Freshly Baked Bread Adds to the Poetry of a House
February 15, 2013
“Isn’t it true that a pleasant house makes winter more poetic, and doesn’t winter add to the poetry of a house?”
– Beaudelaire
Freshly baked bread
“A reminder of winter strengthens the happiness of inhabiting.”
– Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space: The Classical Look at How We Experience Intimate Places
“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.”
― James Beard
Among the ordinary things that add poetry to life are a cosy house in winter and the smells of fresh bread baking. My sister and brother-in-law gave me a bread making machine and I’ve been experimenting with recipes in the accompanying booklet. It is such a pleasure to bite into the crust of buttered bread, still warm from the oven. I feel just the tiniest bit of guilt for not making bread by hand, complete with kneading, but I know I’d never make bread at all if I didn’t have the machine to do the work for me. I still get the benefits of from-scratch ingredients — and the homely scent of the loaf baking. I will happily remember this as the “Winter of Freshly Baked Bread.”
February 15, 2013 at 10:05 am
Yes, nothing better than the scent of freshly baked bread in a warm, cosy house! After discovering Mark Bittman’s No Knead Bread, recipe, we have not bought a loaf of bread in almost 3 yrs. It is wonderful and looks like one of those beautiful, round, expensive loaves you see in the markets…well, that’s exactly what it is! We even trade a loaf every week for a dozen of our neighbor’s fresh eggs!
It’s easy, cheep to make, fun and oh so good! Let me know if you’d like the recipe!
February 17, 2013 at 3:13 pm
I’ve seen several no-knead books pass through my hands at the library. I’ll stick with the bread machine for now, but will keep this idea for a future time. Thanks!
February 15, 2013 at 10:39 am
looks delicious, glad you remembered the butter – very important!
February 15, 2013 at 3:02 pm
that bread looks somewhat familiar-is it cranberry wild rice? I made fresh oatmeal buns today and had one with fresh apple butter-yum!!!
February 16, 2013 at 1:34 pm
The recipe is Springtime Favorite Bread from the accompanying Oster bread maker booklet. I substituted craisins for raisins.
February 15, 2013 at 3:58 pm
YUM yes it does!
February 17, 2013 at 8:29 am
No “knead” to be guilty about not making bread “by hand.” I echo Chris’ rave of the Mark Bittman method. Did everyone see the whole wheat options related to this method in last Sunday’s NYT Magazine? Now, all I need is enough time……….
February 17, 2013 at 3:12 pm
Here’s the link to the NYT article about the wheat version — http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/the-wheat-lowdown.html?_r=0. Thanks for mentioning it.