19 February, 2010

*812 - my newest love affair

... is YEAST. Specifically, making yeast breads from scratch. Ahhhh :)

It all began when I bought that giant bottle of active dry yeast three weeks ago ... and since then, I've been kneading, baking, eating, inhaling, dreaming bread. Four loaves and a huge stack of naan devoured in three weeks? No wonder my jeans are getting tight.

Rosemary and romano foccacia with caramelized onion


Indian naan (with homemade chicken coconut curry)


Cinnamon raisin swirl


Rosemary and cracked pepper loaf with a parmesan swirl


Babka with the prettiest twists of chocolate


There's something brilliantly therapeutic about getting your fingers into mounds of dough, catching deliciously earthy whiffs of yeast, watching the dough rise and smoothen, waiting a painful half an hour for it to bake ... and then slicing through the loaf, getting a puff of steam in your face, and delighting in how pretty your swirlies turned out :) Mmmmm.