Thanks to the lovely Jennifer at As Cozy as Spring for sharing these words from St. Francis de Sales today:
Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself; I mean, don’t be disturbed about your imperfections, and always have the courage to pick yourself up after a fall. I’m very glad to hear that you make a fresh start each day. There is no better way of growing toward perfection in the spiritual life than to always be starting over again and never thinking that we have done enough.
But most important, don’t lose heart, be patient, wait, do all you can to develop a spirit of compassion. I have no doubt that God is holding you by the hand; if he allows you to stumble, it is only to let you know that if he were not holding your hand, you would fall. This is how he gets you to take tighter hold of His hand.
Beautiful and just what I needed to hear. God is good like that. Sending friends with bits of good news.
I LOVE the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day (I got it last Christmas) and the new Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a Day (which I asked for, and got this Christmas).
I was never a bread baker. But the flexibility of these recipes—in terms of timing and mixing ingredients has confirmed how much better (and cheaper) it is to make the bread fresh.
Check out the authors’ Web site:
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/
They give some more recipes and techniques, and they are wonderful about answering readers’ questions in detail.
I make my own version of the “light whole wheat” bread—adding oat bran and flax seed. It’s our new standard. I’ve also done a Challah for orange/cranberry bread for Christmas and cinnamon buns at Easter.
See the other recipes on their site or see if your library has a copy. There’s a lot to explore, and you can do versions with lighter crust. I never do the “steam” in the oven because my kids don’t like the heavy crust either.
But it’s so much easier to know that I can just let a loaf rest and bake on relatively short notice.
Enjoy—I think you will. You can adjust it to suit your needs.
Elizabeth, Thanks for the link. I’m definitely going to hunt down a copy of the book.
I love the thick crust so I suppose we’ll have to compromise there. Probably try some with and some without.
We’ve had the book for several years and enjoyed a number of the recipes therein. We’ve definitely made a LOT more homemade bread than in the past. My 14 year old son, in particular, has gotten into bread making and experimented with new recipes like the Brioche and the Broa, both of which were really tasty.
Love this bread, make it weekly
Oh and I always get all the kids’ crust, yum!!
thanks so much for the link to this wonderful article. i have my first sourdough starter going and that article is full of so much yummy bread stuff-i can’t wait to get started!
don’t mean to be a pest on this particular post. but i just realized the whole point of the bread article was to avoid using timely starters…i’ve made pizza dough in my bread maker before. set on the dough only cycle. and it has sort of the same effect as this idea they are talking about. i cover it loosely and set in the fridge until i am ready to make it and the dough always comes out so soft and chewy. (i usually make it the same day, but it continues to rise so nicely).
i am sure with all your little ones to tend to you have better things to do than wait on bread all day!
blessings to you, melanie!