There is nothing quite like homemade bread. The aroma as it's baking, filling the house with a heavenly yeasty smell. The beautiful golden brown color of the loaves when they emerge from the oven. The crackling of the crust as it cools.

I hold the loaf up to my nose and breathe deeply of its warm scent. I am so tempted to cut into it there and then, slather it with sweet butter, picturing it in my head as the butter melts on the just-out-of-the-oven warmth. I ask Rick, as I do everytime he makes bread, can I please cut it now? I ask even though I already know the answer he will give. No, Lynne, it needs to cool before you can cut it, he says. It's a ritual. He knows I will ask.

So I wait. Impatiently. Walking past it again and again, touching the loaves to see if they are cool enough. The waiting is really hard. But as I was always told when I was little, good things come to those who wait.

Finally it's time, and I cut through the crispy outer crust with a bread knife. It's perfectly baked with a beautiful crumb, and warm enough that the butter melts immediately. Sooooo good. Yum. Now we can look forward to great toast for breakfast. 

Rick has not made bread all summer—too hot to keep the oven going for hours—both during the preheating time necessary for the pan it gets baked in, and for the baking time itself. But with the beautiful temperatures we've had for days it finally made sense to fire up the oven. Welcome, cooler weather.

Oh Yum!!!!They both look so good. I wish I had my own personal baker. And I wouldn’t be able to wait until it cooled off either!I may make Sylvie’s Breakfast Bread this fall. It’s the easiest one for me to bake (but only good for toast.) Maybe I’ll try Dad’s Italian bread recipe again. By the way, your post is so beautifully written!

Big sis, thank you so much for the compliment. Coming from you, it means so much!

Is that the same kind of bread Rick made when I was there? I can totally say it’s really good!!

Well, you don’t always wait until the bread is cooled. And, it sure is good when still warm!

Carolyn, I think so. He makes two different kinds: one that only takes half a day and the other ferments overnight. Either way, they taste pretty much the same!