Christmas Week Baking

Adam is at it again! He's baking. I bought him a baking loaf cloche for Christmas, see? It is was is now back under the tree.

Ladies, you'll notice I tied a Bath-and-Body-Works ribbon on it to make it festive. Its delivery box was soaked with rain, so under the tree it went, buck naked :) Plus, this minimal packaging allows Adam to use it this week, haha!

It makes a very pretty loaf of bread with a lovely crust.

He liked using the round cast-iron chicken fryer before, but it makes big round loaves that aren't conducive to cutting for dainty breakfast toast, like this:

He's now made three loaves of Challah bread, the braided Jewish bread eaten on Friday evening, the Sabbath. It's a beautiful yellow, eggy bread. This one's in the freezer awaiting the descent of the Christmas family this weekend!!! (Squeal!! I'm so excited and happy they're coming!)

Below you see the raw first loaf he made last week for a Jewish friend. It is a braid atop another braid - not as pretty as the complex 6-strand braid he has now mastered.

This morning he rose and baked some gingerbread men and snowmen. This is a soft cookie. We'll save them till the kids get here and decorate them with icing.

And Adam's mother, from whom he gets all this love of baking, sent another tin of baklava!!! They are so very, very perfectly yummy. From the previous tin I saved a few and froze them, so the kids could have some. But now we have plenty! Thank you, Gloria! Your thoughtful packages this year have added so much joy to the holidays.

As a last note, I returned to the local quirky bookstore and took a friend along. She was thrilled and bought a stack of books she could barely lug to the car. I found four more for myself. (Gulp. Where shall I put them???) The tea book is just for fun and recipe-reading. The biography about Galileo (including letters from his daughter) and the story of the Australian adventurer are both right up my line. The beige book on the left is a National Audobon Society Field Guide to Shells. I'm taking it to Topsail Beach in March when I go with my girlfriends. That should keep us occupied!

Are you baking this week? What's smelling up your kitchen?