There is a family recipe that is my absolute favorite thing in the world, and because it requires Italian plums (only available for a short time in September), I couldn't wait for my mom to make it for me. Unfortunately, it has intensive preparation time.
Anyway, the recipe requires I make pierogi dough. I've never done this before, although I have watched my mom. When I was a kid.
I guess I should back up and say that my original plan was to make the dough in my bread machine, but I discovered it doesn't have a dough setting. I was shocked enough to research, and sure enough, it doesn't have this feature. I'm calling that a fail. Although, since I've had it for years and this the first time I'm noticing the missing choice, I might not need it.
This meant I had to make it by hand. Me! The non-cook.
It started out a little messy with the flour, but since I planned to roll on the island anyway, I decided not to worry about that. The real problem started when I moved on to the liquid portion of the recipe.
Two eggs. Okay, great. I had new eggs. I put them on the island and then thought, well, maybe I'll do the liquid on the other counter. I pick up the eggs to move them. I noticed my grip on them wasn't good, but I continued on anyway because I didn't have to go that far.
I almost made it.
I was right at the edge of the counter when the carton fell from my grip and went splat on the floor.
The good news is that 5 of them didn't break. The bad news is that the other seven did and I had egg all over my floor which required massive cleanup. With two of my rescued eggs, I continued on.
I ended up with dough that was desert dry. I added more water, but the dough still doesn't look like what Mom made. :-/
And I was right to be worried. Two hours later, after I let it rest, it still felt dried out. Normally, the dough has to be exposed to air for a while before it feels that way. It was difficult to work with and it didn't taste like Mom's either. :-( I failed at dough.
