I always had a desire to live in New York City. Where you could walk to a butcher, local market, or a bakery. I think it would be awesome to have so much readily available just outside your door and a short walk away. Maybe if you lived in Downtown Charleston, Columbia, or Greenville you might have had this experince years ago. But today we are stuck driving to get our food. I now drive 30 minutes to buy most of my groceries from Trader Joe's in Charlotte. I wish that we had a bakery that was convenient and affordable. There are bakeries in Charlotte but they are not convenient and they are not affordable. For a family on a budget it is hard not to go to the mega store and for lest than two dollars get a loaf of dead lifeless loaf bread. For three dollars you can get something a little more akin to really bread. One bakery in Charlotte, has beautiful loaves and the samples are great, but it cost five dollars a loaf. What to do?
I tried to convince my wife that we could make our own bread.... everyday.... from scratch....? Lets just s
ay that she won that argument. Just as I was about to give up hope I came across a blog, At the Baker's Bench, in which the lady was talking about her attempt to eat only her own bread for an entire year. I was intrigued. She had been inspired by the book, "Artisan Bread in Just Five Minutes a Day". I went out and got the book. It is a very interesting idea. You just mix everything up in a big bowl and then between three hours and fourteen days you take a one pound hunk of dough and "cloak" it, let it rise for 40 minutes, and then bake for about 30 minutes. There is no kneading of the bread. The five minute part is the actual hands on time. The rest of the time it just sits on your counter. 
I made my first batch last night. I made enough dough for four boules of bread. The results are alright. They said in the book you have to play with the recipe and times to get it right for your kitchen and taste. It was good and it is cheap.
I challenge any of you wanting real bread to go out and get you a copy of the book and try it yourself. There is nothing better than the smell of fresh bread, except for maybe the taste.
Good Eatings!
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