I like to give credit where it's due-- especially when it comes to creative inspo. A handful of years ago my now sister in law started baking sourdough bread. She's an incredible cook and baker, and there was something so beautiful about the care and love she puts into her bakes especially. In recent times her bread has been an inspiration to me to also chase the life of the open crumb, which has been a NSFW (Not Safe For Waist) pursuit indeed. While most of the time my bread couldn't come close to the drool-worthy loaves Kim makes, she continues to be the measuring stick I bring to my efforts.  I have a secondary inspiration which goes a lot deeper as a tradition of bread in my life, and that is my Mom. Growing up, my mom would bake bread every Saturday. She knew the recipe by heart and the results of her labor would be gone in a matter of days. The crumb was soft, nutty and slightly sweet, thanks to the honey she added from a 5 gallon bucket from the flour mill, and the bucket had a permanent place in the kitchen. Sometimes she would bake rolls as a door prize at family birthday parties and the attendees would fight over the winning ticket. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on homemade whole wheat bread is a luxury I didn't even fully realize as being all that special, until I had bread from the store and learned the difference.  When I text my mom photos of my bread I know it makes her proud... and I'm pretty sure she sheds a sentimental tear of two as well, because that's just how Mom is. Now I get to share that same love of home made bakes with my friends and family, and I hope they get at least a taste of the care in every delicious bite. 

Y'all know what time it is. #breadtime. I'm going to be missing this loaf when I'm at work.

She may not be the holey-est of loaves, but she's my loaf, and what she lacks in holes she makes up for in cheesy garlic goodness. During the final proof, one side of the loaf split and so it didn't give me quite the oven spring on one end, but it's just as tasty as the other! This loaf is chock-full of minced garlic and aged white cheddar cheese. Quickly becoming one of my favorite combinations!

Baking bread is always like Christmas morning for me. You can't go wrong with a beautiful rustic country loaf of sourdough. While it's something slower than instant gratification, it's a relatively quick process in contrast to other disciplines, which can take quite some time to see the result of your handiwork. This batch was made over about two and a half days. I took it out the starter from the refrigerator on Friday, fed it twice, put together the dough, and did a long slow ferment from 5 a.m. to 3 a.m. the next morning. Then, time for the two shapings, a final proof, and bake time. This batch takes about a thousand grams of flour, and makes two beautiful round loaves. Both loaves went through the same shaping, but one split during the final proof, and with scoring the loaf it simply did not have the structure to make a big beautiful oven spring. The second loaf, the one you are looking at, sprang wonderfully and I can't wait to take a look at that crumb. With both loaves I am sure they will be consumed regardless of the state of the oven spring.