New Year, Fresh Bread

I didn't forget about my blog, I just kept not getting around to it. Here I am, over a year since my last post. Poor Obama, doing his best and getting blamed for everything.

Now, to the point. I've been inspired to come back to my blog by my friend Courtney, who just started up her own new foodie blog, Eyeate (LOVE it!). I'll definitely be talking about food (like today) but not exclusively. I'll share what inspires me, what we're doing and probably (and unfortunately for you) lots of pathetic pictures of my tortured dog. I'm also in the market for a new title. "Peanut Butter and Jam Out" seemed cute and clever to me in 2006 when I originally wrote my first entry. It's since been deleted due to sheer ridiculousness.

For today, I'd like to share my start into making homemade bread. Geof got me this book for Christmas:
It basically teaches you to make a starter but the catch is that the starter lasts for 2 weeks (!) and doesn't need anything added after the initial batch is made. It makes a LOT. Enough for about 6 loaves so I might need to share some with friends until I figure out the right ratios for just the two of us without going into full carbo-load. I also only had unbleached, all-purpose flour on-hand, which is OK, but I'm excited to experiment with different types of flour. Tonight, all I have to do is get a chunk out of the fridge, let it rest for an hour and stick it in the oven. The best part is, that's all I have to do ANYTIME I want to make a loaf! I'm psyched to get started on it and hope I can stick with it, since we usually spend about $5 on a Village Baker or DiLusso loaf every week and would buy it more often if we could.

Stay tuned to see how the first loaf turns out!