On A Gorgeous Sunny Day

Home-Baked French Bread It was such a gorgeous day yesterday! The day before yesterday (Mar. 20th) was my last day at the daytime job. No more waking up at 5 am to rush to work. Yay! So yesterday, I was almost going for a bento lunch under cherry blossoms as a celebration. But after taking a few photos in the nearby park, I finally decided against it, because only a few trees were blooming there and the ground underneath them was really muddy. (The photos are posted on another blog of mine.) Instead, I chose to have more aggressive(?) fun in the kitchen, kneading and beating bread dough. ;) Instead of making two baguettes, I baked it into a boule. After taking these photos, I sliced this boule and used two slices for making garlic toast. They were G-R-E-A-T! (Sorry. No photos.) Crispy, crunchy and garlicky toast... I enjoyed them with sparkling wine and that was my celebration. You know I seldom drink in the daytime, and having sparkling wine with home-baked bread, in the bright afternoon sunshine, was special enough for me to call a small celebration treat. Maybe next week I'll thaw the frozen slices and make a sandwich with them to eat under the cherry blossoms -- if the weather permits. BTW, in order to improve my bread and also to use for another purpose, I ordered some packages of "malt flour." I'll use it next time I bake bread and let you know the result. ;)