've been busy

I've been baking bread.

Let's start by saying that I used to have some reknown as a bread baker. I loved kneading, I loved rising and I loved baking and eating. I made bread at the drop of a hat. But that was the problem. You couldn't REALLY bake bread at the drop of a hat. You had to be prepared to spend a lot of time waiting and kneading and waiting some more. If you weren't willing or able to do that you had day old bread which was, generally, better than day old bread from the store, but still ...it was day old bread.

Today I made this! I invested about 5 minutes yesterday, waited a couple of hours during which I did nothing, left the house, wandered about with Sienna and knitted. Then I spent 10 seconds stuffing it into the refrigerator where it stayed overnight. It would have gone in faster, but I had to move the corn from the farmers' market.

Today, I spent 3 minutes making it into a loaf, 40 minutes letting it sit and letting the oven preheat and 30 minutes smelling the amazing smell of baking bread. The result is wonderful. The crust is crunchy without being so hard as to be tough. The middle is wonderful and the texture, as you can see (I cut it for you!), is great.

I have had this book for a while and I just kept putting it off. No more!! In the same Do It NOW project that gave me the boo boo on my finger, I did it and I will do it again. This may mean I have to walk further and more often, and I am experimenting with smaller loaves but it it worth it.

Isn't it gorgeious? I wish you could taste it.