Fresh Bread & Running Confessions

I'm admitting defeat.... I have a cold.  But in all honestly I'm feeling much better today than I did yesterday.  Sensing I might be feeling under the weather yesterday and thinking I may need to give myself some TLC I was prepared and put my crock pot and bread maker to use.

I made a rather unremarkable lentil and brown rice soup that was OK.

But I made some bread that was warm and soft and all the yumminess freshly baked bread should be.  I did cheat though... as far as bread making goes.  I used my bread maker.  I programmed it to make dough, then when I got home from work, I shaped it, let it rise then baked it.  There was no kneading done by these hands.  Still this bread was amazing!


Now for my confession... my weekly mileage is basically non existent... yes I have not ran in a week - 7 whole days.  I have never taken a break this long since I have started running.  Not after I've ran a marathon, not when I've had influenza, not during my sister's weddings - NEVER.  This cold is not an excuse.. I have ran through worse.  The weather is not an excuse.. I don't even think I can consider our current weather conditions a true winter.  

In all fairness to myself I have been busy with my Personal Trainer qualifications - one more exam to go.  But never before have I allowed running to take a back seat to anything in my life.  The only reason I can think that this is happening it that I have no goal race.. like I mentioned a few days ago.  I have signed up as a three person relay for Around the Bay.  But I've considered that just for fun.  I think I need to set a goal to run my portion in 54 minutes.  I am doing what I consider the toughest portion of the course - the middle.  No I don't have the GIANT hill that is part of the race, but I do have the constantly rolling hill including the one hill that NEVER ends.  There it is - my goal.  I'll post my training plan soon.


Now back to more important things... bread

Bread Machine Italian Bread

by Denise Boyd Dunlop

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake bread vegan

Ingredients (about 12 slices)

• 1 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3 1/3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon yeast for bread machines
• 1 tablespoon corn meal
• 1 tablespoon flour

Instructions

Place the first six ingredients in the order listed above into your bread maker. Program to the dough setting. Once the cycle is complete shape dough into an oval shape and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with corn meal. Make several diagonal slashes in the bread dough with a sharp knife - be careful not to make the slashes too deep or they will cause the dough to deflate. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Dust with flour.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

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