That is my battle scream of frustration. Last night I threw out all my multigrain and whole wheat sponges because I accidentally left them out all day. I wasn’t worried about the one with just water, but the other had buttermilk and had been out for 24+ hours. So I made them all again last night, plus some more for different breads. Walking into work this morning I realized I left all the sponges out on the counter, where they will sit all day. Again.
[screeeeeech!]
Last night’s kitchen frenzy was not improved by the performance of the pain à l’ancienne. Although the dough doubled, it didn’t have any oven spring, and instead of the nice deep gold/brown shown in the book, mine came out heavy and pale. I was hoping for Erik Estrada and I got Casper Milquetoast. The only thing I can think is that my oven is losing too much heat with the introduction of steam and the open door during the first few minutes.
These look like they didn’t get baked hot enough, though the oven was at 550. Also, this dough was the most slack I’ve ever used—it was like handling melted rubber. So this morning I looked at my six rustic baguettes and thought…
[screeeeeech!]
But not all was lost. I’ve finally got a method and recipe for my own rustic bread that can turn out thus:
Writer, architect, father, husband.
Oh aaaaargh! I once threw a pie crust across the kitchen that landed on the cabinet and slid down to the floor in a heap! I also made pasta with a snazzy new pasta maker that delivered clumps of crumbs that fell directly into the trash. Hang in there!
Yeah, that Godzirra sound is about right 😉