Baking Day

I hadn't done any baking since before Easter, but today I got the urge again. I need to take my Kitchenaid mixer in to see if it can be repaired. It's drooping. Poor thing hasn't been serviced in the 10 years I've owned it, and it's gotten a lot of use. Mostly hard-to-stir things like playdoh and oatmeal cookie dough. I didn't think I was up for making either by hand, until today. We got all our errands run on Monday, cleaned up the house yesterday, and today I just wanted to bake!

I bought a 5 lb. bag of whole wheat bread flour back when I finally got out the bread machine in February -- and then promptly broke it. Today, I decided to go for the gusto and make it totally by hand!



And see how yummy it looks?! The loaf in the photo came out of my Pampered Chef stone bread pan beautifully. The other loaf wasn't quite so perfect after being pried out of the pyrex pan, but it was still delicious with the lentil soup I made for dinner. (Thanks goes to Crystal at The Family Homestead for breadbaking directions and recipe.)

I love soup. And homemade bread. And oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. But you knew that.