August 1, 2017

The Mystery of the Bread That Didn't Rise


I was rather puzzled the other day by a loaf of bread that didn't rise. I knew my yeast was good and had used my standard recipe: 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, 1 egg (preferably duck), 3 tablespoons soft butter, 1 cup whey, 1.5 teaspoon salt, 1.5 teaspoon yeast, and one teaspoon of sugar. I knew it had enough rising time and the proper baking temperature, because I made it in my bread machine. Not wanting to waste it, I sliced it anyway and popped it into the toaster.

YUCK! It was way too salty! What in the world?! Then it dawned on me. I hadn't used whey, I had used my mozzarella cheese brine!

My brine jar in kept in the fridge, as is they whey, but it's labeled, "Brine."


Or it's supposed to be! I wash the jar every time I use the brine so I must have washed the label off and couldn't tell it from the whey.

I've made some silly mistakes in my time, but this one must top them all! I ended up feeding it to the chickens, who weren't impressed. I think if we had pigs at the moment they wouldn't have cared. But more pigs are for another day, because we have some fencing to fix first.

19 comments:

Living Alone in Your 60's said...

At least you solved the mystery there's nothing worse than when something you do day in day out goes wrong and you have no idea why.

Mrs Shoes said...

I agree that pinpointing what went wrong is a satisfying end to the puzzle. My chickens would've gobbled that down with some extra water, but (you're right) I probably would've given it to our pigs instead.

Judy said...

Boy haven't we all made some silly errors cooking. To salvage the loaf I would have tried drying part of it and turning it into salted bread crumbs.

Rain said...

Oh Leigh, may I giggle? I once made some Mojitos for company...and I thought I was putting in a cup of white sugar in the cocktails...it was a cup of salt, lol...it was interesting because nobody wanted to say anything to insult me...but when I had a sip, I nearly turned inside out from the saltiness! We all make those mistakes!!!

Leigh said...

Tania, usually I forget the salt when I make bread, so this was a shocker for sure, LOL

Mrs. Shoes, pigs are so appreciative, aren't they? I think they are probably the happiest eaters in the world. :)

Judy, now that's a good idea, however, hopefully there won't be a next time, LOL

Rain, giggle away! That's pretty funny about the cocktails too. I remember in one of the Little House on the Prairie books where Laura tells about forgetting to add sugar to the pie!

jewlz said...

good to know it happens to the best of you!

Leigh said...

Jewlz, "if you can't laugh at yourself, you're in a world of hurtin'" Or so I've heard said!

Sam I Am...... said...

So sorry about your bread but at least you were able to solve the mystery! It sounds like something I would do! LOL!

Susan said...

I never thought to save my mozzarella brine! At least you take the time to label things - I always think I will remember what it is and then seldom do. That bread still looks amazing...

deb harvey said...

reminds me of when loretta lynn's husband started to court her.
got a pie she made at a church function.
she had put in salt instead of sugar, by mistake.
he married her anyway.

Leigh said...

Sam I Am, it was one of those "good grief" moments. :)

Susan, oh yes, save the brine! I used mine all season. The key is to keep it saturated by adding more salt after each use. As long as some is in the bottom because it can't dissolve any more salt, it's good to use.

Deborah, good for Loretta Lynn's husband! I was really puzzled at first, because I add so little sugar that a mistake like that shouldn't have made a difference. Now my brine is loudly labeled!

M.K. said...

You are so funny! My chickens also are often "not impressed" by the snacks I take them, haha! Well, live and learn :) On a farm, we always seem to find a use for everything, even salty bread!

The Stay @ Home-Gardener said...

Made me giggle. Thanks! :)

Leigh said...

M.K., chickens can be so fussy sometimes. I give them something and they look at it, then look at me as if to say, "that's it?"

Cloud, good to hear from you!

Ed said...

At least you solved it. Most of the time I never figured out what I did wrong.

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

Oh no! How disappointing! But at least you figured out why. Must be really bad if the chickens weren't enthused! Nancy

Leigh said...

Ed, It really stumped me for awhile!

Nancy, it was disappointing, but at least I could laugh about it once I figured out what was going on. :)

Renee Nefe said...

I've been baking bread for church communion. I thought I finally had my recipe perfected, but our pastoral intern served the bread smushed in our hands. :-/ so instead of a nice fluffy loaf we get a blob of dough. This week we'll have our pastor instead...hopefully everything goes right. Although it has been really humid lately. fingers crossed! my bread machine died...the paddle turner froze up...so I've been making a no knead recipe instead.

Leigh said...

Renee, smushy communion bread, yuk! So sorry to hear about your bread machine. When mine died I got another one via Craigslist. Great price and it's lasted for years!