With the four-layer carrot cake safely delivered ontime to the judges table, we breathed a big sigh of relief but quickly moved on to preparing Macaroni Grill Rosemary bread. (Here is the recipe we followed.)
After getting the yeast going in warm water and a tablespoon of sugar, I added the bread flour, butter, and freshly chopped rosemary from our back yard. Working the dough was tougher than normal, which made me worry. I couldn’t get the dough to its classic smooth and elastic feel. Instead, it was bumpy and stiff. Not a good sign at all. I told Steve that the bread was not turning out as planned and out of frustration considered “throwing in the towel” and not finish the competition. In the end we decided to go ahead and finish baking it even though it was definately not up to standard.
The bread rose nicely in the 16″ Big Griz, but still looked bumpy and rough. In our test run, the bread turned out beautifully, light, and moist and so tasty. Seeing this lumpy thing was so discouraging!!
Even though it did not meet our standards, we did accomplish our goal of getting it on to the judges table on time. Again, the other entries were beautiful creative, another tribute to what great outdoor cooks can do in a camp Dutch Oven!
After the event was over and we talked about why the bread didn’t do as well as we hoped. I realized that I had add all of the flour at the same time. I should have started out adding a little bit at a time as I kneading the dough. I was not paying attention and was probably busy chatting with visitors rather than paying attention to the dough. Lesson learned!
On to the main dish – Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Turkey Breast!
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