I got the most amazing book for Christmas. It is called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I had learned about it from Judy and decided just a few weeks ago that I might like it so I got the Mother Earth News with an article about it and then told my husband that it would make a great present (along with a baking stone and peel). Well my wonderful husband went shopping and ordered the book and peel from Amazon and found the stone at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

This afternoon I followed the instructions without reading every word of the book (which would be my normal way of doing things) and just a little while later I took the most beautiful loaf out of the oven. After letting it cool we were amazed at the taste of the most wonderful loaf of artisan bread I have ever made! I highly recommend this book.



On the downside we tried to make cheese to go with it and that was a failure with a capital 'F'. A gallon of milk made about one cup of soft stuff we spread on the delicious bread and it also made a big mess. We will not give up though and tomorrow I will go to the library and get a book about cheesemaking and we will start anew.