Out of Energy!

I just don't know where it has gone, I feel zapped of all energy. I should be doing so many things and the only thing that really sounds appealing is a cozy couch and the latest knitting project (the cutest duck feet booties for Gabby). It be because of a late night due to the, oh so successful, garden meeting, we had 11 people can you believe it. We talked about all kinds of things and they all want to do it again, it was a whole lot of fun. It's been a long week though, and it's going to be an even longer weekend, our preschool's silent auction and bake sale is Saturday and I'm in charge. Tomorrow's going to be filled the the enticing smells of Rosemary artisan bread, mini banana loaves, and chewy chocolate cherry cookies, oh and potato salad for the dinner after at my house. What do I get myself into! I'm just kidding I love doing it all (at least after I've had my latte). This morning also might have something to do with my power outage feeling, another mother and I were the parent TA and teacher since our regular teach is out learning some new tricks. It puts a whole different spin on preschool when you're in charge of all the activities, but it was lots of fun.  As class ended and I put my bake sale items down on the sign up sheet the other mother said "Oh artisan bread don't slave all day, make something easy," little does she know it's from the recipe "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day"it's the best bread. My mother found the recipe in "Mother Earth News" magazine, tried it out and we haven't bought a single loaf of bread in four months not to mention we eat twice as much bread as we ever did before (that might not be such a good thing).  It's really simple, you just need a large container to fit in the fringe. The magazine tells of impressing your friends and family with easily memorized recipe (I don't know how impressed anyone would be), but I can tell you without having to open the cookbook, 6 cuts of warm water, 3 tablespoons yeast, 3 tablespoons salt, 13 cup of all unbleached all purpose flour. Dump water, salt and  yeast in the kitchen aid mixer and let it sit for a few minutes (till it bubbles), next add all the flour (don't worry it will fit) mix only enough to get the ingredients combined and pour (or scrape) into a large container and I mean large. My mother bought us a 2 gallon crock to keep in the fridge, it work great. You let the dough rise for a few hours and then pop in into the fridge with a lid that is not air tight. When hunger strikes, preheat the oven to 450, pull out a grapefruit sized ball and let it rise while the oven is heating and in 30 minutes you'll have a wonderful loaf of gourmet bread.  After we have shaped the dough we put it on a pizza peel dusted with polenta for an easier transition to the pizza stone. They suggest you use a pizza stone and a pan in the oven to hold water for steam. My mother does and her bread comes out with a heavy, chewy crust, I use a cookie sheet and no water and either way the bread is great. A few tips we have learned after some trial and error, use course sea salt, bread flour works fine but not whole wheat and don't expect the loaves to last long, we bake them two at a time and they can both be gone by the end of lunch. Having the dough ready in the refrigerator is quick and easy, it makes wonderful pizza dough, bread sticks, rolls and THE BEST pecan sticky buns you'll ever have. And the dough only has those four ingredients what could be better. Be careful though it easily grows out of the container. Enjoy! The cook book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day was created by a pastry chef and a chemist to be able to last in the fridge for up to two weeks.