In case you can't tell, it's been a pretty weird week this week. A short time ago we were complaining that we had no snow, (ok, I never once complained), but some people did, and just lately we were gifted with a beautiful ice storm. Not much snow, but the most amazing ice sculptures formed overnight while we were sleeping.I thought I was the only one who was amazed at the beauty and then Lorrie (my friend, yep I do have a few of those) commented at just how beautiful things looked. I didn't get home till late in the day to take these photo's but I hope that you'll be just as thrilled when you see them as I was when I took them.
I know I have probably told you that I'm still in paperwork hell, and I don't know how else to describe it. I rebelled a bit this week and just worked on getting a accurate inventory. My friend keeps telling me that someday I'll be glad I did this, and I still doubt it
Not too long ago when I went to visit a friend as I walked into her kitchen I smelled the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread. I should have know that something that smelled that good, would have honey in it, and sure enough it did. Susan had always told me about how her husband could make the best bread, and after a little coaxing he willingly shared not only a fresh baked loaf of this bread but he also wrote the recipe out, put it in a plastic protector (who told him that I was a sloppy cook?), but when he wrote the directions out he painstakingly wrote them out so that anyone would be able to make this bread. Well I was so inspired that I marched right out the door with the loaf tucked carefully between my coat and me and headed out into the ice wind and snow in search of the perfect bread bowl.
Part of Robs explicit directions were that the dough be made in a ceramic bowl and it must be mixed my hand. (My poor little Kitchen Aid getting neglected once again.) After I found a really great big bowl I headed to the grocery store for all the ingredients. I normally would have picked up the quick rise yeast, but when I asked Rob about which kind of yeast I should get he said, “I don’t use the rapid rise yeast, I prefer the regular rise yeast.” After smelling and tasting his bread I figured that it made him the real authority and when I got home I carefully assembled all my ingredients, cleaned off the counters and started to work.Well I did it! While my loaves did not reach the height that Rob’s did, they were very light and beautiful. And here is a photo to prove I actually did it. But of course since Jim and I are watching our weight and we had already pretty much consumed the whole loaf of the bread that Rob sent home with me, I carefully packed my two loaves up and shipped those puppies off to our son Josh. He’s young, single and broke, I figured he could use a little dough. . .Get it?
So my cookbook has an official beginning. The first tried and true recipe will be
Tah Dah!!!!!
Rob’s Honey & Oat Bread
Real original name huh? By the way, he isn’t claiming it’s a recipe he came up with all by himself, he said that someone had shared it with him and originally it was from a Kitchen Aid cookbook, but wow, I never got anything to come out of a cookbook that looked tasted or smelled that good. Jim would quickly add that in order to do that I would actually have to spend time in the kitchen. Men . . . . . . what can I say?
