Overcoming fears in the kitchen & your life

Remember the last time you wanted to try something but the fear of failure stop you from even trying?

That is very normal in human nature that when we are doing something for the first time, fear shows up. Fear can

- Stop us from doing what we want to do;

- Create loads of excuses to postpone doing it;

- Feel under prepared and not good enough

During my time as a Thermomix independent advisor, I have experienced many times my clients overcoming fear of failure in the kitchen and then being able to bring it to other areas of their lives.

One great example was last week during the Pao de Agua challenge. I invited all my clients to take part in baking this amazing Portuguese recipe. It is called water bread. A really nice and crunchy bread that no matter how many times I make it, it is a great success in all my dinner parties.

How to make it? Here is the recipe:

Pão de Água (Water Bread)

550 g water

720 g strong flour

1 tsp dry yeast is 3 g (or if using fresh yeast is 9 g)

10 g salt

1. Place water and flour into mixing bowl, mix 20sec/speed 6. Let the dough rest for 40 minutes (this step is call AUTOLYSE is a method to hydrated the flour first before mixing the yeast and salt, this improves the gluten structure of the bread)

2. Now add yeast and salt mix for 6 min/dough function

3. Let the dough rest for 2 hours or until double in size (tip if you like the sourdough flavour, in this step, leave dough 24 hour in the fridge to do a slow fermentation, next day take dough out of the fridge and let rest until room temperature and continue with next step)

4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 250°C.

5. Transfer dough to a floured surface, stretch the dough just a little in a rectangular shape, be gentle don’t knock all the air.

6. Now do the 1/3 fold method, is to fold the dough 1/3 way thru and tuck the boards inside de bread.

7. Transfer bread to a floured baking tray.

8. Sift some flour on top, and using a sharp knife, make a cut on top of loaf.

9. Bake for about 55 minutes. (tip if you want a nice crust, throw some ice cubes in the oven, when placing the bread to bake, or put a try on the second level of the oven and add 1 cup of water.

Let’s face it: cooking is scary. No matter how inexperienced or skillful you are, there’s loads of room for failure. But it all depends what mindset you bring into the kitchen. Sometimes with a bit of help and guidance, it can help you to overcome the fear and get into action. Using the fire energy inside you to get going and see what comes out of it.

I love Thermomix because it is a great way to support you in the kitchen when the person is inexperience. The guided recipes help you to reduce the different variables that can ruin a recipe:

- the weather might be different and the room temperature will impact the end result

- oven may not be working as usual

- my ingredients might be different

- the quantities used not accurate

- and a very long etc

And that’s the nature of cooking — it’s an imperfect. As Julia Child said, “Cooking is one failure after another, and that’s how you finally learn

One of the largest obstacles between a person and a home-cooked meal is not simply free time or money: it’s fear of failure. What if it doesn’t work out? What if I can’t do it? Don’t worry; overcoming fear of failure in the kitchen is attainable with the right mindset. Just as with anything in life, recognize that you will fail. And failure itself is not bad! It’s what you make of the failure that makes the difference. So laugh it off, make sure to have a shop nearby that sells bread or bread frozen in the fridge as a backup, and think about how well lessons learned the hard way stick.

With a bit of help, it was great to see my clients really enjoying making this bread and facing fears as many of them had never baked bread before in their life. And let met me say the results look amazing!! Would you agree?

If you also want to learn how to make bread and face your own fears in the kitchen, join me on facebook live and lets bake together. Friday 17th July at 12 noon Irish time. Link here

For private cooking and coaching classes, contact Sara on sara@flowithme.com or +353 851 387984.