"Bless my eyes! Fresh hot ... "

Not leftover, but definitely lazy.  As of mid-February I now bake all of the bread for our household.

I am a big fan of food that I can make ahead of time and have last a while; I'm happiest when I can have one big, traditional, flour-coated apron-wearing "baking day" and then have homemade food to serve and eat for several days.

When I was doing my last quarter of school with my double-schedule-and-a-job-and-a-commute nightmare, weekends were a respite, sort of.  I spent them engaged in computer games (I still own, play and love my legacy neighborhood in The Sims 2, where a number of refugees from great works of literature, like Aldonza and Sancho, Count Fosco and Marian Halcombe, Bess and her eponymous Highwayman, have bred and interbred and I now have their grandchildren populating my pixellated dollhouses.  Awesome and absorbing time sink).  But weekends weren't actually relaxing as such.  They were just -- two days when I didn't actually have to drive forty-five minutes to do six to nine unbroken hours of punishing mental work and then drive home in rush-hour traffic to scribble and pound out my homework until I fell into bed.

On a related note, I tend to get a bit steamy when people are vocal about thinking that college students are, as a breed, lazy.

Now, weekends are different.  In my own home, with my workspace set up and control over the grocery list, weekends are glorious timeless stretches of beading and baking interspersed with five-dollar DVDs from Ingles, snuggling with Megan, drinking moderate amounts of sweet froofy martinis, and lovely-anxiously tending my garden.

Anyhow.  This all started with the bread.

As an example, I spent last Saturday preparing the following:
1. Fresh artisan bread
2. Miniature mushroom quiches
3. Caramel nut sticky buns
4. Artichoke cheese dip
5. Corn and bean salad
6. Apple cider pasta salad

Each a family recipe -- except the bread.  And oh god the bread.  M and I have never agreed upon a type of bread, but I am pleased to report those days well over.

The recipe, from Mother Earth News and written in this delightful vintage-advert tone, is here.  Read it.  Use it.  Love it.  The pizza peel and baking stone are not necessary; parchment paper on a cookie sheet works just fine.  The bread is moist and tangy with a delicious sourdough-like texture and flavor.  One orange-sized ball yields a loaf large enough for both of us to get crusty, satisfying sandwiches and dip the heels in jam or artichoke dip or plain cream cheese for a flavorful snack.  I've learned I need to do a spare loaf that we can eat warm.  Without butter.  That's how good this bread is.

We've figured out that all the bread costs us about $5 a month to make, and takes about half an hour's work once a week.

So.  For no particular reason.  Have a special offer.  When you mention that one blog post about the bread between now and Monday, March 28, 2011, get 10% off any purchase of $20.00 or more.


Available here.

M has just awarded me a Housewife Merit Badge.  She assures me that they are in fact equilateral triangles like Girl Scout patches.  Success!