Let's talk failure

Or marginally successful, however you choose to look at it.

Teff loafSo, yeah. This was supposed to be pancake batter. After doing everything in my power to coax the ‘batter’ into pancake-like objects, I finally scrapped the idea, threw the failed gooey puffs back in the mixing bowl, and pulled out a yeast packet.

I don’t quite know what inspired me to proof some yeast and add it to a batter that already included baking powder (usually you don’t use both, since they act in similar ways, puffing your bready objects to grand proportions.) But, hell, at that point, what do I have to lose? Worst case scenario: trash bin. Best case scenario: learning experience that might be edible.

The latter prevailed.

All I know is that the batter did rise, and when baked, any reasonable person would identify it as a bread-like object. And when sampled (after a 40 min cooling, since it was still developing flavor) I knew just what adjustments to make for future bakings:

1. More salt, bread likes more salt than, say, pancakes.

2. Less milk. I panicked when the batter was so bread dough-y and not so pancake-y and added an extra half cup of milk.

3. Yeast OR baking powder. Though I can’t say there was a real discernable difference by using both, I think this recipe could go in two possible directions. Versatility! I’m going to re-test the recipe by going both the yeast and baking powder routes, after which, I’ll post more concrete recipes for this gluten free teff bread.

Despite its shortcomings as stand-alone bread, the loaf lent itself perfectly to aaaamazing French toast. Hands down. Happy-accident-induced digestive bliss.

teff french toast success!The take away: Don’t be intimidated by failure. Even if what you’d hoped to make doesn’t turn out, there’s usually always a way to flip failure into future success.

Comments

[melissa]

This is absolutely brilliant. I would not have thought of adding yeast but I'll keep this in mind if I should have pancake fail.

[Kate]

Thanks Melissa! :)

[Tempehst]

Yum, lady! What a brilliant stroke of genius! (Or fearlessness!) I say, if things aren't working out, get microbial on their a**es.