Dumb Bunny Bread

Tommy Hopkins had a way of explaining the learning curve. There are four stages of learning something, and I’ve applied them (in my own words) to baking bread:

1) Unconscious incompetence – The state of mind where you are succeeding without know why but EVERYTHING is going your way so you must be totally awesome at this new path you’ve chosen.

2) Conscious incompetence – The the bottom falls out, and reality smacks you upside the head when you realize you really don’t know what you’re doing, or even how you did it before successfully. As you start to pack up your measuring cups and retire your wheat grinder you try again, this time following a set of simple, spelled out rule….like following the recipe.

3) Conscious competence – After setting out a plan, work the plan and steadily gaining confidence you realize that you can do this, you can be successful. As long as you work the plan.

4) Unconscious competence – The plan has become woven into your genetic fabric, you no longer have to think about it. You have ARRIVED.

So, what does this have to do with dumb bunny bread? Dumb Bunnies happen when you are under the delusion and think you’re at step four….and then forget the yeast.

First Batch (Originally Posted 20 July 2009)

I found some yeast in the refrigerator from ’08. Well, it wasn’t from ’08, ’08 was when it expired. So, I thought, what the heck.

I followed the directions on the side of the bread machine for a medium sized loaf because I couldn’t get my system to download the measurements for a full sized loaf. With my nephew coming by almost daily for PB&J’s it’s good to have bread on hand. I’m using the timer on my machine so in essence, I will have fresh hot bread for breakfast in a few hours.

This is a full white flour loaf of bread. I realized the nutritional value isn’t what I’d like it to be but the idea is to get a baseline. I will add 1/2 cup of white wheat flour into the mix on the next one, and gradually build up until it’s at a good balance between good and bad.

It was really fun to have to open the non-fat dried milk for the first time since I started storing it. I’ve never really seen a need for the stuff since it tastes like, well, powdered milk. It was such a good feeling to know that I had it in my cupboard, that I could bake bread if I wanted to, not having to have to go to the store and figure out how to store it afterwards. I will eventually get a Lock-N-Lock canister to put it in, especially if my bread recipes require NFDM from now on. (http://www.organize.com/lock-n-lock-storage-bin.html) This canister holds one whole can of whatever it is you want to store. I currently have some apples in one and they are as crisp as the day I poured them out of the can….and the ones I left in the can got soft after a few weeks, so that should give you an idea of how well they work.

So, you all know I have my wheat nee coffee grinder so I’ll start that sometime next week with the white wheat that I have open. Soon, I hope to be able to use .25 white wheat .25 red wheat and .5 flour…or even do .5 WW, .25 RR and .25 flour. I don’t know what my tastes range to yet. I like heavy bread, but not so heavy that it will weigh me down all day.

Let me know what combinations you’ve used for your bread, let me know if I’m on the right track.

I’ll let you know,
Pamela