Seriously??????

So, I decided to try the America's Test Kitchen recipe for Almost No-Knead bread. I'm a lover of the no-knead bread, but I will admit that it can be kinda bland, and a recipe that used a little beer sounded like it was just what I needed.

The original plan was to make the bread and serve it with some pasta. Until I went to my garden and found the first tomatoes of summer......



BLTs are a requirement when you get the first tomatoes of summer. They just are.

And what could be nicer than a BLT on some nice, homemade bread??

The start of the dough....



This is different than my usual no-knead bread... was a lot drier, and well, more like regular dough.

After the first rest overnight....

Then it was time to do the little kneading that is required. Um, problem???

It was like The Thing in dough form. Just kinda went bblllllluuueeeerrrgggg all over the cutting board and as much flour as I tried to use to make is something knead-able and not bllluuueerrgg-like, it just wasn't going to happen. So, I got frustraited and just flopped it onto some parchment paper to do the second rise, and hoped for the best.

About to go into the oven.....

I did like using the parchment paper. Made it very easy to get the dough into my stoneware dish, and very easy to get it out.

And I was pretty impressed with the finished product. Nice crust, good inside, got a good rise out of it, nice flavor. I was very, very happy to slap some bacon, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo on some slices and have a sandwich.

The hubby took one look at my beautiful bread and asked "Where is the 'normal' bread?"

SERIOUSLY????!?!?!?

Yep, he wanted his sandwich on toasted Butternut bread. No interest in the lovely, fresh bread that was waiting.

His loss.