Happily there's no knead

One of my recent constants for happiness is homemade bread. If you've been anywhere near food websites in the past several years you have probably come across numerous discussions about the eye-opening, delicious and liberating technique for making bread. I tried it once, after seeing an article in the New York Times, and I've been hooked ever since. I'm hoping that the weather spends its nice, sweet time lingering in springtime before we're propelled into the it's-too-hot-to-turn-on-the-oven New York summer. It only means more loaves of delicious bread for us!

I had a rough day earlier this week, and you may guess what my honey suggested. He knows that making bread is good for my spirit. There is something simply calming and magical, and also deeply satisfying, about waiting for nature to do its thing. It soothes my mind to go to the kitchen and peer at the bowl to see how well the yeast is doing its work. And ah, the smell of that bread baking -- pure happiness that rivals cutting into that loaf and tasting the first slice.

If you're curious about it, just Google "Jim Lahey" and "No-knead bread." But be careful, you might become another among the legions of addicts.