for those of you just now tuning in, you haven't missed much. Really, to be fair, you've missed about the past 20 years of my baking ventures, not to mention the 20 or so years of experience had by Erin. In fact, she and I only recently met, but it didn't take long to discover we shared a not-so-secret passion for baking. When Erin moved in and had boxes of baking pans, mixing bowls, measuring cups, and cookie cutters, not to mention an exquisite library of cookbooks, I knew our apartment would constantly be filled with the pleasant aroma of delicious baked goods.
When I moved to Brooklyn and joined a food coop I decided to cut down on pre-packaged ready-made goods and began making my own cleaning products and baking granola every month. The next thing on my list was bread. Erin and myself et al. are just a couple of months in to our new living arrangement together, and the future of baking here looks promising. Right off the bat I asked Erin how much she knew about baking bread--I've never ever been able to get my bread to rise. Her experience with bread was substantially more than mine, but she was no boulanger. Thus, our movement began: mixing, kneading, rising...baking? Despite our combined baking expertise, the unseasonably chilly autumn and poor insulation in our apartment soon made the question very clear, will it rise?
