Isn’t it funny that when you get a group of people together, you can usually divide them up in so many different groups with just a few words?

Cat lovers over here, dog lovers over there. Easy listening on the right, Heavy Metal on the left.

Vanilla? Chocolate.

Hey, fruitcake lovers, join me on the couch.

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Hello, No-Knead Garlic-Cheese Flatbread!

Nice to see you, Garlic Herb Mac & Cheese.

Ah, Herb & Onion Rolls…

What do all of these have in common?

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Here’s a baking truism:

The plainer, simpler, and more common the dish, the more recipes you’ll find for it.

And boy, doesn’t that turn simple into complicated – fast!

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I admit it, I’m a fiend. Pointy tail, forehead horns, spinning head, the whole 9 yards.

What, pray tell, turns your mild-mannered baking blogger into such a creature?

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Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere…

But what do you DO with them – aside from admire their cheery, bright orange presence on your doorstep, and eventually carve them into a jack-o’-lantern?

Well, you can actually cook pumpkin and make it into all kinds of wonderful treats, from pie and scones to muffins (gluten-free!) and bread and soup and… well, suffice it to say we have 46 recipes on our site making use of this versatile vegetable. Or fruit. (But vegetable is more alliterative, so let’s stick with that.)

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It’s becoming pretty darned hard to fit our retail store into my camera lens. I found myself saying that just the other day, as I took this picture from across the busy road, next to our temporary employee parking area. (more…)

You visit a fancy metropolitan bakery. You pay fairly big bucks for a loaf of “artisan bread.”

You think to yourself, “Hmmm, I should be able to make this at home… how hard could it be?”

The answer is – as hard as you make it, given the degree of authenticity you want the loaf to have.

You can build your own starter, and feed it twice daily. Make dough figuring baker’s percentages and proper hydration, then mix and knead it to yield the perfect temperature for yeast growth. You can lovingly shape the loaf using traditional techniques, and bake it in an oven you’ve carefully filled with steam.

And if everything goes right, and you’re a pretty good baker, you’ll have an excellent loaf.

Me, I’m simply not that patient. I can certainly follow the artisan bread process; I’ve done it, it’s interesting, it works.

But most days, I’ll trade taste for classic preparation methods, thanks anyway. If you feel the same – read on.

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Ah, supermarket bread!

Beloved of children, remembered with nostalgia by their crusty-chewy-artisan-loaf-eating parents. Close-grained, soft, moist, dense, and perfect for sandwiches. And toast.

But not for rolling into bread balls and firing at the kid across the lunchroom table.

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Looking for a colorful addition to your autumn bread basket?

You won’t do better than these pumpkin muffins.

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As summer winds down and we start to think about cool winter dinners, I think about roasting vegetables for side dishes and complements to our dinners. But should vegetables always be the side dish? Why not make them a main dish this year?

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