This is the second time I’ve made French bread using a pre-ferment (pâte fermentée) which is similar to a sour dough starter but a little less work. Essentially you make half the dough the night before and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day you mix it in with the other half of the flour and away you go.

I was also testing baking in the new toaster oven, since our main oven decided to die. This bread turned out really good. The color is nice, and it tastes delicious.

As I’ve been talking to people about baking, it seems the main differentiator is that a lot of people don’t have the patience. Bread is a little different from cookies or something, because you have to wait for the dough to rise, but the active kitchen time isn’t that high.