my bread baking husband

i am a lucky girl. i know this. my husband cooks. i know that many women out there envy the fact that my husband cooks, bakes, cleans and is an active participant in the raising of our children. and he fixes things! i'll say it again...i am a lucky girl!

for the past year or so michael has been on a quest to learn how to bake bread. he has tried different recipes over this time, from several different cookbooks. it wasn't until i brought home peter reinhart's artisan breads everyday from the library that he found the perfect inspiration for baking bread (soon after we bought the book -- it's a keeper!).

michael has tried several loaves from this book, our favorites being the french loaf and the ciabatta. when he baked the ciabatta last week we had sandwiches for dinner every single night. it was that delicious! and since we purchased this book we have not bought bread from the bakery. michael loves this bread baking book because of the helpful tips, the way the author thoroughly explains each recipe in detail, giving how-to directions instead of just throwing the recipe at the reader and letting them figure out the nuances on their own. this cookbook has become our bread bible. i cannot wait for him to experiment with more bread baking!

my tasty italian sandwich on ciabatta!