Looks Like I Am a Terrible Teacher
By Ann LeFlore
@poehere (15123)
French Polynesia
December 30, 2015 3:35pm CST
Last week I told you how we made all different kinds of bread to hand out on Christmas Eve. Well I taught the mommy how to make banana, papaya, and pumpkin bread. Yesterday when I was at work the mommy had a few friends ask her for more papaya bread. She was so excited and set out cooking 10 loafs of papaya bread. She decided to make only 2 to start off with to make sure she understood how to make them.
Well guess what the bread was delicious but it did not come out like mine at all. I think she added way too much papaya because the bread just fell apart when it came out of the pan. I am not even sure she put butter in the bottom of the pan or around the side of the pan. I asked her if it was a thick batter and she said no she had to basically scoop the batter into the pans to cook.
Ouch she was so disappointed. The person who is here working with me told me to help her after lunch to make her bread. I think the people who ask for the bread are paying her to make it for them. This time I will see what she wrote down to make sure she has the ingredients right.
Looks like I have the afternoon off to help cook papaya bread and help this sweet mommy fulfill her order. It is fun to bake but it is also a lot of work. In the meantime there was another 6 orders that came in. Looks like today we are making 16 loafs of papaya bread and taking it to sell.
Have you ever tried to teach someone to cook something and it turned out bad. They couldn’t make it like you or they did something different to change things around? I feel like I have failed as a baking teacher or cook. I hope I can have her make it right today so she can do this when I am gone. I saw the disappointment in her eyes and she felt like she failed. But in the end the bread didn’t look all that nice but everyone loved it and ate it all up.
Here is a picture of the sad looking loaf of papaya bread that was cooked yesterday. I know it doesn’t look good but it sure did smell and taste delicious. I know she added way too much papaya in this recipe because there were big chunks of papaya in the bread.
Personal image
6 people like this
4 responses
@JudyEv (381928)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Jan 16
What a shame but at least it was good to eat. I hope the next lot turns out better.
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
10 Jan 16
@JudyEv Yes she is so happy to understand how to do this now. I think she sells each bread for like 6 dollars and people are so happy to pay this. One day the poor women spent most of her day cooking. I think she had orders for 30 breads. Now that is a lot of baking if you ask me on this one. But the people here love the bread and they kept asking her for more. I'm sure one day I'll get a call from her asking if I know any other good recipes she can cook. I am home now and it is nice to be back on the island of Tahiti.
1 person likes this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
1 Jan 16
@Asylum You are so funny. I have gotten all the bread finished and cooked yesterday. We made 16 loaves of bread and it has all been delivered and she was paid for her efforts. She wanted to giveme half the money but I refused to accept anything from her. They have been so kind to let us stay in their home. It was a pleasure to helpe her with this.
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45111)
• Canada
30 Dec 15
@poehere Just a little bit more coaching and you will have a mommy that can cook!
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
30 Dec 15
@1hopefulman She is an excellent cook. She just never made a banana, papaya or even a pumpkin bread before. She makes a killer coconut bread that is out of this world. Nobody ever heard of making these kinds of breads before. So this is ner to her and when you talk about bread it is a dough you need to kneed and let ride. Not this one for these types of bread. They cook and rise in the oven.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
1 Jan 16
One year a friend of my brother's invited me to Thanksgiving dinner. I ask if I should bring anything. She told me no. But I insisted. I told her I would bring the sweet potatoes. So she started to tell me how to cook them. I said, "I've got a recipe I'll make." She said, "Oh, OK." She sounded like she thought it would be a total disaster. I made the recipe and took it. When the dinner was over there was just a tiny spoonful left. She said, "My family doesn't even like sweet potatoes. But those were good. Look at how much they ate." Then she asked for the recipe. After Christmas I asked her if she used the recipe for their Christmas dinner and she said she did, but it wasn't as good as what I made. I don't know why hers wasn't as good as mine–we both used the same recipe.
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
1 Jan 16
I think it is that some people don't seem to follow the instructions so well. I noticed this with the mommy. I throw all the ingredients in the bowl before I mix them up. She wants to do this in stages. Well this makes it way to over mixed for this type of bread. In the end she got it down good and her bread turned out fine. I know people want to add too much or they they think they should add more. But in this case it is not a good idea because then the bread will not rise like it should. She is use to making dough bread and this one is more like a liquid or batter bread.
1 person likes this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
2 Jan 16
@RichardMeister That is exactly how I cook. I never get out measuring spoon and I am never exact. I basically can just throw it in and it turns out good. Never had an issue ever.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
1 Jan 16
@poehere It may have been me who really didn't follow the directions. If a recipe calls for a teaspoon I'll just grab a regular spoon out of the drawer or if it's something like salt I may just pour it into my hand until it looks like a teaspoon. Years ago I heard my then girlfriend say to one of her friends, "It really pisses me off. Richard never measures anything when he cooks and it always tastes good. That shouldn't be. It should be awful. I just don't understand it." When I was growing up I used to watch my foster mother's mother cook (she lived with us and did all the cooking and cleaning). She never measured anything either and she was a great cook. If a recipe called for a cup she would grab a regular cup out of the cupboard and use it. And she did the same as I do when it comes to teaspoons and tablespoons.
