I am a victim of betrayal! She was young, she looked fresh, vibrant, she seemed eager to get to work. She did smell a little strange, but I thought it was just youth. Turns out she was lazy, and did a barely passable job. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and face the facts: this mother is finished, fired, history, kaput.
I’m so hurt, I grew this natural yeast bread mother with care, attention, diligence and she betrayed me.
I am a victim of betrayal! She was young, she looked fresh, vibrant, she seemed eager to get to work. She did smell a little strange, but I thought it was just youth. Turns out she was lazy, and did a barely passable job. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and face the facts: this mother is finished, fired, history, kaput.
I’m so hurt, I grew this natural yeast bread mother with care, attention, diligence and she betrayed me.
Like any parent, I blame myself. I should have started a week ago, maybe the kitchen wasn’t warm enough, I shouldn’t have disinfected the entire kitchen while trying to grow a natural yeast starter. All the excuses a parent makes for a wayward young mother! I had to be stone hearted and give her the heave-ho.
Last week we were busy foraging for ingredients for an all-Umbrian feast, and baking natural yeast bread was featured on the to-do list. I’m used to my bread behaving, used to it coming alive in my kneading hands, but I knew something was off. We had bread on Saturday night, and the guests were kind, but I wasn’t happy. Stuff happens in the kitchen. Sometimes you achieve great glory and sometimes the bread just doesn’t rise.
P.S. There was a crazy fun dinner at our house on Saturday night! I’m under contract not to release the full details until Wednesday’s blog post, but it was a night of food, wine, song and a tiny bit of dancing. Drop by on Wednesday, if you want a full report of the “25K Umbrian Challenge Dinner”.