Bummer Bread Blues

So, since I really have nothing else to do with my time right now I decided that it was time that I work on those good ol' homemaking skills. My mom informed me a few years ago that in order to become a "real woman" I had to learn to make Strawberry jam. I've only made it that one time, but I guess that I only need to become a woman once, right? So that was great and all, but I don't think that only knowing how to make jam is sufficient enough, I want to go beyond becoming a "real woman" so I decided that I was going to try making bread.

A friend of mine shared an amazing recipe that start to finish can take 1 hour, which sounded like the perfect recipe for me. So a few weeks ago, I got together with my mom, and some other family members to try the recipe out. It worked so well, and the coolest part about the recipe is that it is extremely versatile and you can make over 50 different things with just the one recipe. We made french bread, bread sticks, italian bread, regular loafs, a dessert braid, etc. It was so delicious. A few days later I needed to make some bread again for visiting teaching, but this would be the first time that I was doing it completely solo. All in all it turn out pretty well. Everything tasted great, it wasn't the prettiest, but it rose just like it was supposed to, and definitely tasted delicious like it was supposed to. I was so proud of myself, because I finally felt accomplished, that I was actually able to truly cook on my own.

So yet again, a week or so later, when we had extended family in town, my mom asked me to make some bread again. We had told my relatives about the recipe, and how great the bread was supposed to taste, so everyone was pretty excited. So again, I mixed the ingredients in the mixer just like I was supposed to. I kneaded the bread just how I was supposed to. And I let it rise just how it was supposed to. (or so I thought.........) And then put the bread in the oven, just how I was supposed to. So the 30 minutes later when I took the bread out of the oven, I could tell that something was terribly wrong, the bread looked exactly like it had when I put it in the oven, which was a bunch of very lumpy and ugly loafs. I was so sad. We had a good time laughing about our "Jewish" meal because of the unleavened bread, but we still can not figure out what went wrong. I was pretty crushed. Everyone began to question my ability to cook, and/or read recipes, but I still swear that I did everything that I was supposed to. So pretty much I'm determined that I must defend my "real woman" status, and prove that not only do I have the ability to make strawberry jam, but danget, I can make bread too. And when I do it the right way, I may offer to share with you.