Atkins Shmatkins

This year has been unofficially declared "The Year of the Bread" in my kitchen. I am not sure what muse has come upon me, but I have been drawn to bread recipes with an undeniable force. Bread, as I have found, is that happy medium of being somewhat healthy, baking fun, and not sugar-rich. It all started when I was reorganizing my recipe binders (cue the cloudy dream fade)...

Generally, if I print, clip or jot down a recipe, I am going to use it in the next week. However, there are a few recipes that have made their way i

nto my binder that have not been tested for real world success at my hands. One of these recipes happened to be one on bread. Since I had an extra amount of time on my hands earlier this year (thanks economy!), I decided I needed a way to use up some daytime hours, bake something, and do it on the cheap. Little did I know how cheap I would get, and how excellently it would turn out. Behold, no knead bread!

I know, I know, I am about the five millionth person to get on the no knead train, but I am proud to be a follower. Why? Because I have freshly made, some time-scheduling required bread for pennies. The key to this bread is to plan out when things need to happen. I suggest starting the dough on a Friday evening when you will be home in the morning/early afternoon Saturday. The recipe is easy to follow, but I will note that my dough does not rise upward so much as spread like The Blob, so do not fear if yours does the same. The rises and beautifying happens when it bakes. Which brings up another note. I do not (yet) have a dutch oven, or a 10 quart anything, so I have taken to using my Corningware 5 quart casserole dish. It works perfectly. The bread may be a little more dense than it should be by the letter of the recipe, but it is not anything someone will complain about. It is crusty and artisan bready and perfect for soup sopping.

Later on this year, I got a craving for raisin bread. Maybe a Food Network personality made a loaf and I wanted one too. I honestly cannot recall why this came about, but it did and strongly. How strong? I made two batches in 3 days. Yeah. That strong. And I should note the recipe I used makes 3 loaves each. Yes, the amount is bananas....errr...raisins. And before you think I ate them all, I shared with people - Aaron, my small group, my pastors' families, and a couple others enjoyed the benefits of my obsesssion. This bread turns out so very good. Toasted with a little butter on it, makes my mouth happy. It is the perfect morning munch, or afternoon munch...or after dinner dessert munch. The only things I did differently from recipe is I used a half and half mix of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, which made it a little heartier, I guess. After the dough had risen, I divided the dough in thirds rather than try roll one huge piece of dough on my limited workspace.

A weekend or two ago I was trying to come up with something to do with the leftover rosemary I had from the chicken I made the previous weekend. Then I remembered I had a recipe from Central Market (I miss you!) for rosemary focaccia that I had not made in a bit. So, I made a batch. Well, half a batch, being that a full recipe makes two and by the time I got to eating loaf two (is it a loaf if it is flat?) it could be going bad. So very good. I want to go buy deli meats and cheeses I should not eat and make beautiful sandwiches with arugula and fancy spreads and carmelized red onion.

I now realize I am quickly becoming my own Loaves of Love lady. (For those not familiar with my Austin church/former workplace, Loaves of Love is a ministry where a group of ladies from the church bakes bread and a team delivers the bread to first time visitors as a way to connect with them more personally and say hello in a nice, friendly neighborly way. I suppose it is not a bad title to have.)

What's up next on the bread making radar? I have a few recipes begging to be made, but I am waiting for a good event or gathering to make it. Mainly so I do not eat it all myself.