I was watching Chef Academy, again, and they made this bread that looked heavenly stuffed with cheese. How do you get better than baked goods filled with cheese? I had never made bread, but having made many a baked good in the past, I figured I could get some kneading practice in. They made it look so easy.
Literally the next day I pulled up the recipe online and it seemed simple enough. I was careful to measure well and concentrate on what I was doing (I’m usually a pretty hap hazard baker… I know… hand slap for me). I followed the first 2 directions:
For the Bread:
1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, butter and yeast.
2. Stir in the water and mix into a soft dough.
As soon as I added the water (1 quart) to the flour (1 pound) I knew something was wrong. It just looked too much like paper mache and not enough like dough. I thought maybe the flour would thicken it so I mixed… and mixed… and mixed. Soft dough was not to be had.
So I looked back and determined it was the flour to water ratio that was off and added more flour. And I mixed and I mixed… and I added flour and I added flour… and this is what happened:
I couldn’t even make it into a ball. I think by the time I had realized the ratios were off and added more flour, the yeast had already reacted (or something) and it was an EPIC FAIL. On top of that, I noticed that the ingredients list sugar but it didn’t say anywhere in the recipe when to add the sugar. It was at this point that I cursed Chef Novelli.
It was a sticky mess that made a mess of everything.
Including my pretty brand new Kitchenaid. ::Pout::
So I had now had my biggest cooking fail since hermetically sealing a pot in college (WHOOPS!) and I still had to do SOMETHING for dinner. Luckily yet another cooking show (Top Chef finale… I’m such a food television sucker) had me craving tuna noodle casserole and I had everything in stock. So total change of plans and I had this assembled in less than 10 minutes and I was thinking to myself “why don’t I make this ridiculously easy casserole more often?”
Mmmm… layers:
It turned out decent, though a little plain. I think I need to find a way to spice this up a bit. And add roasted garlic. Mmmmm.
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RECIPE
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Since the bread recipe was obviously ENTIRELY WRONG, I won’t reiterate it here. I have a new bread recipe from my friend, Lillian, so once I succeed with that, I’ll post it.
TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE
Ingredients:
- 1 (8 ounce) package wide egg noodles
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed
- 4 slices american cheese (I used shredded since it was on hand)
- 1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained
- 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- Optional: Canned peas
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
- In a 1 1/2 quart glass casserole dish, layer noodles, butter cubes, 2 slices of cheese, 1/2 of the tuna, and 1/2 of the soup. Repeat the layering with the remaining ingredients. Top the casserole with bread crumbs. (ok… I didn’t layer… I stirred it all together… oops.)
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 15 minutes. (mine took some additional time)
