Last Thursday, I was checking my blogs like I do most mornings. When I pulled up
www.kingarthurflour.com, I saw the word "Alabama." Huh. . .Alabama is pretty close. The next thing that I noticed was that day's date, the 26th of January. My curiosity was piqued. . .I had planned that night to be at home putting together some Junior Church lessons. . .but I could do that on Saturday. I clicked on the link and found out that there was a sweet bread baking demo taking place in Huntsville (about an hour and a half away) - and there were DOOR PRIZES (I don't normally win things like that, but the chance to have anything KAF was too good to pass up)! I texted my husband about it. I wanted to go, but it was almost too good to be true. King Arthur Flour (KAF) is the epitome of great recipes and superior products. I actually wanted to go to Vermont one day (in the fall) to see it. I still would like to; however, they were coming to me!
To make a long, drawn-out story slightly shorter, my husband was kind enough to go on an impromptu "date" to Huntsville, AL with me - no prompting needed! After work, I took care of my puppy, then we got gas and supper and started driving. I was so excited.
It was a nice trip, and we DID get door prizes. We each won a bag of flour (which doesn't sound like much, but it was KAF flour!). They had cooler prizes, but I didn't care. I was content with my flour. We also got Cabot cheese samples, cocoa and chocolate chip coupons, bowl scrapers, recipes, and coupon cards with which to purchase KAF products online.
But here is the thing I really wanted to talk about - dough rising buckets. I have seen them many times in KAF's blog whenever someone was having dough rise. I wanted one, but they are a little on the pricey side for a plastic bucket with measurements on the side. I never put one on my amazon.com wishlist, but I kept the thought in my head. You know, like whenever I was at a restaurant supply store, I would look for a cheap one. Never happened. They were even pricey in the restaurant supply store.
So last week, as the teacher was telling us about kneading and letting dough rise, he plopped his lump of dough into a bowl and said
something like (I can't remember exactly what he said), "Most recipes say to let the dough rise until it is doubled in size. I would give money to the person who could tell me when a spherical lump of dough inside of an inverted sphere has doubled in size." I wanted to raise my hand and say that I could. I truly feel that I can since I've done it so many times and can picture (somehow) in my mind what the lump would look like if doubled. I don't know how I can, but I feel that I have that ability. Anyway. I chuckled. I love it when people confidently recite seemingly scientific phrases.
I expected that he would use that opportunity to tell us about these wonderful products that KAF has. . .dough rising buckets. To my pleasant surprise, he said nothing of that sort. Instead, with a flourish, he pulled a tea towel off of a regular drink pitcher full of risen dough. It was one of those "duh" moments. Why didn't I think of that! What an obvious idea. I have plenty of extra drink pitchers at home. And who is to say that if I put measurements on the side with a Sharpie® that I couldn't use it for drinks again? Of course, I could.
So, here it is. My "aha" moment. The dough rising bucket.
If you look really carefully, you can see my Sharpie® markings. I did every inch. My dough rising bucket was used this past Sunday morning. I look forward to using it again.
Here is my quick illustration of dough in the bucket. . . I quickly plopped a lump of frozen pizza dough in to show you what it looks like.
I am still in amazement that I didn't think of such a simple thing. . . ;)
