Autumn used to be one of my favorite seasons. I love the feeling of the crisp cool air when you step outside in the morning and the kaleidoscope of coloring on the trees. Since my move to the “wet” side of Washington state I have found that I do not like the season at as much as I used to as it brings the cold, wet weather that just settles and then stays for months and months. But there are still many redeemable qualities of the season. One of my favorite things about fall is that it also brings back the desire for foods such as hot beverages, soup, and bread. I love hot food. There is something more comforting and wonderful about food that is warm that just isn’t found in things like summer salads and grilled hamburgers. Making warm autumn fare makes the house smell homey and warms up the kitchen. So, in celebration of autumn’s appearance here in the Pacific Northwest I spent some time last week baking bread. The first bread that I tried was quite simple. It was a very basic French bread from my trusty Joy of Cooking book. It turned out a little bit chewy, but I was actually kind of impressed that this was the result of flour, yeast, water, and salt:
My next attempt was much more fancy and probably a bit over my head, but I gave it a shot anyways giving the excuse that we hosted community group last week and we had to serve something. Living up my Martha Stewart baking book for one last time before it was due back at the library I put together a home made cinnamon raisin bread. I had actually intended to leave the recipe in this blog post, but I didn’t get to posting soon enough and had to turn the book back to the library. Here is a picture of the dough just before I rolled it up
And the finished product. It was a big hit at community group and with David’s coworkers so no one must have noticed that I forgot the butter until after I had kneaded the dough :)
