Today I'll tell you all about my recent Kitchen Mishap. Be warned, if you didn’t already know what a dingbat I am, these pictures will make it real clear for you…
It all started so innocent. I got my new sourdough starter and was finally ready to try again after my recent sourdough bread struggles. 
I heard this particular starter makes a lighter, higher-rising loaf, just what we need around here for sandwiches and toast. Following the instructions that came with the dried starter, I mixed it with flour and water and sat it in my oven with just the light on (to keep it a little warmer) and a loose lid. I even snapped a picture, so that later, once I finally had success with my sourdough, I could blog all about it, of course.
So far so good
The next day when I was getting ready to make a quick snack, I turned on my broiler, uh huh, you know where I’m going with this…
Next thing I know, our seven year-old daughter says, “Mom, it’s really glowing in there…” See the smoke coming off what used to be my plastic lid? Yeah, this was after the flames died down. (The kids were a little surprised that the next thing I wanted them to get me after I grabbed the fire extinguisher was my camera.) So then my poor sourdough starter looked like this, an “after” picture I guess you could say:
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what the lesson of the day is, but I’ll give myself a little reminder. When you’re keeping something warm in the oven, always be sure to remove it before turning the oven ON. DUH.
Hopefully ONE of these days I'll be able to share my success story with sourdough bread! My kefir is fermenting now for kefir soda, and I hope to let you know how that comes out soon, too! Update: Check out this post from Lucinda, not me, on how to make yummy sourdough bread! And here's how to make kefir soda!
Have you had any kitchen mishaps? Tell me I’m not the only dingbat in the kitchen.
Another update: You'll be glad to know I have a new system in place to assist my memory-challenged brain:
homeactivist says
Dear Kelly, please don’t call my hero (you) a dingbat. You are an intelligent, knowledgeable person who made a mistake. The impressive thing is, you had a fire extinguisher nearby, and knew how to use it!
KitchenKop says
Awwww, you’re a sweetheart. 🙂
Kel
Michelle says
This reminds me so much of a mishap from my childhood. Our babysitter told us the story one night to make us laugh. She wanted to go to the movies with her friends, but it was her chore to wash the dishes that night. She had no dishwasher and was going to have to wash and dry all the dishes from a family of 8 (she had 5 sisters!) by hand. There wasn’t enough time to do all those dishes if she wanted to go to the movies with her friends. So, she washed the bare minimum, leaving them in the dish drainer to dry, and stuck everything else into hiding in the oven. She had every intention of doing the rest of the dishes after she came home from her movie. After telling her mother she was done and getting permission, she rushed out the door to meet her friends. Half an hour later her mother decided to bake some blueberry muffins for breakfast in the morning. She turned on the oven while she assembled the ingredients and started mixing the batter. Low and behold, the oven started smoking like crazy. The Tupperware containers stacked inside the pots and pans had melted as well as the plastic handles on the pots and pans. It was a complete disaster. Our babysitter was grounded for a month. She always ended the story with the moral: Never skimp on doing your chores!
Kat says
Hahaha, somehow I missed this post! Glad nothing more serious happened and you had it under control. I too set my kitchen on fire. We had to repaint the entire main floor of the house, ruined the side of a cupboard and burnt a hole through a stainless steel pot. For me it was attempting to deep-fry spring rolls for the first time.
Oh and by ‘we had to repaint’ I mean my parents :S I was in the middle of exams and didn’t have a moment to even help. I felt terrible.
Oh and I also set my oven mitts on fire once, thankfully that was contained to the oven mitts and not my long hair that was dangerously close to it.
Kelly says
Paula, one word:
BRILLIANT!!! I’m sooooooooo all over that idea!!!
Thanks, Kelly
Erica says
I did the same thing with a batch of fil mjolk that had a rubber band holding on a cloth cover. Didn’t smell very nice! Luckily I had some more starter. Nice to hear I’m not the only person who does things like this! I should really mark the oven temperature dial when I have something fermenting in there, but do I?
Paula says
Kelly, If you have a cupboard with an outlet in it, go down to your local hardware store, and purchase a small lightbulb that plugs directly into a socket.
Then, keep your starter in that cupboard with the bulb plugged in.
That way, you will not have to worry about sticky notes.
This is also a good way to deal with ferments during cool and cold seasons.
Paula
Paula
Girl Gone Domestic says
I think my story may make you feel better…my friend had took a little spill in the lake with a bag full of her belongings. At the time my Dad worked at the Apple store and she left me her wet iPod for him to look at. I told her that I had read about “drying” out wet electronics in the oven on low heat over night. Well, she had great success drying her cell phone in the oven, so I, thinking I was being a good friend, placed her iPod in my oven overnight, next afternoon I preheated oven to bake…you can probably guess the rest of the story. Have you ever seen a melting iPod, its nauseating!
Girl Gone Domestic
Kelly says
You’ve all got me BELLY laughing!!!
By the way, before I read Jen’s idea, I had already come up with one of my own – I just posted a picture of it at the end of this post. 🙂 This is probably better for me anyway, I need BIG reminders…
Jen says
Rosy, I spilled a tray of coconut oil chocolate in my fridge. My fridge was full, so I balanced the tray as best I could (on the top shelf of all places). It had already tipped, and dripped everywhere inside, but when I opened the door to check on it the whole pan came tumbling out. What a mess!! I wanted to cry. I still have lingering chocolate in there to this day.
Liz F. says
Hey Kelly — I did the same thing with my sourdough starter a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t have quite the drama or danger you experienced though — I’m glad you’re all safe!
Liz
Rosy says
I burn myself atleast once a day. The latest was when I was attempting to broil some steak. I am not sure how, as I wasn’t standing in the oven, but I pulled the rack out and his my legs with it. I burn my self so often I usualy don’t even blister any more. Or the time I dropped the giant steak knife into my foot, luckely missed my vein. Still hurt like the devil though. Last week I tried making coconut oil chocolate, and spilled it in my freezer, so now it looks like some one used the potty in it…I tried really hard to get all of it up too…
Mary P. says
Omigosh! Now I don’t feel so bad, and no, you are not a dingbat Kelly. Geez, I’m surprised that busy mothers get through an entire day!! It’s not like you don’t have other things on your mind. I’ve done the “I forgot I stored something in the oven” trick like a hundred times myself :)) One of the most potentially serious ooops things I’ve done in the kitchen was to forget I was melting butter in a pan when someone came to the front door. When I went back in the kitchen it looked like a major fire had occurred in my absence – it was a mess!!! We were lucky it contained itself to just one corner….. oh, and another time I accidentally touched the end of a long bread knife into an above counter electrical socket – couldn’t do that again in a million years! – and it arched and sparked spectacularly and then fused the end of the knife Monty Pythonishly to the socket so that it looked like it was sticking out of the wall! Or the time I put liquid dish soap in the dishwasher – what could it hurt, eh? – and ended up with a kitchen full of knee-high suds!!!!…… Just a few of the many of my own Lucy moments :)))
Just keep trying with the sourdough Kelly.
Local Nourishment says
I’m such a klutz in the kitchen that we have moved the first aid kit from the bathroom into a kitchen cabinet. Probably three times a week I will cut myself or burn myself pretty well. I’ve had to have stitches twice and plastic surgery (!) once from cooking-related injuries. When the kids come in and ask when a meal will be ready, my stock response is always, “When you hear the fire alarm go off.” Hubby jokes that instead of an apron I need to wear a hazmat suit.
If there wasn’t an ER or a fire truck involved, you got off easy.
Local Nourishment
Bekki says
I love Celeste’s idea! Since pretty much all ovens are metal (I think), it could be put on a magnet… might make a nice craft project for our kids.
I really think someone ought to invent a better warming device for starters, cultures, and so on. Something bigger than a yogurt maker, maybe the size of a toaster oven… although I’m sure we all have tons of extra space in our kitchens for something like that.
It’s too early in the morning for me, too, but I’ve definitely had my share of kitchen mistakes. Well, let’s calling them learning-takes! 🙂
Celeste says
I’ve done that!!!! I used to try to make yogurt in the oven with just the light on, and a thermometer beside it to monitor temperature. I melted the plastic holds off of two candy thermometers (and completely cooked several batches of yogurt) before I finally invested in a yogurt maker. It’s just not worth it.
If I were of the enterprising type, I’d invent “Do Not Disturb” signs to go over oven controls for when something’s in there!
Motherhen68 says
One time I was making meatballs. I bake them in the oven first to firm them up before putting it into sauce. Apparently, I had loaded the pan w/too many and the grease overflowed onto the bottom of the oven.
After baking the meatballs, I decided to “self clean” my oven. I turned the thing on and after about 45 minutes I walked into the kitchen to notice flames on the bottom of my oven. I called my mom to ask if that was normal (duh) and she wasn’t home. Thankfully, an internet friend was online and she told me to turn off the oven! LOL. I don’t use the self cleaning thing anymore!
Motherhen68
CHEESESLAVE says
Last week I was taking some chocolate chip cookies out of the oven — they were for my WAPF potluck that night. I was in a hurry so I was doing it one-handed and just like that, the cookie sheet tipped and my cookies slid in slow motion back into the hot oven and all over the top of it.
YUCK what a mess that was. And the housekeeper had JUST left that day.
Beth says
Kelly,
I put a little magnet (easy to grab from the fridge) and stick by the oven light switch to catch my attention. It also alerts helpful family to NOT turn off oven light.
I took a picture of my last loaf of sourdough bread to share with you because you mentioned that the pic from where I got the recipe looked flat.
I can’t even begin to tell you about my mishaps!
Beth
jeanne says
I am so going to start using Jen’s idea of the masking tape!
I am always putting bread in the oven to dry out for croutons or bread crumbs or hiding my bake goods in there so I don’t nibble on them.
And, of course I turn the oven on to preheat with everything still in it.
Great idea!!
Sara says
I have lots of mishaps, too. From multi-tasking and just not paying attention. Here’s my famous Spaghetti Squash fail: https://ashowerofroses.blogspot.com/2008/11/friday-fail.html
I have several in the category of Friday Fail, but they’re not all kitchen-related.
Betsy says
It’s too early in the morning to remember any specifics, but let’s just say that when I told my husband about this story he said “Are y’all related?” 🙂
Jen says
I always put a piece of masking tape over the knob to the oven when I have something in there, to remind me not to turn it on until I remove the item. 🙂
Once I was making popcorn, and added 3 kernels to the oil so I would know when to add the rest of the popcorn, after they popped. Then I left the room for a “minute” and got distracted by something on TV. When I smelled the burning I ran back, took the lid off the pan, and flames shot up the wall behind the stove almost to the ceiling. If that wasn’t bad enough, for some reason I forgot everything I know about grease fires, and put the pan in the sink and turned on the water. So in addition to black burn smudges on my white walls, I had little grease burns all over my arm.
Michele says
My daughter just did this to my Swedish rye starter! You’re not alone! Lol! My new starter is in the mail, yea
Leesie says
Nope, you aren’t the only dingbat in the kitchen. Just a few weeks ago, I pre-heated my oven with all my pots and pans still in it, including an oil splatter screen with a plastic handle! 🙁
I hope your next batch of sourdough starter is a success so you can teach me the how to’s. I can’t wait to see that sourdough bread.
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Is Mr. Linky absent again? Here’s my link on flax: https://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/06/09/how-to-use-and-store-flax-seeds-and-flax-oil/
But I probably should share my flax mishap, to make you feel better about being not-on-your-game in the kitchen! https://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/06/09/gratituesday-tried-it-lost-it-mourned-itadventures-with-flax/
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship