I wanted to have some friends over to enjoy our vegetable garden’s bounty with us, so we decided to have a semi-last-minute get-together. But because lots of people were going out of town, we changed it to a few days later.
Which gave me time to figure out how to make bread.
I’ve tried to make homemade bread dough several times, mostly for pizza crust. First I had a major ERROR, then a success with the help of the bread machine, and then another bread-machine-less ERROR. It seems every time I touch yeast, bad things happen (except in the case of bread machine issues.
So I studied… my friend Catherine gave e a copy of The Joy of Cooking as a wedding gift, and it’s so helpful! I read and re-read the chapter on yeast breads, and then decided to go for it… keeping in mind that I needed PATIENCE for this.
And guess what! I did it! I made bread! NOT in the bread machine at all! I didn’t take photos of the process (maybe I was afraid that documenting it would make it not work), but here it is in the oven…
I used the Joy of Cooking white bread recipe, shaped into a thick baguette-ish shape, and brushed egg whites over top, then sprinkled with sesame seeds. I don’t have a baguette pan (though you can bet it’s on my wists now) or a pizza stone, so I inverted some cookie sheets, which worked decently well.
LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!
I FINALLY MADE BREAD!!! It took all day and a lot of patience, but it wasn’t hard at all. Yay!
Now, for the lasagna, I used The Pioneer Woman’s recipe as a base… but added zucchini and eggplant, and got rid of the cottage cheese in favor of a ricotta+egg+herb mixture. So my layers were noodles, ricotta, zucchini, mozzarella, sauce, noodles, ricotta, eggplant, mozzarella, sauce, mozzarella.
And a smaller cheese-free version for my friend Victoria, who doesn’t touch the stuff.
Oh, and did I mention the bread?
And when you add in Pat’s salad, Victoria’s Amaaaaaazing Cupcakes, and Leo’s cheesecake… it was such a delicious dinner!
The best part? There are two more (smaller) lasagnas in my freezer. The fun thing about lasagnas is you can make a bunch at once with very little extra work… and they freeze just fine!
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and brand new stay at home mom. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate on a budget, and keep a happy home. I breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
[...] and the fact that my only successes had been in a bread machine. Then I sort of broke the cycle with this Italian bread. I followed the Joy of Cooking’s instructions step by step, and yielded something [...]
Isn’t it just the best feeling to tuck into your own, hand made bread? Nothing can beat the taste either, as far as I’m concerned. Well done!
Wow, that bread seriously looks amazingly delish. Good job!!!
OH MY GOD!!!!
Please can I steal you and take you home! Seriously that looks delicious.
xx