Pain De Provence

It is pretty busy season in the Watson household. Joel is spending the next two months doing lots of traveling to various potential residencies & elective rotations. Thankfully, I get to see him on the majority of weekends, and I have found some awesome new blogs (check out the blogroll to the right) to keep me company in the meantime!

Joel was able to come home this weekend, which he did to watch our dog so that I could attend the Believer's Church women's retreat.*Small time out: okay, when I was growing up we always had people who lived at our house. So, when we left for vacations, etc. we never had to "find someone to take care of the dogs" - there were always people there! So, having to actually PLAN for the dog is such a strange a foreign concept. I mean, come on - it's a dog! But it belongs to us, and so we plan. This concludes the time out*

Aforementioned dog.

Part of Joel coming home was a wonderful, extended "date" where we got to bake "pain de provence" - a traditional French bread FULL of herbs. 1/2 a cup, to be exact, of a mix of fennel, sage, basil, savory, marjoram and some other stuff probably. It was a frightening green, but turned out pretty delicious.

Check it out.

And so it begins. Please notice the clear glass which has the "poolish" (we learned all sorts of new words during this process, as you shall see). This is a mix of yeast, flour & water made at least 8 hours before-hand.

This will become bright green bread.

More mixing. Yes, that is a washer & dryer we are using as countertop.

Mixing in the "herb de provence". Please note the professional knife-gripping.

Joel's patented & awesome kneading technique. Works amazingly.

While the bread is rising, Joel takes a minute to switch out the heater filter. Yes, why it must be accessed this way doesn't make any sense to us either.

After the first rising we had to "degas" it. Hmmm, also a new word to us.

The dough rising again. Thanks for the pretty bowl Marcy Leute.

Waiting patiently. As you can see, it's dark now. Three risings = 7 hours later.

Baking. Please note the pan of water underneath by which we created steam & therefore a perfect crust. Yes, we are professional. Don't hate.

YAY! We did it!

Wow. That's green. *Don't hate on the Country Crock. To each his own & we didn't have any butter* :)

But, still good! :) Nearly midnight, and the bread is done - enjoying it with some butter.

It's such a wonderful time in our marriage, which could seem odd since Joel is gone so much, but God is really blessing this season. I am grateful.