Dough, Ray, Me...

(Hipsters, this blog was supposed to be published a while ago, before Forward Momentum, but something happened.  And I can't find it.  Weird.  So you guys get a double dose of blogginess.  You're welcome.)

Hi Hipsters! I'm so sorry I've been gone so long! But I never forgot about you. And I did leave some presents. Hope you are liking the new layout, I'm pretty pleased with it myself.

While I was gone, I was very busy, coming up with new ideas and experimenting with new and exciting things. (No, not that, you dirty minds!).

My newest adventure, you ask? (I'm pretending you asked.) Bread! Yes, this small town hipster is returning to the roots of her forefathers, (well, foremothers) and checking out the old school buzz.  I have been trying to stay away from processed foods, as well as my budget hasn't been keeping up with my tastes, so I have been thinking outside the box.  Thanks to Pinterest, I decided that bread making was the thing.

So, I embarked on some bread adventures.  I've made many a loaf of banana bread in my day, so that was easy peasy.  Next on the list, beer bread.  A sweet, hearty bread, my loaf turned out beautifully, but wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  So I put the word out with the fam for a bread machine.  I figured, as a novice breadmaker, a bread machine would be a good idea.  Turns out, my Granny is the shiznik! (Yes, I just said that.  But to be honest, she really is.)

One bread machine later, I chose a Carmelized Onion Focaccia bread as my debut.  With a great recipe from Pinterest, I embarked down the road of doughy goodness.

To be honest, I was a little worried about using the yeast.  Never having used a living creature in my food before, I wasn't sure how well I would do, but really, it was just a matter of following the recipe.  This particular recipe only called for using the dough setting on the bread machine.  Once I realized that breadmaking is part chemistry and part feel, I felt a little better about my lack of skill.  And it was exciting watching the dough rise in the machine.

So, about an hour and a half later, I pulled out the nicely risen dough, and set it up to finish off in my very small, temperature spotty, vintage oven.  20 minutes of nervous worry later and voila!  Yummy artisan style bread that I had created with my own two hands!

And the dough for this focaccia would make an excellent pizza dough, which will soon be replacing the local delivery service in my house, once I procur a pizza stone.  So, another domestic venture tackled!  Of course, one or two loaves does not a professional baker make.  In fact, the next loaf I tried came out a solid gluten brick.  (I realized I packed my flour without thinking, thus making my loaf inedible.)  So I am continuing the journey to breadom, one or two loaves at a time.  In fact, tonight I created two loaves of quite tasty, if not so pretty, French bread.  It's a process, but the results are delicious!

Coming soon to STH, I am planning on more regular postings, fun with Pinterest, cheesemaking, (yep, cheese), and maybe even a little bit of social commentary.  In the meantime, please let me know if there is anything you guys would like to see, or any fun adventures you think I should have.

Until then, stay hip!

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