Cooked in the Squat and the Cooking for Others Curse

Today is Day 6 of the May Creativity Challenge with Good+Perfect.  The challenge is BREAD.

I LOVE bread.  The only issue I have with it is that it seems to give me the hiccups.  Seriously.  Does anyone else have this issue?  I find it a little annoying, but my love for bread seems to help me overcome it.  Recently my pharmacist recommended a supplement that helps with some digestion issues - and also hiccups.  Now I can eat bread in peace because 2 papaya tablets will make the hiccups go away.  Aren't you relieved for me?  LOL

Now -- let's get back to bread.

I really enjoy bruschetta and crostini.  Those toasted breads are so much fun to snack on alone or with toppings. You can go wild with toppings too.  As far as your imagination will take you.

My plan for today was to make Italian Herb Bread and do something fun with it.

I started with a bread mix.

I get this one for bread machines.  I saw that the store had a mix that does not require kneading. I might have to give it a try some time.  This time, I stuck with my fail safe mix.

I but the ingredients in my bread machine as instructed and pressed the start button.  Easy.  

When the timer went off, I was excited to get the bread out to cool and add a little something to it.

There was one problem.

The bread didn't rise.  As my grandmother and mother would say, "It squatted to rise, but got cooked in the squat."  Actually . . . that's what I said, too.

I've made this bread before and it is fine.  It only does this to me when I am making it for someone.  

I guess a blog counts as being for someone.

This type of thing happens to my mom as well.  Like getting the hiccups from eating bread, I also inherit her bad luck with things turning out correctly when it's for other people.  It's one reason why you don't see me jump at the opportunity to make a meal for someone when the sign up sheet is passed around.  Now you know my secret - I'm scared of the "company is coming curse"

I'm going to try again another time and hope I can show you my extra twist on this bread when it bakes properly.  Maybe I'll pretend I'm not making the bread for anyone but me so it turns out okay and then I'll decide to blog about it.  

Maybe if the bread doesn't know what I'm up to, it will cooperate better.

I wonder if this ever happens to anyone else.  Who else has the "company is coming so your food will turn out wrong" curse?