Baking Bread, A La James Beard

James Beard published a classic cookbook in 1972, so we got it down off the shelf this week and made white bread.  It's an exciting adventure to put simple ingredients together in a glass bread bowl and see them transform into one of the main staples of life.  And with no chemicals or additives!

Mixing, kneading, first rising, greasing the bread pan, then another rising, then a complicated process of baking involving two oven temperatures over a period of 45 minutes.  And voila!  A beautiful, fragrant loaf emerges from the depths of the oven.

The week was punctuated by thick buttered toast in the mornings with homemade blackberry and raspberry jams, and lunch time centered around slabs of bread with turkey and pesto mayonnaise.  Bread baking will be added to our weekly routine, adding to the Slow Life here in Maltby.