I suppose that my beginner’s luck in Daring Bakers was bound to run out at some point, and with my third challenge under my belt I am now batting .667. I really didn’t think that I’d hit a wall with bread, either. Somewhat disappointing, to be completely honest! The recipe this month was Tender Potato Bread, chosen by the wonderful Tanna at My Kitchen In Half Cups.
Since I didn’t make the bread until the weekend before Thanksgiving, I had already heard about some of the difficulties that other Daring Bakers had working with this dough. Having been very successful in the bread-making department (and perhaps too cocky?) I wasn’t worried when I began making this bread. However, I quickly realized that I was not immune to a bread-baking disaster as I tried and tried to make the softest, most lifeless dough work for me. Calling this a “soft” dough is a major understatement. It was very difficult for me to knead and I ended up having to use an insane amount of flour.
We were given the option of making this recipe into any variation of loaves, focaccia, or rolls. Since I was attempting this the weekend before Thanksgiving, my plan was to make all rolls and take them to my mom’s and my in-law’s for dinner. The bread universe had other plans, apparently. When I went to shape the-most-difficult-dough-ever into rolls I had a very hard time. The dough continued to be lifeless and soft, as well as very sticky. As a result, I kept adding more flour, which most likely caused the horrid results. I was pretty convinced at this point that these may not turn out all that great.
Twenty minutes later, I took my rolls out of the oven and held my breath. Nick and I both took a bite and immediately decided that the rolls would have to meet an untimely death. They just flat out were not good. They were incredibly dense, and didn’t have much flavor. We pitched them and, hanging my head in shame, I had to report to my mom and mother-in-law that my rolls were a bust and would not be gracing their Thanksgiving tables. I did take a couple of pictures of the rolls before they met their grave – here is the result:
Ah, such is the life of a Daring Baker! They can’t all be successes, or else we wouldn’t be learning! Check out everyone else’s Potato Bread at the Daring Bakers’ Blogroll. I can’t wait to see what December brings!
Filed under: Breads/Rolls, Daring Bakers |
Sugar & Spice 
well the picture looks pretty sorry they didn’t taste to good, i completely understand
I am sorry to hear that your rolls did not turn out the way you wanted them to. They look good though.
Aw, that stinks. I’m with the other DBs – the picture looks like they should taste good 🙂
Awww, Im so sorry your rolls didnt turn out. It happens to the best of us! They do look very good however. Great job on the challenge regardless. Remember, this is what DB is all about, the victories and the failures. xo
So sorry your rolls didn’t turn out. Hopefully next month your average will be up again!
They looked so good…sorry they did not lived up to their cuteness. Trust me, we all have had breads turn to bricks at one point or another! Hopefully next month will be better!
Sorry they didn’t turn out like you wanted. Deciding how much flour to use was tricky. My first batch turned out dense as well and I think I didn’t use enough flour.
I hope next month is a success!
Don’t dispare, you are not the only one who found the dough a little ‘CHALLENGING’ 😉 I too had to add an insane amount of flour, and in hinde site would have added at least another cup before attempting to knead the dough for the 1st time – to avoid the extreemly sticky situation ha ha. You picture is lovely though and as the other girls said, next month will be better!
Sorry your rolls didn’t turn out like you had wanted. I had similar problems with this blob of a dough and this month’s recipe was definitely a challenge. But onward and upward !
Sorry to hear your rolls didn’t turn out! Better luck next time?
I found this month to be particularly challenging as well.
Here’s to next month! 😉
Julius from Occasional Baker
i’m sorry your rolls did not turn out but the pic is super cute! and at least you were up for the challenge… i still haven’t been brave enough to join the daring bakers…
You know, this experience is exactly the type of experience I’ve had making bread many times over and is the main reason for my apprehension/reticence to make bread often. I think part of the frustration is you put in all this effort and time and it’s not until the very end do you know if it worked.
I reckon if I make them again (as I define this recipe as the Comfort Carb hit of all time and there may be occasions its dense, comforting chewiness is required) I will reduce the amount of cooking liquid used by a cup.
I also have a suspicion that the knack to getting this dough to work for you has to do with the temperature of the mixture at the very beginning when you add the yeast, but that’s just a gut feeling I’ve got (I went to add the yeast and then, out of curiosity, took it’s temperature and it was about 20 degrees hotter than Tana’s recommendation – so I think if I had barrelled on I would have damaged my yeast and the bread would have been even denser and claggier…)
At least they looked kinda cute!
Oh no! So sorry they didn’t work out. 😦
So sorry it didn’t work out this time! You’ll be looking forward to next month then!
Oh no!!
To cheer you up I will tell you something……it was your fabulous cinnamon rolls that made me want to join Daring Bakers! I am always so impressed by the perfection of your food! you can’t be perfect all the time! hehe ;o)
Although as someone else said I thought they looked like super cute rolls! x
Hi!
I’m sorry you had a tough time with the bread. But you know an almost .700 average is pretty good! In baseball … you’d be a King! Good luck with the next challenge!
You did a wonderful job on your rolls. They look delicious.
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
They seem rather cute, but sorry they did not taste so good!
Too bad about your rolls! Don’t feel bad that dough was really hard too work with! They looked good:)
Sorry to hear about your rolls! they looked great, anyways..
I’m sorry the rolls didn’t work out, but they look perfectly fine. Still, the spirit of the attempt is commendable and I am sure the next several DB challenges will be successes, so don’t fret. That dough was the stickiest I’ve ever had to handle.
Sorry they didn’t turn out. I have to give kudos for your attempt though. I have yet to enter a blogging event : )
Well done! I find that your rolls look great!
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh, too bad it didn’t work out for you. I can imagine how hard rolls would be to shape!! You should try this recipe again and do the foccacia – it was great!
And so once again, mother was right: Don’t judge a roll by it’s cover 😉
I think Ivonne is right .700 is King in the baseball world.
So now we’re looking for the December Challenge!
Ack, sorry about your rolls! But you trouped through it! I had a devil of a time shaping my dough, too!
They *look* like they should be marvelous. So sorry it didn’t turn out for you.
oooh… I’m sorry the rolls didn’t work out better for you, especially at Thanksgiving! Here’s to a more satisfying outcome with the December challenge!