My first no-knead bread!
Before I delve into this week’s giveaway, I thought I would do a little general housekeeping. First, I have changed the formats a bit for the recipes on the site, hoping to make it a little easier to read and potentially print out, in case you are so inclined. Early feedback (thanks sis!) is that it looks good, but let me know what you think. Second, I have had a few reports that some people have signed up for the blog subscription but aren’t receiving the confirmation email in their inboxes. If this is you, please send me a contact me note, so I can get it solved and add you. Finally, I have added a FAQs page because there were just some things I was referring to over and over or was getting some questions about that seemed to make sense to put together on one page. I will add more as it makes sense. Phew, housekeeping over! On to the fun!
My giveaway this week was the first no-knead bread I ever made, and the recipe came courtesy of a friend of my mom’s. It is a fabulous example of how just a few additions or tweaks can really make the bread something new. This version, Rosemary Raisin just hits all the right notes for me. The raisins add that touch of sweetness, while the rosemary brings its piney goodness to play and it can easily go sweet with an interesting twist, or quite savory. I highly encourage you to try it out–especially if you have been hesitating to enter the no-knead bread world. This was my entry point, and I hope it can be yours too.
I guess it was meant to be that that as I was given this recipe via my mother’s friend, I was destined to give it to one of my son’s friend’s family. In fact, they are our friends too, as our son, who officially became a teenager last week (still in shock) became friends with their son in first grade. First grade! That is now 8 years of parties, playdates, and legos, and lately, epic nerf gun battles and dropping them off at the movies. Our son came home from school in first grade and announced that he had made a new friend and that was that. It was like peanut butter and jelly from then on. They liked the same things, and they seem to have one of those friendships that are rare in life, it came early and it seems to have come easy. I doubt my son will ever know how blessed he is, but I do hope so. It is such a privilege to watch these children age. I find it utterly fascinating to watch them turn from little boys, into boys, and now teenagers. I can only imagine how amazing it will be to see them as young men, but still see the little boy they were on their faces.
As I said, this friend’s parents are our friends too, but as is the case in this life we lead, I don’t find enough time to regularly get together with them, but this week, when I dropped off the bread, totally delaying the start to their dinner, I found myself chattering and chattering and not able to stop. We hadn’t caught up in a while, and it was good to just talk for a few minutes and make plans to get more caught up soon. As has often been the case with my little project, I smiled all the way home. The bread is the excuse, the reason, the cover, the physical action. But it is the connection with people, and doing something for them, that really satisfies.