Copy Cat

I have a big sister. Now that we're both older and more "mature," that's a good thing - we've become pretty good friends. Growing up, however, things were not all sweetness and light.

Being the younger, I always wanted to do what she did, play with her and her friends, borrow her stuff, wear what she wore - in short, I wanted to be her copy cat.

Apparently, I still have that trait as, when Cookiecrumb blogged about the book she got from the library, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, I wanted immediately to copy her. I found the book and finally got around to purchasing the baking stone and large container for the dough that the authors recommend.

Here's my first loaf. It's a little irregular in shape - the dough I made was comically loose and sticky (not the fault of the book) - but the taste and the crust were really pretty good. The book says the bread will gain increasingly a more sourdough flavor and I hope that's true as I love sourdough bread.

There's a real thrill to making one's own bread and if I can actually turn out a reasonable sourdough loaf I won't care if my sister and Cookiecrumb cry, "Copy cat!"