I'm not sure if this tells enough about me and there might be some awkward places. I was wondering if you guys can help me fix it.
Thanks in advance!
Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?
The aroma of the freshly baked sausage and red bean buns filled the air as I took the pans out of the oven. Friends from my church were over for a leaders' meeting and I was eager for everyone to try my new experiment. While we were waiting for it to cool down, I snuck a quick bite and was surprised. It was tasteless and hard -- nothing like the bread at the local bakery. When they were just warm, my fellow leaders tasted it and told me that it tasted good, not to hurt my feelings, but it didn't matter to me. I was determined to get it right somehow.
It may seem odd that a male high school student took baking as a hobby, but for as long as I could remember, I always loved activities where you use your hands to create something--whether it be wood working or knitting. It all started on a Sunday afternoon, after a piano test I had just taken. I was biking by myself that day since the rest of my family was at church, so I decided to get a snack at Kawaii Bakery; I bought a ham and cheese bun and a sausage bun. After finishing them, I looked at the wrapper for a while and noticed that the ingredients in them were simple, everyday things that could easily be found in any kitchen: "Flour, butter, water, sugar, egg, milk, yeast, salt." While pedaling home my curiosity took over and I thought to myself, "Couldn't I just make this at home?" The next thing I knew, I found a recipe online and gathered all the ingredients on the kitchen table, ready to be turned into some buns.
I measured everything and started to knead it together. I started to get excited when the combination of ingredients merged into a single gooey mass. But that excitement turned to worry when the gooey mass stayed a gooey mass, even after two hours of kneading. Not sure of what to do, I just added some more flour to make it more dough-like, shaped the buns, and let them rest on the kitchen counter to proof.
During the time the bread was rising, I turned to the internet to find some information on what went wrong. It turned out that I was using the wrong flour which resulted in less gluten being formed during the kneading process. As I later found out, this caused the crumb of the bread to be dense and hard. Also, unless I wanted to wait several hours for the dough to rise sufficiently, I needed to relocate the pans to a warmer place. I left them in the new location for too long and before I knew it, the smell of alcohol filled the air due to the yeast being overactive. My friends arrived and the leader's meeting was going to start. I had to work with what I had.
Even though my first time making bread could have been considered a failure, looking into what caused those problems opened a door to the wonders of sourdough and intricacies of the chemistry of baking. Now understanding the amount of work, time, and science that goes into a roll, I gained a true appreciation for the basket of bread we get before our meals at restaurants. It wasn't until I actually made it myself that I realized how much we take advantage of many simple things such as bread.
Thanks in advance!
Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?
The aroma of the freshly baked sausage and red bean buns filled the air as I took the pans out of the oven. Friends from my church were over for a leaders' meeting and I was eager for everyone to try my new experiment. While we were waiting for it to cool down, I snuck a quick bite and was surprised. It was tasteless and hard -- nothing like the bread at the local bakery. When they were just warm, my fellow leaders tasted it and told me that it tasted good, not to hurt my feelings, but it didn't matter to me. I was determined to get it right somehow.
It may seem odd that a male high school student took baking as a hobby, but for as long as I could remember, I always loved activities where you use your hands to create something--whether it be wood working or knitting. It all started on a Sunday afternoon, after a piano test I had just taken. I was biking by myself that day since the rest of my family was at church, so I decided to get a snack at Kawaii Bakery; I bought a ham and cheese bun and a sausage bun. After finishing them, I looked at the wrapper for a while and noticed that the ingredients in them were simple, everyday things that could easily be found in any kitchen: "Flour, butter, water, sugar, egg, milk, yeast, salt." While pedaling home my curiosity took over and I thought to myself, "Couldn't I just make this at home?" The next thing I knew, I found a recipe online and gathered all the ingredients on the kitchen table, ready to be turned into some buns.
I measured everything and started to knead it together. I started to get excited when the combination of ingredients merged into a single gooey mass. But that excitement turned to worry when the gooey mass stayed a gooey mass, even after two hours of kneading. Not sure of what to do, I just added some more flour to make it more dough-like, shaped the buns, and let them rest on the kitchen counter to proof.
During the time the bread was rising, I turned to the internet to find some information on what went wrong. It turned out that I was using the wrong flour which resulted in less gluten being formed during the kneading process. As I later found out, this caused the crumb of the bread to be dense and hard. Also, unless I wanted to wait several hours for the dough to rise sufficiently, I needed to relocate the pans to a warmer place. I left them in the new location for too long and before I knew it, the smell of alcohol filled the air due to the yeast being overactive. My friends arrived and the leader's meeting was going to start. I had to work with what I had.
Even though my first time making bread could have been considered a failure, looking into what caused those problems opened a door to the wonders of sourdough and intricacies of the chemistry of baking. Now understanding the amount of work, time, and science that goes into a roll, I gained a true appreciation for the basket of bread we get before our meals at restaurants. It wasn't until I actually made it myself that I realized how much we take advantage of many simple things such as bread.
