Bye-Bye, Bread

I have been on a bread-baking kick since returning to the Bread Basket of Civilization. Though my first attempt was a tooth-breaking disaster (not to fault Solveigh's instruction of "knead for a bit"; how could she know how literally I would take that?) I have greatly improved thanks to some simple and helpful tips. A simple carrot and rosemary loaf; huge Wheat Thin impersonations (delicious impersonations); challah - amazing, soft and golden challah!; whole wheat Italian bread. Given that all I have to do is place my dough outside the apartment door and the heat will activate the yeast to overflowing in 30 minutes, it's been a fun and (fairly) simple task.


My biga (for the Italian bread above) looked like chocolate chip cookie dough(!), thanks to the addition of granary flour. Making bread is (relatively) simple and fabulous.


But eating so much of it - especially with the whole wheat substitutions I make - has caused me to question whether or not I have a slight gluten allergy (judging by the all night bathroom raids, occasional vomiting and increased levels of exhaustion, anyway.) I haven't had health insurance for two years (guess which side of the health-care debate I'm on!), but am not in the States to utilize that resource even if it was available, and can't really be bothered to find out about testing in Kuwait, so will settle with the good ol' scientific process of elimination. No bread, pasta, pizza, etc, for the next few weeks. Maybe my digestive tract will calm down, but if not, at least it should help me slim down for Cyprus.

"Gluten-free and slim as can be!"

I love bread. 8^(

P.S. - I also love Smitten Kitchen!