Yeast Infection!

let's talk about my husband.

is anyone concerned about where this is going? yeast infection, husband?

it's our anniversary today.

more concern?

he got me this book:

100 different bread recipes. only downside to this book at all is that it uses compressed fresh yeast in every recipe, so i'll have to learn to convert or find some compressed fresh yeast. not a problem at all.

we ran out of bread yesterday when i used the last of the loaf for our picnic lunch that we had today in the park we went kayaking and walking in. 

so today when we got home i started with my usual amish white bread, but i decided to stray from the standard recipe a little. i used 1/2c sugar and 2 tsp salt. not really a big deal, although this dough was stickier than normal. that could be because i didn't add as much flour, but i don't really know. i don't keep track of the amount o flour any more as much as i do the texture.

so i have a saltier batch of bread. it still makes 2 loaves worth and i still only have one loaf pan. i've always used the other half to make rolls. 

i took some inspiration from my new book and made a braid. 

i know, real evel knievel, right? i'm a dare devil, what can i say?

anyway, this got me thinking. i'm definitely in a bread phase of life right now. we go through bread like crazy between my birds' nests and E's lunches. and my amazing husband just got me an incredible book with a lot of ideas that i think would probably get us into any holiday party this fall once word gets out that we're bringing homemade, fresh out of the oven bread. i'm all for worming our way into popularity.

in addition to just loving bread, i'm also trying to gain weight right now (unheard of in an obese nation, i'm well aware. but winter is coming! i need a layer of fat to keep me warm!! :) but seriously, you need some energy reserve when you're chasing a kiddo) and we're sticking to a pretty tight budget as we prepare for seasons to come. buying some basic baking essentials (flour, sugar, yeast, butter) in bulk will provide us with artisan breads that will cost less than a loaf of horrible, chemical ridden supermarket bread. that's worth it.

i'm going to make all of the breads by valentine's day. since i got the book on our anniversary, valentine's day seems like a good place to end.

i won't share EVERY single bread with you, but i will share. and that will be the majority of what i'll be talking about for the next few months: bread.