Bread Worth Baking

The temperature in our house reads: 90 degrees, and I’m baking bread.  WHAT!?  Well, I recently purchased a new cookbook, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef and I couldn't resist the temptation to bring good bread back into the house - regardless of the sweltering heat.  Crazy?  Perhaps.  But getting my hands on decent bread that doesn't crumble through my fingers sometimes calls for a case of the crazies.  I’ve been super motivated to try out Shauna James Ahern and Daniel Ahern’s recipes since the moment I brought the book in the door.  Probably, even earlier as the promotions for the book launch started circulating months ago with promises of yummy crusty bread. Shauna's blog, www.glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com, seems to be the mother of all gluten-free food blogs, for me at least. I started following her within days of finding out that I was gluten intolerant.  She’s a great storyteller and through her blog I've discovered she's also a dedicated mother, wife, friend and gluten-free cook.  The book itself is amazing.  Not only are there gluten-free dream dishes beautifully photographed and detailed out, but it’s a romance novel as well.  What I love most and having lived in Seattle for nearly 10 years, is that they met and courted in Seattle.  Now that I’m not “home” their story is a bit of a nostalgic pull on the ole’ heart strings.  I can’t wait to return to the crisp Pacific Northwest and actually eat at Danny’s restaurant on Vashon Island, that is, you betcha, totally gluten-free!  Hallelujah! 

Ding!  The bread is out.  Rob and I had to take a sliver off the end of the loaf immediately, even though the book says to wait 30 minutes.  Yeah right.  A 30-minute pause for (hopefully) excellent artisan bread, the first in our home since March, we couldn’t wait.  Chomp. Eyes wide. Eyes roll back into head. Sigh. A-Mazing! 

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Dinner tonight?  Grilled sunflower seed burgers on our fancy gluten-free crusty bread and grilled broccoli doused in walnut oil.  (No more cooking in the house tonight!)  Heaven.  Thank you Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef!  The “flour” bouquet in my pantry is well worth the baked goods I’m bringing to the table!

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