baking bread

 

My E-friend Angel introduced me to Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day via her blog.  All I can say is WHOA!

I baked the heart shaped twisted loaf you see above for another tea I hosted. Oh.wow. It was so delicious.  I know it could have been better, considering this was my first go at it, but it was still so good.  I mixed up the basic batch recipe & it produced the loaf you see above, a baking dish full (a dozen?) of cranberry-white chocolate cinnamon rolls and enough to make a rectangle pizza!

And it really was *that* easy.

The tea went well.  Everything was delicious.  Sometimes I overwhelm myself with the idea that I need to make, bake & have on hand, so much...for tea.  Really though, I'm finding simple is best. The to-nearly-die-for cinnamon rolls and chocolate-chocolate chip loaf were more than enough. I also had assorted valentine chocolates set up, a bowl of cranberries and voila'!

 I've realized, one of my goals this year is to host tea at least once a month...

Everything was absolutely lovely.

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea.  ~Bernard-Paul Heroux