Sick Days

I’m still alive! You wouldn’t know it by my (lack of) recent contributions to this blog. “Sick Days” is the most fitting title I could come up with for the past 14 days at our house. T went down with influenza nearly two weeks ago, and his bed was his constant companion for five days. His illness was followed by four others - an earache for P, a severe cold for J & E, and only one day (luckily) of T’s yuck for me. What to do when everyone is feeling terrible and trapped inside? Cook!

I tried out quite a few recipes over the past several days, including many that Audrey has posted on the blog. We made Audrey’s Yellow Cake, Black Bean Soup (T loved this, Aud) and Play Clay (we made blue :) ), our friend Amy’s Peasant Bread, and our friend Megan’s Whole Wheat Bread. They were all very yummy (except for the Play Clay, of course, which we did not eat). I have to say that I was most excited about the wheat bread because, to date (I'll be married 9 years in April), I have never made a loaf of wheat bread. Can you believe it?! Oh, I've made loads of homemade rolls, sweet breads, bread sticks, cornbread, and all sorts of other bread, but this was a turning point for a girl who used to be afraid of yeast! We slathered warm butter and honey on our hot bread, and it was the perfect comfort food.

Try this super easy and delicious recipe:

French Peasant Bread
1 package dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour
oil
corn meal
melted butter

Place yeast, water, sugar and salt in warm bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until blended. Do not knead. Cover and let rise one hour or until doubled in size. Flour hands, remove dough from the bowl and place in 2 rounds on an oiled cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise an addition hour. Brush the top with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush again with butter. Serve warm.