Rachel's Bread Co.

My original title for this post was going to be "Yeast Infection". I also tossed around the idea of "I've Got A Yeast Infection." But I could already hear the voice of my mom saying, "Oh Rachel, I don't like that." So I chickened and went with the safe title.

Anyways. Like I mentioned before, the Resident Taste Tester got me a pizza stone for my birthday. She also got me this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

I'm not going to lie to you, yeast scares me. I mean, anything that is going to double in size and then needs to be punched down is a little intimidating to me.
My only previous experience with yeast was some bread dough that I had left in the oven to rise. I'll never know if it worked or not because a roommate came home and turned the oven on to make some cookies. FYI - a plastic bowl with bread dough in it will melt in a pre-heating oven. Just a helpful little tip for my friends.

Anyways. This little guy is my first ever loaf of bread! Isn't he cute? Yes, I see that he's a little lopsided and uneven. But so are babies when they're born. The point is, I made bread and I'm darn proud of it!


And then I cut it.

And here I am like a proud mama, cutting her... bread? I don't know. I just remember saying, "I made bread! And it even looks like bread, and it smells like bread, and I'm going to eat it!"


And then I ate it! I put some of the blackberry jam that I made on it. It was delightful! My whole apartment smelled like freshly baked bread!

The best part: it was so incredibly easy! The book is based on the concept of mixing a large batch of dough once, and then using portions of it when you want it. There's a lot of rising time involved, but the actual hands-on part of it is very minimal. I've since been practicing my shaping and stretching of the dough to get it more even, but the overall idea is very simple.

The bottom line is that there will definitely be more bread coming in the near future!

On a completely different topic, I've officially left the glamorous life of a staff accountant for a public accounting firm. This past Monday, the 15th, I started my new life in private accounting as a Senior Tax Analyst. Doesn't the title sound sexy? I feel more important already!

To say that I'm excited about this is an understatement, but I'm looking forward to it as being an overall healthy move for me. As an added bonus, the accounting staff is roughly 6 times bigger than my previous office, so I'll have a way bigger audience to bake for!