M is for mom - and a giveaway!

Every mom loves homemade goodies. In fact, as many a Mother's Day breakfast in bed has shown, moms (seem to) love homemade not-so-goodies.

My mom is no longer around, and theKid stopped eating carbs for a while so I suppose that if I want homemade bread, I have to make it myself.

I am counting on the rest of you, however, to get out there and make some bread for mom. You've got two days so you can start now and have plenty of time.

Even better, there's a prize in it for someone. (I bet I have your attention now. See how you all are?)

Here's the contest:

Bake bread for mom. If your mom is not available for whatever reason, bake the bread you would bake if she was coming over. Get creative and don't forget to knead some love into it!

When you are done, post a photo of your bread to the A Year in Bread group on flickr. Susan and I will select a winner based on criteria yet to be determined - the bread we would most like to eat ourselves, creativity, the best expression of loving mommy - we'll know the winner when we see it. (None of that random number stuff here, we are totally subjective!)

We're putting this up a bit late (Susan called me from the Bonding Suite and asked if I could post it since she's stuck in the barn with the cuteness.) so the deadline is a full week after Mom's day is over: May 18th at midnight.

What do you win? Well, only the very first A Year in Bread t-shirt.

What's that you say? You haven't seen our t-shirts? Well, that's because the very first one is going to the winner here, after which we will open up the store to everyone.

But if you want to be really cool, and get your shirt before everyone else - and I do mean everyone, Susan and I don't even have ours yet - you will win one. You know you want to.

Ready, breadie? Get baking!

Remember, post your photos on A Year in Bread at flickr to be eligible for the prize!

Technorati: Food | kitchenMage | baking | bread | contest | mother's day | bread baking | giveaway

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obsessions: oat flour

Before.

Organic rolled oats.

After

Organic rolled oat flour.

Process in food processor for a minute or so. Substitute for about 1/3-1/2 of the flour in recipes that aren't dependent on gluten, like scones or pancakes. You may need to increase the liquid in some recipes just a bit, although it is not consistent.

Technorati: Food | oats | baking | bread | kitchenMage

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We're Still Here - And Still Baking!

Rumors of A Year In Bread's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Just think of our unaccounted for absence in bread baking terms. The yeast isn't dead - it's more like the dough is fermenting really, really slowly. And when that warm and crusty loaf finally does come out of the oven, it'll be better than ever before.

In the meantime, things don't look as good for this little guy. We may be big proponents of baking everything from scratch, but we couldn't help feeling a little deflated at this news. Word spread quickly, but just in case you haven't heard. . .

There has been a sad passing. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 350 for about 20 minutes.

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads it.

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