The house is once again filled with the scent of yeasty bread baking in the oven. Oh how I love that smell!

I’m hoping it turns out awesome enough to give a loaf to the new neighbors. I don’t know why it wouldn’t turn out as great as it always does, but I have zero confidence in my bread-making skills, even after all these years and so many people telling me my bread rocks. I blame it entirely on the fact that I have never suffered a complete bread failure. I have never made any bread that wasn’t edible. It has to happen eventually, right? Everyone who bakes bread loves to go on about their failures … the bricks they created or the bread that didn’t rise … and the closest I have come to that was a couple of loaves that were more like dense cake than bread, but were still totally tasty. I’m under the impression that nobody who bakes bread has never failed, and so I always expect every batch of bread to fail.

This batch doesn’t look like it’s failing. Wonderful aroma and it’s puffing up and turning that nice golden brown just as it should. Can’t wait to eat that first bite of it while it’s still warm from the oven!

I really need to post the newest incarnation of my bread recipe. I’ve made a few changes and simplified it even more. The biggest change is in how I bake it. I don’t preheat the oven anymore. It starts in a cold oven after what sometimes feels like a very short second rising, and it never fails to get a good last lift in as the oven slowly warms up, and I am baking at a lower temperature for a long period of time. Not to mention, it also keeps the kitchen from become as hot as the blazing center of the sun. That’s always nice.