Happy New Year!

When the WIL Research Cooks cookbooks arrived, it seemed only natural that someone should "Julie & Julia" it.  For those who are not familiar with the blog/book/movie, the protagonist challenged herself to cook everything in Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year.  My plan is similar in that I will cook everything in the WIL Research Cooks cookbook in 2014, but different in that no meats need to be encased in gel (as far as I know).

Since there are no black-eyed peas recipes in the WIL Research Cooks recipe, and I was already committed to making the best cake ever by request of my friend Marlene, I settled on switching out the french bread I had planned to make with Whole Wheat Bread (page 85).  Since I also had all the ingredients (including barely enough shortening) on hand, this was the perfect choice!

I managed to underestimate the amount of time required to make the bread by a half hour due to poor reading comprehension (the bread bakes for 45 minutes but I only added in the 20 minutes during which you should cover it with foil to prevent over-browning).  Luckily black-eyed peas, once cooked, can simmer on low for hours before getting gross, so aside from my cranky, hungry toddler, no one suffered as a result.

Although the recipe provides direction to knead the bread by hand, I at first used my stand mixer (with dough hook) because I intended to go for a run (it being New Year's Day and the high caloric intake resulting from the aforementioned best cake ever foremost in my thoughts).  However, I soon realized the flour incorporated into the batter better when mixed by hands, so I finished it out by kneading by hand per recipe specs.  The dough was pleasant to work with by hand, and I like to think I got in some extra exercise this way.  The dough was also very tasty in its unbaked state.

As mentioned before, I misjudged the timing of starting the bread slightly so we cut into it immediately after removing it from the oven (sort of a bread no-no, but my favorite way to consume homemade bread).  I ate  a piece without butter and then with butter, and preferred the later (big surprise!).  My friend Marlene commented that it would be an excellent bread for peanut butter and jelly, and I agreed peanut and banana would also be delightful. 

Overall, I'd say this first foray into the WIL Research Cooks cookbook was a great success!  Thanks to Jen for the recipe!

Here is  a picture of the bread (along with some chocolate wine we also partook of), photo credits to my husband Phil: