Our Daily Bread

Am I a nut? I love to bake bread. No bread machine for me. I want to feel the dough...my fingers going deep into it. Kneading the dough is a great stress-reliever. My absolute favorite recipe book is Peter Reinhart's "Brother Juniper's Bread Book - Slow Rise as Method and Metaphor." I've used it for YEARS....First I got hooked on the bread (you can buy it in cities OTHER THAN REDDING). Then I got hooked on making my own. Honestly, I'd baked bread since I was a child - my mother taught me when I was very young, but it was the basic white loaf. But now I know that bread is an art form, the dough my medium. With bread, I can be an artist just as much as I was when I was an actor or a dancer on a stage.


When summer is here, I don't bake. Too hot. The dough rises too fast in our Redding heat. It's just not fun. But when the weather cools, watch out.....I have a loaf of whole wheat, and a loaf of flax/whole wheat rising right now...next week it may be Cajun Three-Pepper, or Oreganato, or Struan...

Honestly...if you're a baker: Read the book. If you're not a baker: Read it anyway. I'd loan you my copy, but I've gone through too many that way.