Laughed off my failure! Can/Do you?

RRP

Today I made a pizza crust recipe I received 10 years ago. It makes 4 large crusts and the extras freeze well. The guy baked several of his wonderful pizzas every time for 5 years of the 14 annual Eggfests in Peoria, IL. I won’t go in to detail about the recipe, but one of the ingredients to have ready was 3.5 tbsp of EVOO. In my haste I put all 3..5 tbsp in. Before too long my powerful KitchenAide mixer started to seem to say…”OK…if you want to wrestle, doughboy, then BRING it ON!”

After all the work, etc that dough was a nasty thing and clung to EVERYTHING! myself included, and was a hassle to get cleaned out of my mixer bowl. I pitched it! 

Then I went back to the recipe and realized my error. The dough only needed 1.5 tbsp of the EVOO and the other 2 were OPTIONAL to be drizzled over the raw crusts balks before freezing! 

I hope you can laugh off your failures like I willingly just admitted to mine!

RRP

BTW I made a whole new batch and it really came out quite well! Using the first ball of 4 tomorrow night!

You know - following PROVEN baking recipes seem to be best, while being a maverick with meats seem to be fun and often rewarding! For example had I never tried turbo butts and turbo ribs I would not have realized how little difference there is in taste plus ALL the time saved.

danhoo

I make pancakes from scatch. been doing it for years, know the recipe without having to look it up. AP flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, melted butter, milk or buttermilk and an egg. 

I was in a hurry and had a few too many distractions... quarantine was in effect. I had work email in front of me on a laptop, one kiddo was getting ready for a day of remote high school, another in and out of the kitchen, might not had enough coffee...

And, ... I forgot the baking powder.

First batch, flat as a ? no. Flat as a crepe.  I thought I mixed it too quickly and the lumps didn't mix out well enough when I remembered I forgot the baking powder.

It was a small batch, and I needed the bowl so I just poured out two 8 inch "pan-crepe-cakes" cooked them and flipped them onto a plate, and quickly made a new batch with correct ingredients.

The funny thing was my older kiddo came by and ate them. He said they weren't that bad.

danhoo

RRP said:

You know - following PROVEN baking recipes seem to be best, while being a maverick with meats seem to be fun and often rewarding!

I think Baking is a science, and yes, the proven recipes do seem to work out.

Yet, grilling, smoking and occasionally burning meat may be more of an art

cookingdude555

Ive switched to measuring pizza dough ingredients by weight instead of volume. It really has made things easier for me. 

ColbyLang

As a baker, weights far more important than volume. You can also have great difficulty if your formula is out of balance. Sometimes things happen and we all mess up….when we mess up we throw away 800# of dough!

DrScotch

Thanks for the write up- a good reminder to be a little more kind to ourselves when we goof up. Thanks!

RyanStl

When I make multiple doughs in a night I swear I use the same amounts, but no two turn out the same. I'm always adding flour or water to get it right 

JohnInCarolina

I’ve muffed up a few batches of dough in my day as well, Ron.  It helps being able to laugh at yourself for sure.  You’re a good egg, @RRP.

RRP

JohnInCarolina said:

I’ve muffed up a few batches of dough in my day as well, Ron.  It helps being able to laugh at yourself for sure.  You’re a good egg, @RRP.

Thanks, John! 

BTW the pizza crust recipe wasn’t all that bad…BUT I had to wing the temperature and time since that info wasn’t in the recipe. Also in spite of the recipe saying it made 4 “large” thin crusts that was a stretch! I tried to make a 14” pie and that took me a lot of effort since that crust still wanted to snap back at me like a junk yard dog! 

Taste was very good, but next time I want to let it go longer to brown up the crust better.

Live, learn all that, huh? 

loco_engr

1 of my 1st cooks on my BGE back in 2008  

PeteSliver

I’ll let you know when I make a mistake 

JohnInCarolina

PeteSliver said:

I’ll let you know when I make a mistake 

Something tells me PeteSliver has made a lot of mistakes

PigBeanUs

One should fail more often than they win. 

Or they are just coasting. 

Sincerely: congrats on the failure. 

PeteSliver

I love how @PigBeanUs just shuts down the professor.  Anyway, happy Father’s Day !!!

lousubcap

I have hosed more than my share of cooks including a few I have failed to recall at the time of hosery.  "Shot at and missed and $hit at and hit" more times than I can count.  

RRP

PeteSliver said:

I love how @PigBeanUs just shuts down the professor.  Anyway, happy Father’s Day !!!

Hmmmm, that is not the way I took either jic or pbu! Both gentlemen made valid statements based on my lifetime of experiences - just in different ways! 

PeteSliver

RRP said:

PeteSliver said:

I love how @PigBeanUs just shuts down the professor.  Anyway, happy Father’s Day !!!

Hmmmm, that is not the way I took either jic or pbu! Both gentlemen made valid statements based on my lifetime of experiences - just in different ways! 

I reread them, I think your right.  John was
complementing me.

JohnInCarolina

PeteSliver said:

RRP said:

PeteSliver said:

I love how @PigBeanUs just shuts down the professor.  Anyway, happy Father’s Day !!!

Hmmmm, that is not the way I took either jic or pbu! Both gentlemen made valid statements based on my lifetime of experiences - just in different ways! 

I reread them, I think your right.  John was
complementing me.

Yep, in a totally un ironic way.  You are a legend in these parts!

JohnInCarolina

Truth be told I say a prayer each night that @PeteSliver doesn’t fail.

PigBeanUs

I simply meant that Ron may have “failed” (his words, not mine), but he also could have just warmed up ham n beans in the microwave “perfectly”. 

His “failure” was prob’ly better than the vast majority of other people’s successes. 

danhoo

I forgot to set a timer reheating 6 to 8 quarts of home made stock. It was a really hot day so I put it on the gasser side burner so I wouldn't heat up the house. 

7 hours later... 

RRP

danhoo said:

I forgot to set a timer reheating 6 to 8 quarts of home made stock. It was a really hot day so I put it on the gasser side burner so I wouldn't heat up the house. 

7 hours later... 

Hmmm, beef stock lump! You might be on to something! 

danhoo

RRP said:

danhoo said:

I forgot to set a timer reheating 6 to 8 quarts of home made stock. It was a really hot day so I put it on the gasser side burner so I wouldn't heat up the house. 

7 hours later... 

Hmmm, beef stock lump! You might be on to something! 

LOL It was chicken stock. Can't you tell?

GrateEggspectations

loco_engr said:

1 of my 1st cooks on my BGE back in 2008  

Whenever I pull one of these, the best cover is just to pronounce “Cajun style.”

nolaegghead

I was drying a pan on the stove and forgot about it.  It melted the handles/rivets off.  I loved that pot, still use it.

nolaegghead

...but I wasn't laughing.  Cookware is no laughing matter.

RRP

nolaegghead said:

...but I wasn't laughing.  Cookware is no laughing matter.

Nola…so you are posting tells us you and wife are still ahead of Ida?

nolaegghead

RRP said:

nolaegghead said:

...but I wasn't laughing.  Cookware is no laughing matter.

Nola…so you are posting tells us you and wife are still ahead of Ida?

We are still in the hurricane but the winds died down to 45-50mph.

danhoo

my second mistake with that pot...

I scraped the majority of the burnt crud, about 3/4 of an inch thick and then put it and the lid in the dishwasher. Shouldn't have done that...

It made the dishwasher stink of burnt crud and it wasn't clean.

I used an affresh dishwasher cleaning tab, and washed it a second round and it still smelled but the pans were almost clean.

I should have pressure washed it and maybe soaked it in over cleaner or simple green or maybe just tossed it.

fishlessman

have done it on purpose sometimes, last time it was some kind of condensed garlic and i wanted to know how much is too much. didnt just stink up the house, i took down the whole neighborhood. still ate the garlic tomato soup