My mistakes are frequent as well, but usually no one notices when I fix it. I have forgotten the yeast a few times, but my latest disaster was making the deli rye rolls. I put in way WAY too much water, and kept adding more rye flour to compensate, and ended up with this sticky mass of dough. It took forever to rise, but eventually made some rather soft, but still fairly yummy rolls. They weren't as good as what I usually make, but certainly not terrible. The worst mistakes for me usually involve undergreasing bread pans, which gives me a base for stuffings, croutons, and bread puddings, or burning things, especially chocolate biscotti. When you use black cocoa you really can't tell it is burnt until you taste it, not a pleasant surprise! My best mistake though, by far, is when I forgot to put something under the strawberry rhubarb pie to catch the drips. It was the first time I was making my husband's favorite (while we were engaged) and I set the oven on fire! I had to finish cooking it on the grill! He ate it, and it was fine, albeit a touch smoky! My dad threw flour into the oven, since it was closer than the baking soda, we had such a mess! As you can see from the Chocolate cake vs. gravity failure, the mistakes that tend to stay with you are the ones with the longest cleanup times and the most witnesses. Sigh. Susan

• Reply