Daily Bread

Argh matey! It be Cap'n Dough Hook! About, oh 9 years ago I asked for a super deluxe Kitchenaid mixer for my birthday. You know- the ginormo one from Costco that doesn't tilt back making it a pain in the spoon to add stuff to? (I have to confess, I didn't know about the non-tilting thing until after I brought it home and couldn't figure out how to make it tilt. HELL-O. It doesn't tilt. Derrr...) Back to the story, I had great visions of making homemade bread, filling the kitchen with that oh-so-yummy scent of fresh made goodness. Happy Birthday to me! I got the mixer, and on day one it blew-up. Well not literally blew-up, I didn't have Kitchenaid shrapnel anywhere, but it made a sound like, "Bzzz, zap, kapowie," and then it smoked a bit and that was that. Not a good omen for my career as a bread baker. Kitchie got replaced and that was about as far as the whole bread-making thing went. It didn't really help that Great Harvest was practically within walking distance and let me tell you, their hot berry-bread on a Saturday morning makes the perfect breakfast treat. Fast forward to 2010. I have once again been bitten by the bake the bread bug. I FINALLY got out that dough hook that's been taking up real estate in the cupboard for YEARS. So far, it's been a success. Except for the time I made a french loaf that my family described as, "It's like eating baked salt dough." Oh and the time that the entire bowl of dough just never quite stuck together. And there was the case of the "Well if it hasn't risen after 3 hours, it's probably not going to." Come to think of it, maybe I just need to head back to Great Harvest. Good thing we've found another use for that dough hook!