Seriously not wallowing (or how to bake bread)

I'm going to let you all (yes, all 4 of my readers!) in on a little secret.  Sometimes I use my general forgetfulness around photographing food as an excuse not to post.

"Boy was that dinner good... but aw shucks, I forgot to take a picture, so it doesn't make sense to spend 20 minutes typing up the recipe!"

Or sometimes I do take pictures, but I also worked 12 hours that day, or am desperately trying to read through my stack of library books, or just want to lay on the couch with a glass of wine and watch TV.

And worst of all, it's hard to get excited about food and cooking when my knee hurts.  It started right after my half marathon (you know, the one I was bragging about a few weeks back?) and has not let up much since.  I have backed off running and have been working on strengthening my quads and my hips (the two most likely culprits in "runner's knee" according to the internets).  It seems like my knee is gradually improving, but I'm feeling impatient and ready to get back to training for my marathon in May!

But instead of wallowing (seriously, I'm not wallowing!), thinking about how much I'd love to do the 15 mile run scheduled for today in my marathon training plan (not even joking!) I'm baking bread.   I started baking bread from a starter a little over a year ago, and rely heavily on the methods in Tartine Bread, because they work so darn well.

It's a time intensive, but not labor intensive process and I really enjoy it, not only for the delightful end result of beautiful, fresh bread, but also for the process.  From nurturing the sourdough starter, to coaxing the flour, water and salt through its fermentation process and into a baked loaf (or an AMAZING pizza dough), baking bread requires care and attention, but also flexibility.  And it gives me an excuse to spend a lazy Sunday at home.

I'm not going to type up the bread recipe I use, because it spans many pages, and has very helpful photographs, and really, just go buy the book.  It's worth it!  But I will tell you I make the basic country bread (which starts on page 45).

There are only a couple things you need that you may not have in your kitchen already: a kitchen scale (this comes in handy for me all over the place!) and a cast iron combo cooker (mine is a Lodge - also handy to have for other things)

The bread starts here, (oddly enough) with the starter:

Mix up flour, water, leaven and salt and let rise, for about 3 hours, turning the dough in its bowl every 30 mins:

Shape the dough on the counter:

Nestle the shaped loaf on a well-floured towel for the final (3-4 hour) rise:

Bake in a preheated combo cooker, and voila!  It takes most of the day, but you have warm bread with dinner.

I served today's loaf with sautéed greens and a delightful white bean and roasted garlic soup (from none other than my gal Isa's Vegan with a Vengeance

This soup was so tasty (and simple) that I'm even going to go to the trouble of typing the recipe.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup
Recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (I used half an onion and half a bulb of fennel)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed (have I told anyone besides Lisa how life-changing my spice grinder is?!?!)
4 cups veggie broth
3 cups cooked (or canned) white beans
3 fresh sage leaves, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
2 heads of garlic, roasted

To roast the garlic: heat the oven to 350 degrees, peel off the papery skin and roast the garlic for about 30-40 mins.  Remove from oven and, when cool, peel the skin away from each clove.

Meanwhile, in a stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions in the oil for 5-7 mins.   Add salt, pepper and fennel seed, saute for 1 minute.  Add broth, beans and sage, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.  Add the roasted garlic and puree. (Immersion blender FTW!!!)  Add lemon juice.  Serve garnished with fennel leaves and/or parsley.