the very best bread cookbook ever

I must admit that I was very skeptical... VERY skeptical. This bread cookbook goes against everything I learned about making bread in culinary school. I am very happy to say that my skepticism was misguided or misplaced or whatever. I was wrong. I only bought the book since it was getting so much love in the blog world - here, here, here... ok, it seems every blogger and foodie in the world knows about and loves this book. I made the boule above first. It looked and tasted wonderful! I remained skeptical. One boule, one time, it was a fluke! I made another and then another. Oh boy. This is really good bread. It is really, really good bread and incredibly simple to make. What's more it is only flour, yeast, water, and salt - noting weird or toxic, you know? Also, I did the math and came up with an average cost of 65 cents per boule!

Here is a white loaf served with the best store bought strawberry preserves. Here is a recipe for homemade freezer strawberry preserves from Divine Domesticity. I love that name... it makes cooking sound so lovely and well... divine!

Here is homemade pizza. My husband declared this a winner. He is a pizza snob. I was overwhelmed with joy. Not the greatest picture I have ever taken what with the mini Liberty Bell sitting there are the parchment paper and all. Just look at the pizza. It was awesome.

And finally, sticky pecan buns. Enough said, right? All of these were made from the basic master recipe of dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It is one of those cookbooks (or books for that matter) that make my short list titled "I wish I had written this book."