It makes my mouth water....

Years ago I joined the craze of making home made bread in a bread machine.

 It was fun for awhile, then I became less enthused and grew tired of that

 hugh machine taking up space on my counter top with no room 

in the cupboards to store it. I think I sold it at a garage sale. 

Recently I had dinner at the home of a good friend,

 Julie is a incredible cook, chef and baker, she always has something incredible to share!

.

The homemade bread she made as part of our meal was the best I think I've ever had, add her

 yummy homemade jam and it's impossible not to want more..... is your mouth watering yet?

 I asked about the recipe and she told about the cookbook that she uses called 

The new artisan bread in 5 minutes a day

Weeks passed and I was really craving that bread.  I had been wanting to try bread making so 

I asked her again for the recipe.... Julie responded,

 "I have the book for you, I would love for you to have it, so when can we meet"..... 

I never expected that, but knowing the "giving" person that Julie is, 

I guess it didn't surprise me.

 I was a little intimidated at first, so I took some time to read through the book.... 

all 400 pages!

 Yesterday was the day... I mixed up a batch which will last up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

I made a small loaf for dinner. I found it to be so easy, no kneading, no mess, easy and quick. 

Just pull out a handful, shape it, plop it on a prepared bread board let it sit for 40 minutes,

  bake for 20 minutes, and it comes out like this...

Julie also gifted me with some Sea salt flakes to lightly sprinkle on top of the dough before baking,

I never knew there was such a thing?

 It added a nice touch to the flavor of the bread. 

Finished product.... I could get used to this  :) 

For dinner, I whipped up a new recipe from my Pinterest board

Ravioli Lasagna , it was delish with the bread...yum!

Thank you Julie, you might make me into a bread-baker yet  :)