Disappointment

Tuesday's snow globe morning...beautiful! I was so excited! Turned into Tuesday evening's rain. BAH!


Instead of 8 to 10 inches of snow, Wednesday morning dawned with ice covered trees and slush puddles 8 to 10 inches deep.

The girl's school day was not cancelled. sniff

There was no playing in the snow. bummer

There was no warming up with cups of hot cocoa. ho hum

Nope! The day was filled with the usual chores, and there was a long list of things to do. Hmm...that may have played a small part in my overwhelming desire for there to be a snow day. I never mind a good reason to skip out on the to do list! I do not mind at all! No such luck though.

Probably a good thing as laundry was on the list. Oh boy did I need to do some laundry...

Not really the point!

In between loads of laundry I had some time. I decided to make bread. French bread! 

Goal for the year is to better my bread making skills!

My good friend Jean and my sister-in-law Lara both sent me bread making cookbooks to help me in my bread making endeavor. I love them for it! 

I found what appeared to be a simple french bread recipe.

I combined my ingredients.

I kneaded.

I allowed the dough to rise.

I formed my loaves.

I let them rise again.

I baked. Oh joy and elation! Everything was going so well!

Oh my word it smelled wonderful!! Heavenly!

It looked so good, all golden and crispy on the outside!

On the inside...it was dense and awful! Look how flat that loaf of bread is!

What am I doing wrong? I would be ever so grateful to any bread bakers who would be willing to share some bread baking tips with me. Clearly I'm missing something! 

What a disappointment!

And to add insult to injury...the girls walked in the door after school and I had to tell them that the wonderful smell was all they'd get to enjoy because Mama can't make a decent loaf of bread! Then I sent them out to play in slush puddles! Not really. But I thought about it.

Christine