Wednesday, April 30, 2008

My Blog Sucks, but Damn My Bread is Good

My blog sucks because I ignore it, I'm lazy about writing recipes, I'm overly protective of my recipes, and half the time I just don't feel like writing. But then I see my sister's blog and think, "That's short and sweet and I can do that, too."

Ok. So the amazing whole wheat bread I made the other day, I cannot take credit for. It's from my new bible, "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day," by Twin Cities pastry chef and cooking instructor, Zoe Francois, and it's making me look like a friggin' genius at home and work. With the price of wheat skyrocketing, I'm attempting to save us some money at work baking our own bread, and so far it's been delicious and very easy. I've done pastry here and there, but avoided bread like the plague. But now I make focaccia every day, as well as whole wheat rolls and semolina bread. I basically mix up a quintuple batch in the big Hobart mixer, leave it in the walk-in, and shape whatever I need for that day. I did a single batch of the 100% whole wheat bread at home, and got 3 good sized loaves out of it. It's almost like eating cake-lots of milk and honey in it, and with a schmear of Hope Creamery butter it's heaven. It's almost dangerous. It calls to you from the other room, until soon you realize, you've eaten the whole damn loaf in a day and a half and you better get your sorry butt to the gym to work off all the whole stick of butter you downed along with it.

So since I don't want to be accused of plagiarism, you better go buy the book. I recommend going to Common Good Books on Selby Avenue in St. Paul, or their online store. It's one of the only independent book stores left in St. Paul, and is owned by Garrison Keillor. Great employees there, and fantastic books you're not going to find at Borders and Barnes and Noble.