baking around here

I've mentioned here before what a fabulous bread baker my husband has turned into. Who'd have known when we met that I'd never have to buy another loaf again!  Ha!

Every weekend our kitchen turns into a mini-bakery.  Social events and life outside the house are all timed around the bread he is making and how attentive he needs to be!   Huge containers line the kitchen counters, with dough in its various stages.  Jars of grains and seeds line up in the cupboard.  Clouds of flour fill the air.  During the week I often receive a text message in the middle of the day saying "Can you please feed my starter?" if he's rushed out early in the morning!

He has recently been perfecting his baguettes (of which my son can demolish one loaf a day!).  And has now turned his hand to making bagels.  I'm am so done with the commercial soft spongy kind.  His bagels are delicious!  Sesame seed are my favorite.

And a killer for the waistline are the maple glazed bars which he tried out over the recent 'stuck at home due to snow weekend'.  Maple glazed bars are possibly my favourite kind of doughnut and I can see these will become a regular requested item from the house baker!

 

 

If you fancy trying your hand at bread making, two books my husband highly recommends are Chad Robertson's 'Tartine' bread books (San Francisco bakery) and Ken Forkish of Ken's Artisan Bakery (Portland bakery).  Both books provide clear concise steps to creating your own 'artisan' bread at home.  He started out on his bread making journey with Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'Bread Bible' and swears by the focaccia recipe from this book and this is also a fabulous book that guides you along every step.

Happy Baking!