This is from Eating Well magazine's October issue Anyone up for trying this out? Country Bread Sponge: 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast 1/4 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F) 3 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 3/4 cups cold water (below 60 degrees F) Dough: 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpos flour 1 cup room temperature water 3 1/2 teaspoons salt To make the sponge: 1. In small bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes. 2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and cld water until partially mixed. Scrape yeast mixture into flour mixture. Stir 100 times in one direction. 3. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for about 12 hours or overnight. (The sponge is ready when small bubbles cover its surface and it appears thinner than at the start) To make dough and form loaves: 1. Place 3 1/2 cups flour in a large bowl; make a well in the center. Scrape sponge into well; set bowl aside. Stir, gradually incorporating flour into sponge. 2. Rinse sponge bowl with 1 cup water, scraping down sides with a rubber spatula. Gradually add the rinsing liquid to the flour-sponge mixture, stirring well between additions. 3. Turn dough out onto a surface dusted with some of the remaining flour. Knead, gradually incorporating additional flour, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. (You may not need all the remaining flour) Gather into a mound and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel.. Let rest for 15 minutes. 4. Flatten dough and sprinkle with salt. Knead until salt is fully incorporated and ough feels soft and elastic, 5 to 10 minutes. Shape into a ball. 5. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. 6. Punch down dough and reshape into a ball. Cover again and let rise, at room temperature, until more than doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 7. Lightly dust the underside of a large baking sheet with flour. Divide dough in half and form into 2 round loaves. Place loaves 4 inches apart on the prepared upside-down baking sheet; lightly cover with platic wrap. Let rise in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight. To bake loaves: 1 Preheat oven to 500 degrees or its highest setting. Have ready a clean spray bottle filled with water. 2. Just before baking, witha sharp knife or bakers' razor (lame), slash a cross hatch design into the top of each loaf. Spray lightly with water. 3. Bake loaves for 15 minutes, lightly spraying with water every 4 to 5 minutes. (Be careful to avoid spraying the oven light) Reduce oven temperature to 425, bake, without spraying, for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until loaves are golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom with your knuckles. 4. Transfer loaves to a wire rack and cool comletely. (The bread will keep at room temperature, in a paper bag or kitchen towel-not a plastic bag- for up to 3 days, or frozen, well wrapped, for up to 6 weeks) This recipe can become a weekend project with a delicious reward: one fresh loaf for Sunday dinner and another to enjoy during the week. The actual hands-on work time is only about 1 1/2 hours.

What is your favorite kind of bread? White, wheat, rye, spelt, raisin or .... ?

my fav bread is.......well, bread. luv it!! My most favorite are my mom's buttermilk rolls!

My favorite is the kind with oat flakes all over; when you eat a sandwich it's really crumbly and hearty. Terry--I would never go to that much trouble for bread, personally. Would you? I borrowed a friend's breadmaker once for amonth and tried a few different things, but they all had an unpleasant chemical aftertaste to them.

I like olive bread and bread with lots of sunflower seeds and/or raisins.

mmm....the only packaged bread (sliced, like) that i'll eat is Hovis White. It's beautiful, truly beautiful. You take a slice out of the packet, and it feels almost wet because it's so soft. it's also the only packaged bread i'll eat with heating/toasting etc. i do like a nice uncut loaf, though, like a Bloomer or something. That I can just cut big chunks off of and eat through all day. hmm..bread fetish happened there :)

You eat white bread? Do you remove the crusts first? :-)

Mike, I know exactly the bread you're talking about - straight from heaven, it is. Autumn, English white bread is the most wonderful bread ever. When I go there I eat about a loaf a day - in a week's time I WILL be eating about a loaf a day. Have you ever been to England during all your husband's conference travels?

nope, i leave the crusts on.

I've discoverd something called "spelt" bread which is very good. Anyone tried it?

You mean Tubby-toast?

Never heard that expression, sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon.

Haven't you ever heard of the teletubbies? Well, teletubbies eat tubby-toast. But is spelt bread isn't tubby-toast, what is it?

my favorite... jalapeno cheese bread (warmed with butter)

I don't know, it's expensive and delicious and they sell it at Whole Foods.

(aside: so, Stace, how'd you do on your bike ride?)

killer... amazing views of mountain tops, snowy peaks, turquoise lakes... even the inside of an emergency room (heatstroke on Saturday) wouldn't trade it even for the freshest warmest loaf of jalapeno cheese bread!

Yep, I can imagine it being a KILLER, alright!

What's that?

Stacey's bike ride into the mountains last weekend - without spelt bread or tubby-toast, that is.

Terry, I get spelt and kamut bread/bagels from my co-op, they are a nice alternative to wheat if you can't tolerate it (expensive, though!) Riette, my husband & I went to Europe for 3 weeks when I graduated from college (pre-kids), but only spent a few days in England--London and Portsmouth. Can;t remember the bread, but the spotted dick certainly made an impression! Ooh, and the milk was like cream, it was sooo good.

I went to a quasi-French restuaurant and had 4 pieces of bread (not toast) this morning, French coffee, a couple of tomato slivers, and a garlicy potato patty. Overpriced but good.

What is a tomato sliver? Autumn, did you like England? I LOVE being there. The countryside to me is more beautiful than anywhere in Europe. And the people are so nice.

A thinly sliced piece of a tomato.

OH! A glorifying term.

Yes, nothing to write home about, Riette. Just a skimpy tomato.

Ah well, anything's worth checking out; at least I learned a new English term. Slippery Slithery Tomato Slivers.

There's a movie called Sliver too, with Sharon Stone.

Riette, I am sorry to have never seen the fabled English countryside. I just picture a Constable painting replete with sheep and meadows. London certainly had a lot to offer, but frankly just seemed like a big city (very international, though, like NYC and Montreal). I didn't like the (this is the ugly American part)way the hot & cold water came out of two separate taps everywhere we went, like at my grandmother's house.

ha-ha!!!! For me that's part of the charm. In some ways it's such an old fashioned country. They also don't heat their houses - now that DOES get ugly! And the countryside looks JUST like that painting you have in mind.

They don't heat their houses? Good Lord!! With shared body heat the only way to keep warm, it's a wonder the english don't outnumber the chineese!!

I know! But at least one of my babies was conceived for that very reason! I'm quite serious - I honestly thought at the time that Russian Roulette worked...

What!!! With a revolver????

No, with a Willie!!!! ha-ha!

HA HAA HAA HA That is like playing Russian roulette with an automatic, Riette.

It's like playing Russian roulette with a cross-striped snake thinking it isn't poisonous! How na�ve can a person get??

Ouch!!

Yes, quite! You know, my mum used to have this horrible little sculpture of that nude guy who sits on the rock, thinking HARD. (A present from a friend.) So I asked her once what that little worm between his legs were, and she said, 'Oh, it's not a worm - it's a very poisonous snake. So don't you ever come near of those, you hear me?'

What a warped sense of humor some people have! It's kind of funny, Riette, but one of the slang terms for it is: "bed snake".

Bed snake?? How cruel! I'd give it a much nicer name than that.

OK Riette, what would that be?

and don't forget "trouser snake", Tim...

"Bread is so basic to life. If love can be expressed from the kitchen, let it be a large loaf of freshly baked bread that smells so good your family can't wait to slice the first piece." --Marilyn M. Moore, author of The Wooden Spoon Bread Book

And there goes a frustrated woman. If the only way she has, of expressing love in the kitchen is to bake a single loaf of bread.

Oh $hit, now I'm worried - I CAN't even do that! What'll I do if that happens??? I'd call it a 'cuddly pop-up'.

Riette, I'm sure that you have other ways of expressing love, even in the kitchen. Baking bread is easy.

Yes, I express my love ALL OVER the kitchen. All those yellow egg bits sticking to the ceiling - PURE love! Baking bread is not easy, it's a nightmare!

Riette, I hereby cast my vote for all over the kitchen!! Baking bread is simple. When I made bread I could easily do 36 loaves in an hour 12 each of 3 different recipes.

You're the REAL six million dollar man, aren't you??

Riette, It was in a commercial kitchen, With a convection oven, capable of baking 15 loaves at a time.

You were a CHEF?

I managed a restaraunt, Riette, the only two people the owner trusteed to bake bread, were himself and me.

That makes about 40 professions, busy boy! I think it's great. None of that routine crap for you!

Riette, I have always believed, the more things I could do, the less chance of ending up with no job.

Yes; I think it must be awful for people to sit in the same office for 30 years - some people do that. And some even sit in the same position for 30 years. No wonder they die as soon as they retire.

Riette, the reason that they die as soon as they retire is that they are living dead at work. Retirement eliminates the need to move.

And activates the stinking!

Oh yeah , and how!!!

PEW! But luckily you're not like that.

No Riette, I'M not.

'Cos I don't like that.

Riette, I do not doubt that in the least!!

Okay. Good. Do you like bread?

Oh yes, Riette, it is one of my favorite foods. I like the varieties made of unusual grains, like millet.

Yes, me too! With lots of butter and jam. What do you put on?

Riette, I put Butter, Peanut butter, Orange marmalade, just a touch of mayonaise

The first two sound good. The rest sounds . . . . interesting! I like cheese and maple syrup, and a few other things, but my favourite is still bread and strawberry jam.

Well, Riette, That is good too