Things I Know About Bread

          I've been baking bread for a lot of years now. Here's what I've learned.

1. The stickier the dough, the better the finished product.

2. Focaccia can be frozen. Restore it to toasty excellentousity by popping it, frozen, into the toaster.

Focaccia with fresh sage.

3. When you move house, it takes at least six months of regular bread-making before the bread tastes "right" again.

4. Fleischmann's yeast gives bread a slightly sweet, really yeasty flavor. SAF (Red Star) gives a more bread-like flavor. I prefer SAF for most breads.

5. K makes some of the best rustic Italian loaves going.

Look at that crust!

Look at that crumb!

6. Kneading is overrated. Get yourself a heavy-duty mixer with a dough hook.

7. Homemade pizza dough is worth the small extra effort.

8. It should be cooked on a baking stone for maximum wonderfulness. A peel is also pretty much essential for getting it into and out of the oven.

Pizza night!

9. If I could live on fresh-baked bread and salty butter, I would.