Well, I did it folks. I made a loaf of bread. White, fluffy bread. Hubby's favourite type of bread.
It's no mean feat to cook in a galley on a yacht and baking is even more difficult. Space being the issue. Space for ingredients. Space on the bench. Space in the oven. And then there's the temperature. In the tropics it's hot. In the galley it's hotter. The oven? Not so much. And it's only a little oven. A gas one at that.
After my successful efforts on the sewing machine I was all fired up to bake my own bread. I laid out the ingredients, measured everything carefully, mixed and kneaded as per instructions then waited for the dough to rise. Then waited some more. I feel like I should have measured the dough ball. Maybe it was rising but I'd forgotten how small it was? After a considerable amount of time I figured that maybe that's as good as it's going to get. I had the oven finally up to as close as I could get the temperature so in went the dough. And out came the bread. Same size as it went in, just brown on top now. A solid lump of cooked dough. Chalk that up to an epic fail first time around.
I had a whinge to mum, the Baking Queen in my life. She suggested that the yeast may have been old, losing its power to raise the dough. I'll take that. Better it was the yeast that failed, not me on my first baking endeavour on board.
A couple of weeks passed when one day Hubby ran out of bread. The perfect motivation for my 2nd attempt to bake my own bread. Fresh ingredients at the ready, time to measure, mix and knead. Then sit back and watch it rise.
Actually, for this snorkelling sailor, I had 45 minutes to admire the fish and coral.
Wow! What a difference fresh yeast and a snorkel session can make. The dough had risen so much it was almost at the top of the bowl. There was no way this baby was going to fit it the oven. Halved the dough and problem sorted. An hour later we had 1 loaf and 2 large bread rolls, baked to perfection. All of them soft, fluffy and white. Hubby's favourite type. A cup of tea, bread warm from the oven with lashings of butter and jam, and life is sweet.
Until next time, Watusi Woman - Baker in training, out.