The title of this is a common Hawaiian pidgin phrase that basically means, if something's possible, that's great, if it's not, then that's okay too. In plainer terms, it means be flexible. It has been a useful thing to remember especially since I've gotten deep into bread-making. And admittedly, it was a hard lesson to learn. I used to totally obsess over the aesthetics of my bread. I wanted each and every loaf to fit an archetype - both inside and out - and I'd stress if it didn't.

But bread dough is a living thing and it's affected by all sorts of factors. And given that, working with forces you to be flexible. Look at ambient temperature for instance. When it's warm - above 72°F - things happen fast. Dough action is significantly slower in cooler temps. But even if you adapt to different factors changing, there's no guarantee that things will turn out as planned. You can certainly narrow the margin of error, but something will always be a little off.

Granted, as I've gained more and more experience, I make fewer mistakes, and quite frankly, the only person who notices an off outcome is usually me. But despite that, I've adjusted my thinking and usually just laugh at the little things that might happen.

For instance, with the loaves shown above, I actually tore the skin of the one on the left because I wasn't paying attention when I preshaped the dough. And though I re-preshaped it after letting it rest a few minutes, I didn't know how it would turn out in the end. And I was okay with that - If can can, no can no can... In the end it turned out fine. It spread out a little in the oven, but not severely to it was all good. But even if it did really collapse, it wasn't going to end the world.

Not that I don't fully let things go... I admit that I did have a concern because I inadvertently allowed bulk fermentation to go WAY longer than I normally do. Whereas I normally bulk ferment to about 25%-30% expansion, I let this dough go to over double because of a meeting. When I was done with the meeting, I saw how far it had gone and immediately went to preshape. I could tell that the dough was close to the edge of full-fermentation, so that tear got me a little worried that my dough wouldn't have enough fuel for the long, cold final ferment.

When I pulled the loaves out of my fridge the next day, I took a whiff, and whew! They were sour-smelling; not in an off-putting way, but I knew that I had to bake them, lest they fall into a heap in my oven from over-fermenting. And alas, they turned out fine... If can can, if no can no can...

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