Bad Bread Juju

Maybe I shouldn't even try to make all of the variations of Amish Friendship Bread that I had previously decided to do. I think my negligence may be creating some negative bread-related feelings.

My thought was that, every 10 days, it would be great fun to have some new and wonderful smells filling my home with the scent of homemade loveliness. It was going to be wonderful to have fresh baked bread that my husband and children would cherish with each delicious nibble because of all the love that was stirred into the batter with each whisk of my wrist. I was going to be that mom on my street that always had some yummy treat just waiting for the neighborhood kiddos to much on whenever they stopped by. Not that it happens now... my kids are only 4 and 2. Not so much in the friends-stopping-by-to-snack stage of life yet. But I was thinking waaaaay in the future here, people!

Not so much.

The first batch went swimmingly, as some of you may remember. The next batch didn't go well at all. As in, I was late "feeding" the starter and it started to bubble and foam like a big, mushy, rabid blob. That bag of starter took a trip to the dump before it decided that it was so hungry and neglected that it needed to feed on my small, sweet children in the middle of the night. A friend gave me one of her starters, and that was going well. I fed it, got it separated, and started to mix the ingredients for another batch of bread tonight. I then realized that I don't have any eggs. My recipe calls for 3. SO, I decided to break ALL of the rules and see what happens tomorrow. I put it in a glass bowl (not glazed ceramic or plastic per the instructions), mixed it with a metal whisk (you are specifically told not to use anything metal) and then put cling wrap over the top and stuck it in the fridge (do. not. refrigerate.). I'll pick up some eggs tomorrow and we'll see how it goes.

Stay tuned and see how the Great Bread Saga of 2008 turns out.