Le Baguette

we've had a busy few days over here! my baking has caught the attention of some very demanding visitors-- ants. so i've been cleaning and scrubbing like a mad woman! our washing machine was finally repaired after nearly 2 months, so i've been catching up on that also, and E has been at work longer than usual, so our nights have been centered more or less around spending as much time together as we can before we hit the sheets.

i'm about a day behind on bread, but i plan to get back on track (and hopefully even ahead!) tomorrow and saturday between trick or treating and pumpkin carving!

i'm almost done with the basic breads section in the book. there are a handful of recipes that have some ingredients we don't keep on hand that will have to wait! skipping those has propelled me intooooooo

french breads!!!!!! almost every bread in this section requires a day long head start, and the few that don't need the extra time require extra work instead. and then we have croissants that require both work AND time. i'm a bit nervous, but definitely excited. this section will give me a chance to use some of my fresh herbs that are growing proudly out in my garden :)

my first attempt will be the easiest from my estimation-- a baguette. it starts off similar to a sourdough bread, but the wait isn't nearly as long (my sourdough attempt is going on nearly a month in the making so far!!!!). you start the dough the night before

let it sit overnight, when it starts to rise and look like this:

mix in the rest of the ingredients, let it rise, bang the air out (literally, all you do its hit the bowl on the counter, relatively gently, and the whole thing deflates), roll into a log, cut some slits in the top, and bake it!

easy, huh!?! and a great treat to serve up with some marvelous meatloaf and mashed sweet potatoes! yummmmmmmmmmm!

another great treat? adorable hippo babies.