Amy, I'd like a word with you...

I don't know what's gotten into me, but I've been making bread.

I've long had this fear of yeast, and sice Matt always made our bread, it wasn't an issue.

But now, with the house eating up much of our time, and an active two-year old, Matt just doesn't get around to making bread these days. So, I've started playing around with it.

My most recent adventure in bread making was with a recipe I found at Foodtv; Amy's Crusty Italian Loaf.

I like a good crusty bread, with flavor. I may have grown up with Wonder bread, but these days I want something a bit more substantial.

I liked the look of this recipe, as it called for a sponge starter. Sure, it would take some time, but I figured it'd be worth it.

I made the starter, and went with the put-in-the-fridge option. I ended up giving it an extra five or so hours, because I didn't find time to start the next step until Alex was down for his nap.

And because my days are kind of busy, it was day three before I finally got around to forming the bread and baking it.

It was a lot of effort, this recipe.



But, we're both pretty happy with the results. A good crust on the bread (nice to know they weren't lying), and very nice flavor. As Matt said, it had enough time to develop, without going so far as to become sourdough.

Just the same, I'm tempted to track down this Amy and ask for my three days back!