My wonderfully brilliant copyright professor said something in class last week that I won’t forget.

He said that people develop hobbies like cooking and photography because they present opportunities to produce something tangible.  So many people’s work lives, he continued, are spent working on things that produce nothing (See, e.g., Alanna K., Why I’d Rather Watch True Blood Than Read Copyright Law, 1 J. Law & Procrastination 624, (2009)).

It got me thinking.  When Alex and I worked for our daily college paper, I loved waking up each morning knowing that I could physically pick up the product of my previous day’s work.  We started cooking seriously right after our tenures at the paper ended, and while I always thought that interest served to fill the time void, I hadn’t considered that maybe it fills a more psychological gap as well.  (See Alanna K., Why We Continue to Cook When We Have No Time Again, 1 J. Law & Procrastination 945 (2009)).

More than anything, baking bread gives me a sense of productivity.  It doesn’t require much effort (other than some pulses in the food processor and getting up from our desks every few hours to excitedly poke the rising dough for a bit and ooh over its size), but I feel like we’ve created something magnificent.  Professors: they are usually right.

It’s been a while since we baked bread, so we picked a simple recipe to ease us into it.  This oatmeal walnut bread is fresh, warm, and soft with a crispy finish.  With a slather of nutella, it is heavenly.  We took the recipe from a great book called The Best Bread Ever, and made only a few minor adjustments that are posted below (and a major one: we used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour because it was in the cabinet).  Also, note that the book called for baking the loaves on pizza stones, but we used pyrex baking dishes.  If you have a stone, you are lucky, and should use it.

Ingredients:
(oatmeal)
1/2 cup steel-cut oats (this stuff works)
3/4 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 cup water

(bread)
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 cup plus 3 tbsp water (the 1 cup should warm water)
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Instructions:
To make oatmeal, combine both oats and water in a pot.  Cover, bring to a boil, then uncover and reduce heat to low.  Stir and cook until water is been absorbed, about 5-8 minutes.  Let cool.  Add flour, salt and yeast to the food processor, then add cooled oatmeal.  With the machine running, pour the 1 cup warm water through the feed tube and process until dough comes together into a visible ball, adding more flour or water if necessary.  Remove the dough from the food processor and knead in walnuts.  Transfer dough to a large ungreased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for about three hours.  Scrape dough onto a floured surface, divide into two equal pieces, and shape into two football-sized loves by folding pieces in half and pinching ends together.  Sprinkle a baking sheet with oatmeal, and place loves on sheet.

One hour before baking, preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Place a pan for water on the bottom rack.  Transfer loaves to pyrex containers, brush loaves with water, and sprinkle with more uncooked oatmeal.  Dust surfaces with flour, and use a knife to make a long slash along the length of each loaf.  Pour 1 cup warm water into the pan to create steam, put the bread in the oven, and turn heat to 450 degrees.  After two minutes, open the oven and quickly add another cup of water to the pan for more steam.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, until crust is golden.  Remove loaves, and let cool before serving.

Today, Alex and I became nostalgic for the Sundays when we used to sit around all day, just doing homework and baking bread.

See, we’ve been having a lot of Sundays of sitting around, just doing and homework and NOT baking bread, and they just don’t compare.

Because of the work dilemma, we opted for a recipe straight from Epicurious, our old and faithful source for all things delicious.  This recipe received amazing user reviews, and it’s clear why.  It’s beautiful, straightforward, seasonal and delicious.  I’ve cut myself off for tonight, but I’m already thinking about the slice that I’ll toast for breakfast tomorrow morning.

I’m re-posting the recipe below for your convenience (and ours, as we’ll probably make this again and again).

Ingredients:
3 cups (or more) bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 envelopes quick-rising dry yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tbsp orange extract
1/3 cup (about) hot water (120°F to 130°F)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 large egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)

Instructions:
Combine flour, sugar, yeast and salt in large bowl. Add buttermilk, 2 eggs, melted butter and orange extract and stir until well blended. Gradually stir in hot water until dough is soft and slightly sticky. Knead dough until smooth, about 7 minutes. Knead in dried cranberries 1/3 cup at a time, then knead in walnuts, form into a ball, and place ball in an oiled bow.  Cover dough with plastic wrap and then a towel, and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour and a half.

Lightly oil heavy large baking sheet. Punch down dough, and divide into 4 equal pieces.  Then divide 1 dough piece into 3 equal pieces and reserve. Roll out each of remaining 3 large pieces into 13-inch-long ropes and braid them together, tucking ends under and pincing together. Transfer braid to prepared baking sheet. Roll out each of reserved 3 small dough pieces to 10-inch-long ropes and braid them together.  Brush large braid with some of egg glaze, and top with small braid atop center of large braid. Brush small braid with some of egg glaze. Let rise uncovered in warm area until almost doubled, about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Brush loaf again with egg glaze, and bake until loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 45 minutes.Cool at least 45 minutes before slicing, and serve!

When shopping for clothes, I like to calculate “price per wear” by dividing the price of the item by how many uses it will get. That way, if I want an obscenely expensive coat or pair of shoes, I’ll justify it by assuring myself of its low price per wear.

Certain tasks in the kitchen are subject to a similar analysis: we evaluate the effort of the dish, and divide it by the number of uses we’ll get out of it (like freezing meals for later, or turning it into something else the next day). We use the formula to justify making things that we really want to make, but could easily pick up at a store — like pasta, sauces, bread, etc.

So for a few hours of effort, here’s what became of some delicious French bread we baked: crutons in a salad, toast for French onion soup, a vehicle for mopping up gravy, breakfast with orange marmalade, sandwich bread for lunch, and a side dish for two dinners. Definitely justifiable.

The recipe for the bread comes from Mark Bittman, who promises in How to Cook Everything that this is the easiest and best French bread you will ever make (just in case you still didn’t feel like baking it is justified). It takes a few hours to rise etc., but you’ll be reaping the benefits of your efforts for days.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
scant 1 1/2 cups warm water

Instructions:
In the container of a food processor, combine flour, salt and yeast. Process for five seconds, then slowly pour water into the processor while the machine is running. Process for about 30 seconds until the dough is in a shaggy ball, then transfer it into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for about three hours. Sprinkle a little flour onto a counter, and divide dough into three balls, and let them rise covered for about 30 minutes. Then, flatten each ball and fold it over itself twice, sealing the seam. Spread a towel onto the counter and place the loaves into folded seams of the towel. Let them rise for another 1-2 hours. Preheat the oven to 450, and bake loaves on a lightly floured baking sheet for about 25-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

Call us new-fashioned, but there are few times when we find dinner rolls truly appropriate.

When we’re also eating pasta or rice, dinner rolls seem like overkill. When we’re just serving a light salad, they often don’t match the mood of the meal. But for a recent dinner consisting of roasted chicken and asparagus with a light bean salad, they were just right.

Alex often jokes that I like to calculate the number of hours in between purchasing food and mealtime, and stretch the food preparation out to fill the entire amount of time. He says we can cook the same meal in either 30 minutes or 3 hours, depending on when we get the groceries through the door. These rolls took us about 4 hours (most of that time was spent rising), but you can probably complete them in under 3 if you work efficiently. The recipe is inspired by this one at All Recipes.

Make them in advance, and reheat them in the oven before dinner if you like. They smell so yummy and taste delicious straight from the oven — even better swiped through gravy. Feel free to substitute other herbs that you have on hand.

Ingredients (makes about 12):
1/2 packet dry active yeast
1/2 tbsp white sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter, softened
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
3 1/4 cups all-purpose bread flour
olive oil, for brushing

Instructions:
Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup warm water until foamy, about 10 minutes. In a large bowl, stir together the yeast mixture with milk, eggs, salt, butter, parsley, chives, and 2 cups flour. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough has pulled together (it may be sticky, so feel free to add more flour as necessary). Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bow and coat with oil. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Grease a baking sheet, deflate the dough, and divide it into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball, and place onto the caking sheet. Cover the rolls with a warm, damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in volume again, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350, brush rolls with a bit of olive oil, and make cross-hatches on the dough with a knife. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

This is the bread that we always dreamed we would bake.

The dough was beautiful from the start — elastic and soft. It rose like a beast, and sprang back after we punched it down. It hardly clung to the counter, folding easily into a roll. In the oven, it rounded out into a tall and golden loaf. The slices were evenly swirled, fluffy and chewy, and unbelievably delicious. The bread is sweet enough alone, but when you get to the heavily swirled, gooey bits in the middle, it’s something quite special.

We’ve found that it’s best to bake breads when there are several unimportant things to do, but nothing pressing. Today’s bread took about four hours total, but we were able to fit the steps in between loads of laundry and watching Rock of Love II with Brett Michaels. We found the recipe on Cooks Illustrated this morning, and adjusted it for our standing-mixer-less kitchen. It requires some patience and steps, but we’d recommend it in a second.

Given our trouble getting doughs to rise, this (and challah) absolutely mark our most successful bread recipes yet. Like we mentioned, it’s a dream loaf come true.

Ingredients:
(dough)
1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 package dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra

(filling and glaze)
1/4 cup sugar
5 tsp ground cinnamon
milk for brushing
1 large egg
2 tsp milk

Instructions:
Begin with the dough. Heat milk and butter together in a small saucepan until butter melts. Cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, sprinkle yeast over warm water in a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir slowly in a circular motion while adding sugar, eggs, salt and lukewarm milk mixture. Continue stirring a bit more quickly, and add 2 cups of flour until mixed thoroughly, then add remaining 1 1/4 cups flour until mixed through. Add more flour if dough seems extremely sticky. Remove dough from bowl, and knead on a floured surface for about 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary, until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in covered, greased bowl to rise for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until doubled in size. Once risen, punch dough down once in the center, and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix cinnamon and sugar together for filling, and grease 9×5 inch loaf pan. Roll dough into an 8×18 inch rectangle, with the 8 inch side facing toward you. Brush milk over dough, and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over it, leaving a 1/2 inch edge on the side farthest away. Beginning with the side closest to you, roll dough into a log shape, pressing ends together to make sure that it does not become more than 8 inches. Pinch dough ends together to form a tight seam, and push ends of dough toward the center. Pinch outside dough edges together to form a seal. Place the dough seam-side down into the loaf pan, and press down evenly. Let the dough rise more until it is about 1 inch above the edge of the pan (30-60 minutes). Preheat oven to 350, and combine milk with egg. Before baking, brush this mixture over the top of the loaf. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown, and let cool for 45 minutes before serving.

It was the best of doughs, it was the worst of doughs. Actually, it was two doughs. For the first one, we decided not to activate the yeast before mixing it into the flour. When its growth seemed stunted after two hours, we decided to start a second loaf, this time activating the yeast first. After an additional two hours, both loafs were about the same size, but the second dough was much more elastic than the first one, which was lumpy and heavy. After baking the loaves, we didn’t notice difference in taste, though the second looked a bit fluffier. The lesson: Activate yeast first, or prepare to wait longer for dough to rise.

In retrospect, we’re glad that we baked two loaves — considering that the first was gone after breakfast this morning. Because of the slightly honeyed taste in the bread, we used slices for paninis last night with honey-roasted turkey, mustard and roasted vegetables. For breakfast, toasted with a touch of butter. This bread was easy, delicious-smelling and tasting, and even healthy. Perfect for sandwiches or anything, we’ve already planned to remake recipe (which comes courtesy, of course, of Mark Bittman).

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp butter, slightly melted
1 cup milk
3/4 cup rolled oats

Instructions:
Add yeast and sugar to warm water, stir and let sit 15 minutes. Combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, oat bran and salt in a food processor. Pulse for 5 seconds. Through a tube, add butter, milk and honey. Pulse for about 30 seconds, until the mixture comes together. Knead in rolled oats by hand. Form dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, and cover for about 2 hours, until the dough approximately doubles in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rise for another 15 minutes in a loaf pan, while you preheat the oven to 350. Bake for 45 minutes, until well-risen.