This problem I have…

I love to cook and I love trying new recipes, but you see I have this problem…

I tend to not read the recipe the entire way through and miss important information, especially with timing.  This seems to be a relatively new problem.  I do not remember having this problem before.  But in the past two months it has appeared 4 times.

Recipe: Homemade Soft Pretzels
Problem:  I did not realize that the dough would need to rise at two different points in the recipe, a total of 2.5 hours that I did not take into account when determining my starting time.
Result:  Trying to finish making pretzels at 11:30 at night.  I ended up falling asleep on the couch and Adam finished making them all.  And then we were really too tired to even enjoy them.

Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie
Problem: This recipe made two pot pies.  We ate the first one, no problems.  The second one we froze to eat on another night.  That night I only read the first set of instructions when determining when to put it in the oven, “preheat oven to 400 degrees and cook for 30-40 minutes.”  I was thinking that would be the perfect amount of time.  Later, when actually making dinner, Adam read the instructions again and there was a second step that I had not read down far enough to see: “then decrease the heat to 350 degrees and cook for 80 more minutes.”  We did not have that kind of time.
Result: Ordered a pizza and made it another day.

Recipe: Cornbread Dressing
Problem: I had picked this recipe to make at my parent’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  So, 7pm the day before (Thanksgiving dinner to be ready at 2pm) I read through the whole recipe for the first time and it says, “set bread out to dry for 24 hours.”  Well, that’s not going to happen.
Result: Put the bread in the oven to dry it out.

Recipe:  Homemade Doughnuts
Problem:  Now, knowing I had this problem, I was determined not to let it happen again.  So I read through the recipe until I saw refrigerate for 8-10 hours.  And I thought, “A-ha!  I’m going to get this recipe right!”  So I made the dough the day before and let it refrigerate overnight.  I even caught the next part that said to give it 2 hours to come to room temperature.  I thought for sure I had finally achieved my goal.  I still hadn’t read the entire recipe, and this time I had caught everything.  Can you see where this is going?  Then, right when I thought we were ready to fry the doughnuts, I read the next step, “Put the doughnuts on a baking sheet, cover with a tea towel, and let rise for 2 hours.”  Gah!  It had happened again!  Fooled by double rising!
Result: Adam and I had another exciting night of cooking into 11:30pm and then enjoying our doughnuts, which were delicious.  I’m sure they would have been more delicious if it hadn’t been midnight.

When will I ever learn?

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