After reading the novel Bread Alone by Judith Ryan Hendricks, I was inspired to dust off my dough hook and get back into bread baking.
I was in college when I baked my first loaf of bread--a friend of a friend had planned a day of bread baking and handed me a recipe as I walked in the door. I was hooked! When my daughter was a toddler, I was baking all of our bread, mixing, kneading and shaping it all by hand. Later I tried a bread machine, but was never really happy with the results. Next came the food processor, which does a decent job of kneading the dough, but is limited by it's rather small capacity. Finally, several years ago, I decided to stop waiting and buy a Kitchen Aid mixer. I know some purists will only knead dough by hand, but that mixer does a better, faster job of kneading that I have ever been able to do. Does anything smell or taste better than freshly baked bread?
Don't miss the sequel The Baker's Apprentice
Look for a display of books on making bread next time you come to the library.
Coming Soon:
Artisan bread in five minutes a day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.
