The Season of Bread

Our holidays were blessed and bookended by loaves of most delicious bread, each baked (by coincidence, not a bake-off), via the cast-iron pan method @ 500 degrees.
Oh, yummity yummity yum!

New Year's Eve bread, baked and given to us by David "Shahabaddin" Durr, mouthwatering delicious just to look at. Can't even begin to describe the crackly yet tender crust, the delicate blend of whole grain and white flours, the sense of presence this bread brought with it. Just looking at it felt like a promise of a better year to come. And tasting it? oh, oooo, la-la. Definitely better already. 

Christmas Eve bread baked and brought to us from our now-official daughter-in-law, Jessica, accompanied by delicious dipping sauce from son, Immy. Yeasty, tender, sublimely delicious, with the chewy-crisp crust only high heat can create, and an aroma out of this world, a righteous tribute to the Christmas season.  Paired this with butter-bath chicken (hey, that's what the recipe called it) and the meal was one of the best of the year, hands down. 

May we all be blessed with bread and roses, with sustenance and spirit, all seasoned well with laughter and joy for the year to come. And bread. Don't forget the bread.