Homemade Artisan Bread

I'm so proud of myself. I finally got up the courage to open up my Artisan Bread baking cookbook and try it out. I created my own leaven from scratch, using flour, water, a few raisins and some yogurt. It takes six days to get going and then you can use it. Tomorrow I'll take a picture of it and add it here.

I put off trying it for so long because somehow it seemed unlikely that it would work. Sure, I've heard of other people using "starter" to make their bread, but it had taken on mythical proportions in my mind; not for the likes of me.

I was wrong. It worked like a charm.

I tried the first recipe, Crusty Potato Bread, with some trepidation, convinced that either my own penchant for shortcuts or my oven's wildly off temperature would ruin it. I was wrong again. The bread turned out beautifully and was devoured by my family in about two minutes flat.

The crust was crusty, and the bread had a bakery tang to it - not a strong sourdough, but along those lines; much richer than my normal bread. Today I used a second batch to make grilled cheese sandwiches with carmelized onions and green peppers. Heavenly.

Life just got a little better.