Jumping In

Baking one's own bread always seemed impossibly romantic to me. Also, impossible.

I am so not a baker. I really don't like measuring and timing and the mess that flour makes. And kneading. If I really focus, with the help of my kitchen scale and King Arthur book (bless them and their recipes with mass conversions), I can pull off some very good chocolate chip cookies. But that's about it.

But I got this book for my birthday. It recently popped back on to my radar after reading good things about it way back when. I decided to try it. I mean really try it: I didn't buy any bread this week.

And look at that- bread success. I baked bread! I'm really impressed by the book. The only way the basic recipe could be easier is if it was mixed, stored, and baked in the same vessel to cut down on dishes. I still have some tweaking to do (the crust is fabulous, but the crumb is a little dense in this batch), but I'm looking forward to (gulp) more baking.