Another new favorite...maybe.

I have a bit of a crush on "artisan" bread. Like this photo (not my own, but from here), I long for bread with a crusty, chewy, golden crust; spongy, chewy insides; and, preferably, nutty, seedy crunchiness inside and out.

Of course I could just buy it in the store, but my goodness, I've been a fairly competent bread-baker for 20 years now and I should be able to make something like this.

Two things usually hold me back:
1. Cranking the oven up to 450 degrees for a loong time, and
2. sourdough. That stuff just seems complicated.

This week I checked out yet another beautiful book from the library (not quite as beautiful as this one, but not quite as dogmatic either). And yesterday made some wet (meaning annoyingly sticky. At one point Anna was sitting at the table watching me and said, "Mommy, good friends are happy together." In other words, I wasn't being a good friend) dough, let it rise a number of times, rolled it up all fancy, cranked the oven up, and baked this on our old pizza stone:

It actually turned out pretty well and tasty, with two boule for the freezer.

The crust is just like I wanted - nice and chewy, and the interior is maybe a bit less crumby than usual.

I do think it's funny, though, that this is the "hearty wheat" bread. Where are the seeds, the nuts, the multi-grains? What we usually eat is downright barbaric in comparison.

It came out just in time for supper (which for us is almost always bread, cheese, and fruit) and we thought it was really great - especially since it was so fresh. But I'm not sure that it will really be worth all the extra effort and heat energy.

Farmhouse chedder, now that is definitely worth the effort. I've been making a weekly batch for a while now and it is tasty!