One of my favorite hobbies is to bake some homemade bread. There is something about the smell that must trigger ancient, almost primitive feelings of wellness that must be found in most people. Otherwise, Realtors wouldn’t suggest baking some bread right before a prospective client walks in the door of the house they are trying to sell. My two favorite recipes are challah and light wheat bread so far but I have yet to venture into exotic territory to be honest. In my opinion nothing is worse than bad bread, so I play it safe.
So safe in fact that I use a very nice, very cheating bread book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. In case you are wondering, no it takes more than five minutes. The initial dough preparation is like fifteen minutes worth of prep time and every batch made from that dough is like eight. Granted, I could just be slow, but I do also like to make sure that everything is right when I do it. I highly recommend this book as the author is honest, blunt, and keeps the baker jargon to a minimum so pretty much anyone can follow the basic instructions. And she doesn’t make you use sifted flour, which I find to be a pain in the neck. Honestly, who has time to sift flour?!
My Challah Bread which I had for the first time fresh:
And a very nice light wheat bread, excellent for french toast and sandwiches!
Okay, now back to work!
