Wanted: Smart Oven

I haven’t baked bread for a while and I thought that while I was home on Thanksgiving Vacation I’d fire up the old oven, get the yeast a-going and fill the house with yummy bread baking smells.

I rummaged around and found all my old friends in the kitchen: large bowl, yeast, salt, Kitchen Aid mixer, baguette pan and favorite recipe.

I got to work.

The yeast bubbled nicely, very happy to be back in service. Kitchen Aid performed a Steamboat Willie dance on the countertop and the oven beeped cheerfully announcing it was hot to trot! The dough rose favorably; I punched it down, formed baguettes and laid them in the baguette pan.

Finally, it was showtime! In the oven they went and I set the timer for intervals at which I’d spray the loaves with water to develop a crusty crust.

At last spray, I set the timer for 21 minutes and settled down with a good book (Victoria’s Secret Christmas Catalog) for a brief “read.”

BeeeeeP! Ah, smelled good and I opened the oven to remove golden baguettes…

…only they weren’t golden. They were barely tan. In fact, they were downright pale.

WTF?

I checked the oven.

It was OFF.

OFF? OFF?!?!? What OFF?

True, the oven temperature was about 200, a far cry from the 400 bread baking temperature.

Then I realized what was going on. When I turned off the oven timer after the final spray I must have hit the main oven OFF button by mistake and the oven obeyed.

This is why I need a Smart Oven. I need an oven that will have a conversation with me.

“Yo, Baker Boy, you just put that bread in. Do you really want to turn off the heat? ‘cause that’s gonna make a mess of your bread.”

That would have been a big help.
As it turns out, I reset the oven, resprayed the bread, popped them in for 15 minutes and they came out OK.

I’m calling it Twice Cooked Bread.

Uh, yeah, that’s the ticket. I MEANT to do that. Yeah.