Too much sugar not flour. No beer making knowledge in your past, I see.

What an interesting little tale. I grew up here in Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay and had nightmares about being eaten by the crabs in the livebox at the end of our pier. It didn't help that several of my older brothers who dangle me over the box from time to time, It did not, however, turn me against cooking crabs. If anything, it made me more interested in how to exact revenge on them

Lissa- Thanks. Our stories are pretty identical. The most my mom baked was Toll House cookies. I learned to cook, but for whatever reason I always thought baking was more science than it really is. Last year, I became aware of the King Arthur Flour blogsite. Truly instructional. I have not had a recipe fail that they have presented. I recommend it to an amateur baker starting out.

Good story, Lissa. I would say my lack of baking came from not having a hands-on teacher. In Home Ec, we learned how to make beef stew, spaghetti and meat sauce and even coq au vin, but nothing in the baking department.

Maybe our Home Ec teachers had been traumatized by baking experiences too, but never learned anything in the dessert department that wasn't either a sheet cake, a round cake or a bundt cake.

After my disastrous attempt at challah, I have attempted the NYT no knead bread which is pretty much idiot-proof. But, I long to make delicious buttery pie crusts and beautiful braided challahs.

perhaps someday...

Lissa,
Good story. I happen to think you're right. Bread can kill.
Worse than bread are starters.
Starters can become enormous and swaggeringly agressive. If you have a starter and your pets suddenly disappear, leave the house!

Nicely done, Lissa. I was suckered right in 'til I got to the Swedish Chef video.

Personally, I think bread making is way easier than cake making.

Starters can become enormous and swaggeringly aggressive.

For more information on starters, contact the Canadian Wildlife Service, in Ottawa.

LOL, good one Lissa (he says after Hal explained it to him.)

You will gain 25 pounds! When you take the hot loaf out of the oven; you will butter it and it half of the loaf. It is scrumptious.

In the old days; we used The Tassajara Bread Book and thought nothing of baking bread, but when I returned to bread baking after many years; I actually had to try hard to relearn how to do it. Now I've forgotten it agagin.

I once had a sourdough starter and made good bread (and occasionally pancakes, coffeecake, etc.) with it, but the three loaves a week was more than I knew what to do with, and eating a half loaf (or more) with butter fresh out of the oven every week was definitely not good.

And I can make good quick breads and biscuits. But yeast - never have managed to get good results with yeast. I long since gave up trying.

Rusty, I never had the patience to make beer. Takes too long to become drinkable.

I've wanted to play with starters, but it isn't really something that one can do in single serving sizes.

Cakes are easy, Hal. They just aren't consistent.

I see you enjoyed the "Hinterlands Who's Who," Laura Lee. I grew up watching those, and still miss them.

I am a longtime breadmaker but know full well how temperamental the whole process can be. For example, two weekends ago, I put an entire batch of rye-bread dough in the garbage after a promised overnight rising never materialized. But then again, I seem to have rye-flour "issues."

Joyce W, have you tried the vodka-infused piecrust put forward by Chris Kimball, of Cooks Illustrated? I had not found success with piecrust unitl I discovered vodka (so to speak).

Lissa-

You'll make mead but not beer? It's 1/6 of the waiting time!

BankStreet - it's been so long, I almost forgot, but I believe I did try that recipe and it did in fact work much to my surprise!

or at least some pie crust recipe did finally work for me...now to remember which one!

Yes, I've made mead, Odie, but I've never tasted it. I've no objection to beer brewing, and the process sounds fascinating (I've visited several breweries over the years), but don't see the point of putting a lot of time, effort and money in to making something I can't drink.

Then again, that also describes my first several gallette attempts last summer. The difference is that there, I eventually made something edible.

Ah, I was unaware you didn't imbibe. Your mead post threw me for a loop.

In your case, it's a great way to make your house smell malty, I guess. That would be the only benefit.

Or as a science experiment.

Well, Odie, it might mellow out the hyper cat.

That's why my mead post had almost nothing about mead in it. Never tasted it, no idea what it tastes like.

Beer...now, I sure know what that tastes like. Vodka, yep, gin...

Precisely why they invented "bread machines".
Takes out all of the guesswork (like humidity, temperature for proofing, etc.).
I wouldn't trade my Oster Bread Maching for anything.