Week three and I already can see what a fantastic new years resolution I have come upon.  There are endless options each week of what I could re-create.  I just love the choosing.  Almost as much as I love mixing, and proofing, and kneading, and turning the oven light on to for peeking, and of course eating and enjoying.  This weekend I came across the street corner dreams are made of.  Altogether in one building, believe it or not, was a knitting store, a fabric shoppe, and a used book store.  My heart sped up and with one glance at my man, he just knew he better take the babies around the block a few times and give me a moment on my own.

The knitting store was cozy with couches and roving of all kinds, the fabric store was just perfection, and oh my…the book store… it was dimly lit with not an inch to spare.  Alleys of books, books on ladders, books on stairs, on chairs, on every surface imaginable.  I was pressed for time of course, but after a quick glance at the childrens section, (I picked up an old copy of Lassie for Miles), I headed to the cookbooks.  There I found my library affair, Beard on Bread!

What luck!  And without even giving it more than a once over I snagged a copy of Breadcraft and headed to the checkout.  I happened to notice that this wonderland even contains a small coffee shop with some tasty looking pastries as well.  Ohh.. one day I will have a few hours to spend there.  I am sure that day will come eventually and most likely all too soon.

Breadcraft ended up to be quite the winner with a plethera of information on the history and tradition behind bread.  With that being said, the instructions were well…sort of difficult to follow.  Really they were very vague.  I picked the arabian flatbread.  I decided to go with this beacuse I have an abundance of hummus and I thought it would be interesting to experiment with a few flat breads that date back thousands of years.

Flat Bread

1 tbs. yeast dissolved in 1.25 cups warm water, mix in 2 cups white, one cup wheat (or any combination of the two) knead until smooth.  Let rise for one hour.  Divide into 6 balls and flatten with a rolling pin into little discs about 1/4 inch thick.  Let rise for 45 minutes.

Bake bread in a hot oven.  Until done.  While this might suffice for the master baker, I felt a little uneasy about it.  After a discussion with, who else, my mama, I concluded that 450 F would be about hot and 15 min. would do.  Well, it worked.  Not quite as crisp as I am sure they were supposed to come out.  But they had a pocket so I deem myself a winner.

I decided to use up the rest of my buttermilk up too and made a quick soda bread.  Very easy.  And very very good.

Irish Soda Brown Bread from Home Made

3 1/3 cups white flour

3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tbs. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

about 4 cups buttermilk

Mix the dry then add in the buttermilk.  Work it just enough to form a ball plop it on a parchment lined sheet tray, slash the middle and insert into a 400 F oven for about 30 minutes or until the old hollow knock occurs.

It was a good day for baking, and an even better one for eating.  Yum.

And for playing the flute.  Of course.