I am basking in the glow of achievement - I have just baked my first ever LOAF OF BREAD! Real, fresh, insanely crusty and delicious golden bread! I can’t get over the fact that I didn’t mess it up…I can’t get over the ease of the process, either. The entire recipe involved only five ingredients, and I will admit I was a bit nervous about messing it up. But it is a very forgiving recipe and I think that if you make it with love and care, it turns out beautifully. Here are a few of my overall takeaways:

• Cast away the nerves…I think this bread recipe is very forgiving. It is sloppy, wet, sticky and gunky. It is supposed to be! When it doubt, pat with more flour, but a little bit at a time.

• Read the notes - in DETAIL! twice! The recipe is so accommodating of all types of equipments. I used a Staub dutch oven, which they recommend, as well as my stand mixer. But I did not have a proofing basket, and I ended up using rapid rise yeast instead of the traditional active yeast. It was nice to know I could get away with the alternatives!

• The bread’s exterior is very, very crusty! It requires quite the serrated knife to cut. But man, I think this bread is BEST when it is served nice and toasted, with either some EVOO + seasonings or some slow-roasted tomatoes.

What’s fascinating is I am not the only one baking bread- there is a noticeable shortage of flour and yeast in the grocery store. I suppose more time at home means more ambition in the kitchen, trying out some recipes that appear daunting. One of the positives of this pandemic, for sure, will be the revival of cooking at home and learning (or perfecting) new recipes. I have baked quite a bit, like the buttermilk biscuits from earlier in the self-quarantine. The bread feels wholesome, like a necessity. I also feel a bit more “self reliant” even if I will most likely not bake this weekly, maybe only for special occasions.

Another thing that I feel thankful about is having the time. The time to prep this bread, read over the directions multiple times, the time to let the yeast proof and rise and do whatever it needs to do. I don’t miss that at all about our old lives - the constant rush for being in fifty different places, serving on this and that committee, and essentially just “getting through the week.” The idea of “getting through” has changed so much. The old work week was torturous, in some regards, in the way it pulled at our every thread of attention. I hope that is one thing that changes. To many more loaves of bread!

ciao, xo