daring bakers - fresh from the oven!

this month we were baking a bread with the daring bakers. well, not just any bread... it was julia child's french bread (yep, a white bread! yum!). when i first saw the recipe i couldnt believe it - oh that was a long, long list of things to do (but dont let it put you off doing the recipe, yourself - looks like more work than it acutally is - here is the recipe). it's such a basic but wonderful recipe - you end up with such a silky dough - its just heaven in a bowl, when it sits there and rises.
i am a sucker for white bread. i do believe it's your white bread that tells if you are a good baker or not. like a baguette. there is no other bread with a better crust... the structure of the bread - the crisp - the taste - oh i just love it.

i was planning to make baguettes (especially since i was thinking about eating this with it, good job tartelette - we share the same childhood memories!) but then of course i had to move things round and do the bread in a dash (which isnt really possible, since it needs to rise and shine a couple of times) - so i made one round loaf instead.
with the smell of freshly baked bread still in the house i start to think what to eat with it. and i really cant help but only think about a decent swiss milk chocolate and a glass of milk. it just doesnt get any better than that!