I've had ENOUGH!

If I have to open this page one more time and look at sickly-yellow banana muffins, I'm going to quit blogging all together. 
PEOPLE!  Contribute! 
This has been the week of soup and bread.  Lots of both. 
Last night we had Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower Soup. 
Mmmmm.... it really did make me tingle all over.  One of my kids, upon smelling the amazing aroma wafting up from the pot, insisted that we were having stuffing for dinner.  Sadly, he was fooled.  He would have been much happier with stuffing.  BUT.  The rest of us devoured this yummy stuff.

Here's my only somewhat yellow-tinted picture of the half-way point.

FRESH minced parsley being added to the mix.

Go back and look at Pioneer Woman's pictures.

Her's make you actually WANT to make the soup.

Okay.  So now the REAL reason I'm posting today.  THAT bread.  A French Baguette.  Fresh from the oven.  And SO good I almost forgot to take a picture before the last baguette had been cut in to and was almost gone.  See the teeth marks in the buttered piece?  It was at that point that I resisted the urge to break the surface, and put down the pleasure to snap an only minutely yellow picture of this delicious stuff.
HERE is how you make it (EASY!)

BEST French Baguettes EVER
(Picky Stuffing-Boy said it tasted like restaurant bread)

3 cups lukewarm water


8 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
[note: I used 1 cup wheat plus 7 cups white flour, and it turned out great]

1 tablespoon table salt

2 tablespoons instant yeast
 
Mix water and yeast.  Let sit for two minutes.
Add flour and salt.  Mix until dough is soft, and divide into four pieces.
Form into four small rectangular loaves.
Place onto greased pan (I sprinkle corn meal under the loaves)
Let rise until double--about 30-40 mintues
lightly (so as not to compress dough) slice loaves 3-4 times on the diagonal
spritz heavily or brush loaves with water (or egg white/water wash)
Bake at 450 for 26-28 minutes.
 
SO good warm!  The crust is VERY "crusty" and the inside soft and delicious.
(Be careful cutting it!  I cut myself)
If you store the loaves in plastic, the crust softens up for the next time you cut it.