Hello world!

04Jan08

One of my new year’s resolutions involved creating a blog. This resolution was on a list that included things like “See a dentist” and “Be a kinder, better person,” and I also wanted to do something fun. Not that getting one’s teeth cleaned isn’t fun, per se, but I wanted to be creative in more ways than just making excuses for not flossing.

I have a few favorite blogs, mostly food-oriented ones like Smitten Kitchen and French Laundry at Home. Deb at SK does such a fine job with general food writing that I felt I needed to narrow my focus– does the world really need yet another general food blog? Answer: no.

I like to bake bread. When I tell people about this, about half the time they ask me if I own a bread machine. Technically, I do not, unless you consider a KitchenAid stand-up mixer to be a bread machine (sometimes I kinda do). The real question should be “Do you have a lot of counter space?” or “What kind of oven do you have?” (“No,” and “A smallish gas oven from the 1950s”).

Baking bread seems mysterious to a lot of people. Or they think that it’s more difficult than it really is, requiring a machine to knead, time, and bake all in one. This is not so. Or rather, it doesn’t need to be. A lot of bread is actually pretty simple to make, just requiring time and space. Some bread is less simple– I recently began to explore the world of artisan hearth breads, and these do require some skill and fussiness. In either case, the result is usually worth the effort.

My hope is that, if nothing else, this new project gets me baking more often and writing about the experience.

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