The weather here in South Texas remains cool and rainy. I don’t believe I’ve experienced such a long spell of inclement weather here.

As a result, I’m focusing on practice with my smart stove. Cooking and baking are favourite hobbies of mine, so the weather is at least affording me that pleasure.

Last evening, I baked my first attempt at artisan bread (first attempt in Texas, that is). It didn’t rise as much as I had hoped it would. That could have been the recipe, or it could have been my “possibly not too smart” oven.

The bread tastes good, has a nice crumb, a slightly chewy crust, and a tender middle, so it wasn’t a failure by any means, and maybe it wasn’t intended to rise more. We’ll enjoy it with soup tonight.

Photo Note: When I took the photo, I had the subject focus set wrong, thus the gooey appearance of the left side of the cut slice. It wasn’t gooey at all. I took the photo just before I went to bed and didn’t check it until this morning. Once again, the lesson to take a few shots from different angles came back to me. I’ll remember it next time.

“Whenever something bad happens, keep calm, take a few deep breaths and shift the focus to something positive.”

Roy T. Bennett