a non-overachiever bakes bread.

For the longest time I was convinced baking bread was solely reserved for over-achievers.

And, trust me, I am not an over-achiever.

I never once made straight A's in school.

Even if I clean all day, which I don't, my house is always a mess.
Henry's new thing is to sleep in his clothes and then wear them again the next day.  And, I like it.

As a teacher, I got to work at 7:30am and left promptly at 3:30pm. 

I was not one of those teachers with cute thematic bulletin boards.

I never do the dishes until the sink is completely full.

Seriously.  I'm not an over-achiever.

But, I do live in a family of carbotarians and I did not like the way hidden dairy ingredients in store-bought bread never allowed Henry's ezcema to fully heal.  Taylor's college career consisted of jobs in yummy bakeries around the state and he had plenty experience with various forms of dough to convince me that any fool can bake bread.  So I gave it a try.  My first few batches were decidedly not tasty but as each successive batch of bread became tastier and tastier I gained confidence to play around with the recipe and figure out what works for me. 

At first, I sat around in the house all.day.long waiting for the yeasty dough to bubble...waiting for the dough to double...waiting for the loaves to rise.  All that waiting made for long boring days in which I felt compelled to constantly monitor my dough's progress.

Then, I realized a watched pot never boils.  And, trust me, watched dough is never going to bubble, double or rise.

Now:  I start the dough first thing in the morning and leave the yeasty mixture in the oven with the light on.  Leave it and forget it.  A few hours later when I see the flour on the counter that I never did put up, I remember the dough in the oven.  It's big and bubbly.  Perfect.  If everybody is happy, I add the next set of ingredients and knead the dough.  If everybody is not happy, I stick the dough back in the oven and wait until naptime to get my hands sticky and doughy.  After the dough is kneaded, I stick the dough back in the oven with the light on to double in size.  A few hours later when the thought strikes me, I check on the dough and divide it out.  Since I double the recipe, I break the dough into 4 equal pieces -- 2 to bake and 2 to freeze wrapped up in foil.  The two loaves to freeze go in my glass loaf pans in the oven with the light on.  A few hours later, I remember to check the oven when I see the mess all over the counter from kneading the dough.  If the dough has risen sufficiently, I turn on the oven and bake the bread for 35 minutes.

Literally, I start the process at 7am and we have freshly baked bread right around Henry's bedtime.

I say all this to let you know that eating freshly baked bread from your oven is not just for over-achievers.  Even mamas who work can pull it off during the weekend because the dough is left unattended the vast majority of the time.  And, this is coming from a woman who was seriously fearful of dough.  I was convinced it was too difficult for a non-detail oriented person such as I.

Even though I feel like I am well on my way to mastering the art of baking a quality whole grain loaf of bread, I need to make sure you are firmly convinced I am not an over-achiever.  

This is a picture of my dining room floor right now.  See the specs all over the floor?  Yep.  Those were Liza's lentils from last night's dinner.  And that thing in the middle?  A sock Liza wore a few days ago. 

We might have fresh baked bread but the house is still a mess.....