Good Bread, Bad Bread

There was a little girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (American poet, 1807-1882)

….. continued at bottom….

When things go wrong in a kitchen, baking may not taste as good as it looks.

I set my dough to rise one morning and went out for what I thought would only be a one hour trip.  One hour turned into two and when I came back, my dough had tripled in size.   I quickly punched it down, put it into a loaf pan, slashed the top, and within 30 minutes it had already crested the rim and looked like this:

Baked it and this is how it turned out:

It was huge.  Dramatic even.  One slice could be cut in half to serve for a whole sandwich.  It was light and fluffy… and horrid.  No flavor at all.  <sigh>  (Just as a note – too much rising and that’s what happens.  It’s much better to let the bread rise slowly in a warmish area and only to doubled.)

The next day, piqued by CraftyRichela’s suggestion to make Club Med White Chocolate Bread, I got to work (used the recipe in the comment by ‘winterberryfarmer’).  This one didn’t even have a chance once it came out of the oven:

I almost NEVER cut bread while it’s really hot.  I hate how it gets all squished up, even with a sharp knife.  Actually, I rarely even eat the bread that I make for the kid’s lunches, but this one was irresistible.  Seriously.  I am already thinking of when I can make it again, but I must have company in the house when I do it, or I will devour it all.

I didn’t have the “gluten” called for in the recipe & I didn’t use any fancy white chips… probably could have shaped these better and covered the top a bit sooner to prevent burning – doesn’t matter.  It was very, very good.  Did I say that already?  If you make this one – eat it hot!   When it got cold, the chocolate lost it’s meltiness* and didn’t taste as great.  Nothing a little toasting or 5 seconds in a microwave didn’t fix.

So, the poem.  I remember reading it to my girls, from a children’s poetry book, and the cute illustration of a girl with a curl on her forehead.  The part of the poem appearing at the top of this post.  They had it memorized and would read along with me.  Never knew there was more to it until I looked it up online:

…. poem continued:

She stood on her head, on her little trundle bed,
With nobody by for to hinder;
She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled,
And drummed her little heels against the winder.

Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic,
She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,
And spanked her, most emphatic.

 

What a different children’s book that would have been had the rest of the poem been included!  Are you ever baffled by children’s stories?  Who thought to include that little rhyme in a kid’s book? 

 

*meltiness – a made-up word.

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