A boule to call my own

i can only imagine that the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven evokes warm, comforting, cozy thoughts for most people. the promise of a crusty, soft loaf is enough to make anyone go weak in the knees, no? or maybe more so for bread people like me. i love 'em all - flat, leavened lebanese rounds, puffy golden brioche, baguettes, ciabattas, chinese-style mantous, japanese an-pans, wholewheat chappatis...you name it, i eat it!

it is an unfortunate thing that breads are getting taken over by substandard supermarket toasts that are designed for maximum shelf life and which really don't do much good for your insides i reckon. enriched with omega 3 and iron (read: reduced iron powder)? um, no thanks, shouldn't bread be made up of just water, yeast, salt and sugar? what's more in singapore, loaves like those i used to buy at harris farm in sydney are either not so readily available or are eye-poppingly expensive.

so, the most obvious next step would be to bake my own bread. eeaassy, right?

my first baguette was solid enough for a baseball bat that will make any burglar think thrice about stepping into our place. the second loaf i made was only slightly softer, but the only happy camper ended up being my dog. so when i finally decided to give jamie oliver's white bread recipe a last chance, boy was i glad i did.



mmm mmm MMMm. this actually turned out pretty darn nice. i cut myself a nice thick slab, slid it into the toaster and 2 minutes later, i was thoughtfully chewing through a lightly crusted, yeasty slice. i know this might sound awful for most people, but i think there's something rather earthy about the taste of yeast in bread. absolutely divine.

now i just got to figure a way not to polish off the loaf too quickly...*chuckle*