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There are some recipes for Halloween that go perfectly the first time and some that well… don’t. This recipe didn’t got perfect the first time and here’s why.

I had to do this Halloween Bread Bowl With Spinach and Artichoke Dip Recipe twice. And the first time was pretty disastrous.

Fixing Recipes For Halloween –Using Activated Charcoal, Squid Ink or Black Food Coloring In Your Recipes For Halloween Or Anytime

This was one of my most extensive recipes for halloween. So as I said, I had to do this recipe twice. And my first issue with the first attempt was that I used black food coloring to get the black color to the dough. I actually was only able to get a light grey color almost blue and that’s it. Black and red can be extremely difficult colors to get to be deep and vibrant with food coloring. So I had to chose between activated charcoal and squid ink.

Activated Charcoal

This is what I used to achieve the color that I did. It’s a fine powder that you only have to use a few Tbsp’s of to achieve the black color.

This ingredient is tasteless, the only downside to this option is that it can mess with some medications. These medications include heart failure medication, tylonal, asthma medication and antidepressants. To avoid any issue it’s important to eat anything with activated charcoal at least one hour after taking medication.

Squid Ink

The other option that can be used is squid ink. Squid ink is a paste that is secreted by squids that you can add to your ingredients that will turn your food black.

The down sides of this one are a little more. For one, it stains so for people like me that’s a no go because I will get it everywhere.

The other possible con is that it taste very salty/briny so if what you are making works with that than this would be a good choice but definitely not for bread.

Fixing Recipes For Halloween-Dough Ball Collapsing

The first time around when I made this recipe the bowl sunk down and wasn’t as tall as I wanted. This was from a few factors. One is that you have to make sure that you roll the ball up tight. This will give it the structure to hold up through rising and then baking. This is how to get your dough into a tight ball. A bench scraper can also help.

The next tip that I would recommend is making sure that you use bread flour. Bread flour has more gluten in it, allowing it to have more structure.

Fixing Recipes For Halloween-Design

The first time around, I had some issues with the design. I attached what I intended to be floor pegs at the bottom as well as handles on either side. This is how it turned out:

As you can see, the handles were way too big and the floor pegs made it look like some kind of creepy alien feet.

For the record this is what I was going for:

So I took away the pegs, made the handles smaller and viola!

If there are any question, please let me know but and that’s pretty much it! Be sure to check out the full completed recipe here. I really enjoy talking about my failures with you guys. Failure, though frustrating is often our best teacher so I am glad to show you how I failed and how I fixed it so that you guy’s don’t make the same mistakes. And if you do, laugh at yourself. When I saw how my first attempt came out, I just had to laugh. I texted my mom and sister a picture and said it looked like a decapitated creature from a video game haha. Just remember that we all make mistakes and they are how we learn and get better.

Leave me a comment for any questions that you might have or any suggestions for anything you want to see next. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, pinterest, twitter and snapchat to see what I’m up to next.  Remember, don’t be afraid to “bake” a mess. And I’ll see you next time.