Panzanella

When you do a heroic thing like make your own bread, you don't want to waste any of it. Every scrap, even when it's stale and the kind of thing even your dog won't eat. Thankfully, the Italians gifted us with the knowledge of a little salad known as panzanella, bless them.

Cherry jam

I have a terrible, terrible problem. Maybe compulsion is a better word? In the summertime, when all my favorite fruits are available in abundance, I tend to go shop-happy and buy fruit in massive quantities. This is why, even after gorging myself, I still had a pound and a half of cherries left in my fridge, teetering on the brink, and in need of use before they spoiled.

Oatmeal wheat bread

Until I made risen waffles, I really never felt comfortable with yeast. Now that I've used it successfully a handful of times, I'm basically a yeast pro and felt comfortable trying my hand at real sandwich bread. Hubris? Noooo! I don't have any of that. How dare you? :-P

I was having a bit of an insomniac night on Friday, what with my neighbors shooting off fireworks until late, getting their Independence Day celebrations off to an early start.

What do I do when I can't sleep? I watch British TV shows and bake bread. Isn't that what you all do?