, I wasn't present for any of the bread-making process.

One of the reasons cooking is hard is because it requires persistence. Persistence isn't difficult in & of itself; what's difficult is our emotional reactions to failure after failure, because it's easy to feel that it's too hard, that we're not good at it, that we should quit, that it's not for us, etc., when in reality, it just takes time to learn what works & what doesn't work. Like, I'm big on cooking with the Instant Pot, and my approach now is simply to expect every recipe I try to take at least 3 batches to get right...the first time to follow the recipe & see how it comes out, the second to tweak & adjust things to see if I can get better results (if needed), and the third to test out the final procedure to make sure I can replicate it. Sometimes the second step has to be repeated multiple times...like, cooking a solid mac & cheese in the IP took a bunch of tries to get the flavor where I wanted it.

That's why I say making bread is about developing a relationship with flour - you've gotta go on a bunch of "dates" (i.e. cooking sessions) & figure out how things works, and you have to keep that relationship alive by continuing to make recipes you've done before & also trying out new ones. While I'm no master baker by any means, I do have some pretty killer recipes for bagels, English muffins, chocolate-chip cookies, giant soft pretzels, toast bread, etc. that I've discovered & gotten good at over the years. One of the videos that really cemented the idea of sticking with something until success was achieved was this excellent TED Talk by Angela Duckworth, who homed in on the key factor of success simply being a willingness to keep trying until you get what you want. While that sounds obvious written out, it is absolutely not obvious when you've in the midst of it & have made say half a dozen failed loaves of sourdough bread & are all kinds of frustrated, lol. Because eventually, it "clicks" & then you "get" the process & it becomes as second-nature as tying your shoe, because you understand how the workflow for successful results goes, you know?

 

[nakedfrog]

I'm already good at cooking, the sourdough project was her thing
I haven't made bread in years because it's just not worth the effort to me. Maybe when I'm older I'll pick it back up.

 

[kn51]

Weirdest one for me was when I went through the chip aisle there was only one bag of Tortilla chips left on the shelf. And yeah, the obvious things including chicken was gone.

Was able to get flour. In fact they had a pallet of it parked wrapped by the end cap. Previously they had none. Oh and the Twinkie/Ho-Ho type stuff gone.

Just find it interesting what people pick up in times like this. Just sort of surreal.

 

[Kaido]

I'm already good at cooking, the sourdough project was her thing
I haven't made bread in years because it's just not worth the effort to me. Maybe when I'm older I'll pick it back up.

Ahhh I have to introduce you to no-knead bread then! 5 minutes of work spread across 2 days. If you're up for some reading:

https://www.reddit.com/r/noknead/comments/ds973a

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I kinda feel like the planet is making us take a mandatory "Earth Day" & stop polluting & whatnot:

CNN reporter: 'Unimaginable' scenes in central London | CNN

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports from central London after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed the most stringent social restrictions on the British public since the end of the Second World War.

www.cnn.com

The YouTube channel ActionKid is doing a good job walking/cycling about Manhattan and recording the videos of how unusually quiet it is.

 

[mopardude87]

No too concerned. I've been a "mini prepper" for years. I don't go all out but I always have food for at least 30 days. We have Bug Out Bags, guns and lots of ammo. Keep vehicle fuel tanks as full as practical, have cash and silver. Just normal stuff.

More people need to be onboard the silver idea, have silver dimes,quarters and half dollars stashed away. If cash becomes worthless then you can trade and spend these on the basics or anything if you got enough. Think silver dime for a loaf of bread for example.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Ahhh I have to introduce you to no-knead bread then! 5 minutes of work spread across 2 days. If you're up for some reading:

https://www.reddit.com/r/noknead/comments/ds973a

I'm gonna try this sometime!

 

[nakedfrog]

Ahhh I have to introduce you to no-knead bread then! 5 minutes of work spread across 2 days. If you're up for some reading:

https://www.reddit.com/r/noknead/comments/ds973a

I think it's more than five minutes if you factor in time to get the ingredients out and cleanup

 

[olds]

Local store had eggs, flour and sugar for the

More people need to be onboard the silver idea, have silver dimes,quarters and half dollars stashed away. If cash becomes worthless then you can trade and spend these on the basics or anything if you got enough. Think silver dime for a loaf of bread for example.

Ammo will be currency too.

 

[Kaido]

I think it's more than five minutes if you factor in time to get the ingredients out and cleanup

Assuming you already have the ingredients & keep them readily accessible, it's really super fast! I bake no-knead bread almost daily for my family. Not much cleanup required:

1. Get a big mixing bowl, mix the 4 ingredients by hand, cover with a lid or saran wrap or whatever & let sit overnight. Takes a minute total.

2. 10 to 18 hours later, fold & shape the dough for the 2nd rise (2 hours). A minute if you go slow. Preheat the oven an hour into this process. I use timer alarms on my iPhone (Timer+ app).

3. Bake for 30 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered. A minute to pop it in & a minute to pop it out. Rinse out the mixing bowl.

I keep my flour in a 4-quart OXO Pop container, and I keep the rest in a 5-gallon food-grade bucket with a hand-screw-on gamma-seal lid, along with a scoop (refill as needed). It's literally minutes a day to make no-knead bread...baguettes, boulles, dinner rolls, etc. You don't need much! A lot of people use Dutch ovens, although I mostly just use my baking steel.

 

[Kaido]

I'm gonna try this sometime!

Once you make a few loaves & the simple idea of the no-knead process "clicks" from that bit of experience, it's super easy to integrate it into your daily routine! I usually prep the dough before bed. Sometimes I make RideFree's awesome Toast Bread in my bread machine as well:

Catch-42 [licensed for non-commercial use only] / Ridefree

You can sometimes find bread machines at places like Goodwill or tag sales (RIP tag sales lately...) for super cheap!