Enjoyed. Embraced. Celebrated!
I have had attention deficit disorder plus hyperactivity (ADHD) forever, but it wasn’t officially diagnosed as such until six years ago when I was 54. In years past, from time to time, I’ve tried medication to ‘dial it down,’ but no more. I figured at my age, I can be the real me. Authentic, as it were. Besides, I forgot to take the pill half the time anyway.
As a result, cooking and baking routinely result in some sort of dilemma involving the ingredients–or rather, the omission of them–and the eventual realization of which that usually ends up with me deflated, uttering the words, “Oh, shit.” Ironically, these are the exact times that cause me to run to Google to find the solution. Problem/Solution…two sides of the same coin. Yesterday was such a day.
The situation always–always–starts off well and with the best of intentions. By 8:30 a.m. I already had supper in the crock pot and decided to make some bread. I was in a rare Suzy homemaker mood. Things were humming along nicely…ingredients were being kneaded effortlessly in my mixer, and then it was time to cover the dough and let it rest for twenty minutes. As I began to clean up the counter and put things away, I happened to glance at the recipe in the cookbook and saw my daughter’s handwriting where she had scratched out what was printed and had written the amount of salt she used when she made this bread.
Salt?
I didn’t put any salt away, which meant it never made it out of the cabinet. Which meant the dough–which was now rising beautifully–had no salt. I didn’t take home ec or chemistry in high school, but I knew that salt was an integral ingredient in the process…but just HOW important was it? I wondered if I could let it slide.
My knee-jerk reaction was to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but if I threw away the dough, I’d have to figure out something else to make. That would probably mean a trip to the grocery because I’d used all the bread flour. I decided to grab my iPad and do a search on “made dough forgot salt.” Either alternative would take time; additional time I had not built into my day. I mentally scolded myself. As I already stated, this (forgetting an ingredient) happens regularly. I really should know better.
Amazingly, several links popped up rather quickly…it’s always reassuring to realize that I’m not the only forgetful one. While searching for a solution, I scanned someone’s comment, “Bread without salt is like life without love.” That did it. Obviously, salt was important and I could not take the easy way out and let it slide.
One suggestion was to roll out the dough, brush on a mixture of the exact amount of salt in the directions and just enough water to moisten it, knead it again, roll it out again, and form the loaves. This I did. The dough in both pans rose nicely, but my expectations were quite low as I slid the two loaf pans in the oven. They baked nicely, too, which gave me hope that there just might have been salvation. Slices were cut, tasted, and OH, MY! The bread turned out GREAT!!!
I was so happy. I was so proud. After dinner I called my daughter and when she answered, I announced, “My bread turned out GREAT!!!” practically jumping though the phone.
No response. Nothing. Until a few seconds later when she said with feigned enthusiasm, “That’s great.”
“Didn’t I tell you about making bread and forgetting the salt?” I asked, trying hard to remember who I told. I KNEW I had told someone.
“What salt?”
Obviously I hadn’t. I knew that I told SOMEbody in the course of day, but that really didn’t matter now. Both of us just burst out laughing and laughed so hard we couldn’t stop! We couldn’t speak, we were laughing so hard. So we just ended the call, still laughing! If it wasn’t so damn funny, it might have been embarrassing. But as it was, a genuine, hearty belly laugh was good for my soul, and it probably lifted my daughter’s spirits, as well.
I can’t remember when I laughed so hard, but it felt so good. I’m going to have to remember to do it more often. After all, laughter is the best medicine!