So here’s the thing. I am approaching a year of baking and gifting bread. I have 4 giveaways left until I reach the magical number of 52, and I couldn’t be more excited. This milestone was always the one I pictured before I even started the project. I couldn’t wait to see what would change after a full year–what my project would look like, if my feelings about it would change, and, ultimately, what I would look like. Since we are a month out, I am not going to dive deep into all those feelings, thoughts and (hopefully!) lessons learned quite yet. This is more of a heads up that this milestone is approaching and it feels sort of big. Or said another way: Melodrama alert, Melodrama alert. Big statements about feelings and cheesy metaphors about climbing mountains are probably in the future. Bear with me. We will all get through it together.

In the meantime, I will fill you in on the last few giveaways. I am not quite back in the swing of weekly writing like I was quite religiously last summer and fall. I haven’t fully hit my writing stride again after the holidays. However, I am going to try to be a bit more disciplined with the writing in the run-up to this next milestone than I have over the last two months.

So, to catch up, when last I updated you all, I believe we had neatly covered the first 3 weeks of January, and now have a few more giveaways to you catch up on:

Week 4 of January saw a baguette delivery that accompanied my daughter to a sleepover. It is a newer friend, and it was fun to do a delivery out of the blue for them. I feel like if you have my daughter over for the night, allowing the 3/4s left of our household to happily eat sushi, I should pay you in bread. Her company is delightful, so I normally wouldn’t bribe someone to have her, but occasionally we want sushi without whining. So a baguette it was.

I should briefly pause here and also offer a baguette update for those not watching on the instagram feed about my winter baking project: The Baguette Files. Gah! Baguettes! I am trying, I get texture improved and the taste is not as good. Or I get shaping down, and texture suffers. I am not throwing in the towel, but after baking 10 loaves in one weekend, 8 of which were baguettes, I took a week off. Please note the baguettes are still good (hence why I felt fine gifting one), I just can’t seem to get them perfected. More to come soon I hope!

Because of how the dates broke in January, I had a 5th week of giveaways for it, so I also did a boule of sourdough to one of my neighbors who I hadn’t gifted to yet. I know it may seem shocking that there was someone I hadn’t gifted to yet on my block, but it is true. In fact, there are actually quite a few, so I was stoked to do a little evening delivery for them that hopefully brightened up their week.

And finally, this past week I was able to do a giveaway to a couple of dear friends who were visiting from out of town. I hadn’t seen them in quite some time, and the visit warmed my heart completely. That feeling when you can’t stop smiling because you are so happy to be in someone’s presence? Yep, that was me. Also, there is nothing quite like sending people home on an airplane with best wishes for safe travels and a big old boule of country-style bread. I can’t imagine what the luggage scans looked like at the airport! Since the bread was traveling home, I had to serve them something else to eat while they were visiting, so I landed on one of my all-time favorite desserts. There is nothing quite like Ina Garten’s French Apple Tart. I have two apple desserts that I make routinely for guests because they are, in my book, no fail show stoppers. French Apple Tart, Ina Style is one of them and so while this is mostly a bread site, I bend the rules when it suits my purposes, and this tart basically suits all purposes.

So there you have it. A little catch-up and a promise to do better with baguettes and writing. Oh, and a bonus recipe that ought to wow the socks off of anyone. It might even be the perfect dessert for whatever holiday you may be celebrating this week Valentine’s or Galentine’s Day.