So the weekend plan was executed. Not exactly as planned, not "without a hitch", and not necessarily with the same outcome as expected, both of the cuisine, and of my feelings about the process.

Firstly, and most notably, I simply planned too much. But admittedly I was excited, both for the variety of baked goods, and for the holiday home getaway. I knew in advance I would be busy, but for various reasons both within and outside of my control, I didn't get much of a chance to savour all the hard work.

Friday night we arrived at the house. Cracked open the wine. Heated up some leftovers. Put the kiddo to bed. Then I prepped all the ingredients for Recipe #1: Amish Friendship Bread - which was 10 days in the making.

Saturday morning. Wake up. Coffee. Preheat oven...
...preheat oven....
...preheat oven?

I sat staring at this for a good while, trying to will it not to me true

Click. click. click. Buttons and switches making sounds, but no lights. No heat. Nothing. A bricked oven. This was not in the plan! All the ingredients sat there staring at me in their well prepared vessels. Mocking me, knowing all the prep that had gone into this, and now 2 of the 3 recipes for the day would be shot without an oven. Man I really wanted to eat that cinnamony sugary bread for breaky.

This is where I had to really exercise my frustration control. Granted, I had my moments. God bless my better half Ms. DoMenStic for her patience and tolerance of me. But I eventually got a cooler head, and changed tack to making french toast with available materials. It was yummy, but nothing to call home about, and not what I had been looking forward to.

So we needed to change the meal plan a bit, as after ringing the rental manager, there would be an electrician coming at 2:00 to look at the oven. So what was going to be breakfast (Amish Bread) would need to become dessert, and what was lunch (Italian Loaf, Penne, and Meatballs) would need to become dinner. All of this of course banked on the assumption that the electrician would be successful if finding out why the oven was dead.

They look the part, but looks can be deceiving

In the meantime, what was going to be dinner (Pad Thai and Roti) became lunch. I prepped the dough, which was just flour and ghee and a bit of salt. Did everything according to the recipe, and even got a good tissue paper thin stretch on each roti. They came out look pretty spot on, but the taste was very "ghee-ish" and the texture, albeit somewhat doughy in the middle, was very flaky, like a filo pasty. I suspect the ghee was overused, and I didn;t use enough water. but I am also beginning to suspect there is a need for some olive oil or some other type of oil in the recipe, either in the mix, or in the rolling/coating. All that clarified butter just made it kinda croissant-like. I wanted doughy, gooey, Roti. It may need to be revisited.

All the while, while prepping and making the Roti, the Electrician(s) were in and out of the house in their muddy shoes (It was raining something fierce outside). After almost 2 hours, they got the oven and other appliances (hot water heater, spa) back up and running. Apparently a recent power surge had blown fuses on some of the appliances.

So It was time to return to the morning's plan. The Amish Bread's ingredients were all prepped, and I was running short on time, as dinner prep was looming as well. I got the 1st of 2 batches of the Amish Bread, the first being Vanilla, mixed, in the pans, and away and cooking. Finally I had 30 min to play with the fam. And the rain had taken a short break, so we ventured outside and snapped some photos of the property. It's a gorgeous spot.

Soon the house was filled with the smell of freshly baked cinnamon bread. The smells I had been day dreaming of in the morning arrived late but were still a welcome aroma. Batch 2 of Chocolate bread went in as the Vanilla cooled. As soon as we could, we all dug into in. It was pretty damn delicious. Sugar and cinnamon encrusted, jello instant pudding filled, chewy, moist, but strangely rubbery, but in a doughy-good way. I assumed it was the Jello, which I imagine played a role. But it was only later when I realized I totally forgot 1 cup of vegetable oil per batch (all the oil in the recipe), that it became apparent the rubbery-quality may have been due to me flubbing the recipe. But no matter, they both tasted great.

My son devoured them, focusing on the sugary crusts before nibbling on the bready middle. After a few days and many people trying them, it has been deemed the chocolate is slightly better than the vanilla. But to me it's apples and apples. That said, having missed the oil completely, the baking scientist in me needs to know what it should have tasted like if done properly, so I will be revisiting this recipe in 2 weeks time.

Finally came the Meatballs, Penne pasta, and Italian Loaf. I had prepped the marinara and meatballs mid week, and was rather happy with the results. They just needed reheating. The Italian loaf was a fairly simple but fun affair. And in the end, it came out good. Just not phenomenal. I feel the phenomenal, crusty, chewy, dough breads will come once I get my sourdough starter up to snuff. And after an initial flat flub a few weeks ago, I think this week my starter has finally started kicking properly. But that will be a story for another day.

Then we rounded things up back home on Sunday with a return to the Cinnamon Twisty Bread (my variation of the Nutella Star Bread). This time I wanted to find a way to make the cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter mixture be more spreadable. I found a couple reference on-line to adding corn syrup to the low boil of the mixture, but not having or wanting to use corn syrup, I though why not try some real Canadian maple syrup. Seemed reasonable and in line with the other ingredients.

Also, this time I made extra dough, and the kiddo rolled, coated, and stacked his cinnamon dough "pile" all by himself. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, in the end, the addition of the maple syrup added a level of bitterness to the overall taste that the kiddo, having the sensitive palate that he does, went from saying "These are 100 good! These are better than Round-Round Panga**! It's my favorite!" about last weeks cinnamon bread, to not wanting to eat this weeks at all, after tasting it. So I will need to revisit this as well this weekend to get it right and get him back on my side! If there is anything that thrills me the most about baking, it is his love of something I have made. So I must recapture that!

In the end, there was a lot of great food, and I had a fun time with all of it, in spite of the obstacles and non-stop work. But in the end I felt like I missed something, not the least of which was just plain relaxation whilst on holiday. Granted this was how I had chosen to spend this holiday weekend, but regardless, I felt I had over-extended myself.

So my takeaway from it all is learning to find a balance. Both of ingredients, effort, quantity, and enjoyment. And this goes not for just baking, but for family, and for general attitude and happiness. It's just that we all take different approaches to finding and discovering that balance. Overdoing it, in this case, was my approach.

** "Round Round Panga" is his favourite treat from our Sunday Market - a cinnamon and sugar coated Hungarian chimney cake called Kürtőskalács. It's absolutely delicious.