For the Love of Bread

Wednesday is pasta day at my house. Sometimes we have something as simple as pasta with made from scratch marinara sauce (I learned to make my own and never went back to store bought).. or something as tasty as penne with tomatoes and feta.. linguine with scallops... it all depends on my mood. Lately I've been thinking that I should start my bread machine before school on Wednesdays so that we can have fresh bread with our pasta. I love fresh bread.

Yesterday after I got my chores done, I snuggled up in the front room with a book I got at Borders a month ago called The Bread  Bible. I wanted to see if I could find a recipe for rolls or something I could make quick to have with dinner. I started at the beginning of the book, reading about ingredients and tools and methods etc, and then started flipping through the recipes. That was where The Boy found me when he got home. Every page that I turned I thought, Oh, I can't wait to make this. Each recipe sounded better than the one before. Some are recipes I make already in my bread machine, and I'm curious to try them from scratch and see how they compare. 

That's when I had an idea. What if I make each and every recipe in my bread book? Try my hand at all of them, even the pancakes and quick-breads and holiday stuff etc. All 300 of them. It would be quite and undertaking.. but I think I'm up for the challenge. I like to think that when it's all over.. I will mastered the art of making bread by hand. The woman who wrote this cook book also wrote my Bread Machine cookbook, and I already know I like her style of writing recipes and her bread is damned good. I admit, I was probably inspired by Julie and Julia (which is my favorite movie right now.. I love it and have seen it 4 times)... and this lady, who's knitting her way through the Itty Bitty books. 

I won't give myself a time line, because I think I'd get sick of bread, and likely fat from all those carbs.. but I think I'll do it. I think I'm even going to start a new blog and keep track of my efforts. I'll link it here when I have it set up. I think it will be fun!