I made bread from scratch.

[WinterSown]

I've made bread before but this time I used a clay baker and lined it with parchment--new techniques for me but they are old world ways.  I don't remember where I heard this but if your bread comes out perfect call it Artisan, and if it comes out ugly call it Rustic. It's a very forgiving point of view. Some days I am rustic and some days I am zee artiste.

[Potsie1990]

Oh how exciting! I’ve got to work on my bread making skills. I’ve been watching the Great British Baking show so I’ve been inspired to try my hand at a few recipes. Looks so good! 

[Delta]

Wow.  That looks awesome.  I can just about smell it and hear the crunch when I bite into it!  My artistic skills with regard to bread involve being able to bend the twisty ties on a bread bag into different shapes.  

[WinterSown]

Thank you @Potsie1990 and @Delta. I bought a bag of bread flour today--I thought I would expand my repertoire. It's really not that hard to do and homemade bread tastes as good as it looks. I will make another bread and go for rustic, perhaps with less ingredients and less kneading. So shamelessly lazy but it comes out looking great either way. I'd like to say I refuse to cook anything that takes longer than ten minutes prep but the truth is I cannot stand longer than ten minutes to cook anything, it's really not a choice, lol. Sigh. I am still learning how to cook simple recipes from scratch; some of the meals have been as good and as they are easy. Hubs is still happy. I didn't take a picture but lunch today was a five-minute prep meatloaf that we'll get a few more meals from.  YUMMY

[WinterSown]

1 hour ago, Potsie1990 said:

Oh how exciting! I’ve got to work on my bread making skills. I’ve been watching the Great British Baking show so I’ve been inspired to try my hand at a few recipes. Looks so good! 

I keep hearing about this show. I must look at videos.

[Pistol]

@WinterSown -that is ONE great-looking loaf! I always bake my own bread when able ( when I can stomach the kneading activity ) and I love  - absolutely LOVE- baking bread. Now - I read tht you also bake good cakes - I am an absolute disaster when it comes to cakes or cookies etc. Bread seems more forgiving - let it sit and it does the trick! 

[WinterSown]

5 minutes ago, Pistol said:

@WinterSown -that is ONE great-looking loaf! I always bake my own bread when able ( when I can stomach the kneading activity ) and I love  - absolutely LOVE- baking bread. Now - I read tht you also bake good cakes - I am an absolute disaster when it comes to cakes or cookies etc. Bread seems more forgiving - let it sit and it does the trick! 

I do the kneading with a stand mixer. I am looking into some of the bread recipes that you don't have to knead long or at all. I make cake in the food processor, put it all in and whirrrr, then into a loaf pan or snack cake pan because in the food processor the texture is more dense, like a pound cake. Bake it and slice it and put something creamy on top. And coffee. Must have mugs of coffee on the side. 

I am a sucker for used cookbooks. I order them like-new or very-good off of Amazon or I get them in thrift stores. I have two books coming for a song, one is chocolate and the other vanilla, I like them both but Hubs is a vanilla freak.