Making Bread

This morning I got a wild hair, and decided to make bread! Now, I'm not a baker. I love baked goods, and I love cooking, but baking has never really done anything for me. First of all, I'm bad at following a recipe because I try to take too many creative licenses, which is no good when you need precise measurements to get the perfect cookie, or rise in a cake. I appreciate it when people do it, but I've always just preferred to pick up treats from a local bakery and save my time and energy to make a wild mushroom risotto or corn chowder on a cold day. I'm having a few girlfriends over for dinner tonight (our husbands just left this morning to go to the PAC12 basketball tournament/game thing in Vegas) - and am super excited to show off my bread!! I think its a
little dense, but it looks pretty and smells incredible. Roasted garlic and herb...how can you go wrong with that?! I was tempted to throw some of the olive oil I used to roast the garlic in with the dough as I was 
mixing it up, but didn't want to throw off the delicate balance that is baking. In cooking, that would have been allowed...just saying. ;) I did save the garlicy roasting oil threw it in the tomato sauce...I was determined to us it! 

  

The bread turned out amazing! Defiantly a hit. It was great with a little (or a lot) of butter and a sprinkle of salt, or a little creamy herbed cheese. Was more of a focaccia type of bread, but that's not a bad thing. I would make it again when I have a second, or more like 4 hours, because it was a labor of love to say the least. Between the roasting of the garlic, mixing, multiple risings, 2 step baking process, its not just something you make on a weeknight whim. 

 

On a completely unrelated note, I have washed my hand SO MUCH in the last couple weeks. My skin is cracking and dry. My phone hardly recognizes my finger print anymore because my hands feel so raw. I know you can't find hand sanitizer or toilet paper in the store anymore, but with the rate I'm going thru lotion, I feel the need to stock up on that just in case everyone else is, too!! My long time love is the Kheil's Crème de Corps

https://www.kiehls.com/body/body-lotions/creme-de-corps/259.html?cgid=body-lotions&dwvar_259_size=8.4%20fl.%20oz.%20Bottle#start=1&cgid=body-lotions

, but since we've been carrying the Nash and Jones, I've gone thru 2 tubes of their lotion, its totally won me over! The smell is so clean and refreshing, and I love how it doesn't feel greasy. You can feel instant relief that lasts (I feel like that totally sounds like a cold and flu medicine commercial, but its true!). For every time I wash my hands, I have to put on lotion, and this stuff is making all the difference! Excuse the shameless plug - but I wouldn't say this if I didn't believe in it. ;)

 

Signed, ME {lv}