Bun in the Oven

Not THAT kind of bun - this kind of bun:

One of my contributions to our family Easter dinner was a loaf of homemade sourdough bread.  I followed this recipe by the lovely and hilairous Mama Pea.  I used my own sourdough starter that I've had for awhile now, though, which I made by following a recipe from Martha Stewart's Breads cookbook.

I let my sourdough starter sit out for about 2 hours, then added all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl:

I stirred together 1 teaspoon active dry yeast, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (heated to about 95*F), 1 1/2 tablespoons honey, 1 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 3/4 cup room temperature sourdough starter.

After the ingredients were all combined, I turned the dough out onto a well-floured surface and kneaded everything together.  I had to add quite a bit of white whole wheat flour, probably about 1/2 cup, and continuously added flour to the counter so that the dough wouldn't stick.

I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes until it was smooth and springy.

I lightly coated a clean mixing bowl with olive oil and placed the dough inside, turning the dough around so that it was completely coated.

Then I covered the dough with a towel and let it rise overnight, for about 12 hours.

Ta-da!  

I punched the dough down and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Then I placed the dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, which I sprayed with cooking spray, and shaped the dough into a loaf, lightly scoring the top a few times.  I baked it at 375*F for 27 minutes.

It smelled ahhhh-mazing.

And tasted delicious!  My family agreed.  I think it actually tasted more like honey whole wheat bread (which makes sense since it contains both honey and whole wheat, imagine that) but not so much like sourdough.  Still very tasty, though!

I wish I could take credit for this little guy, but my mom got him from Great Harvest.  I wanted to have a back-up loaf of bread in case mine didn't turn out, so I suggested my mom pick up a honey bunny from Great Harvest after seeing them on Kath's blog a lot!

We had a special helper in the kitchen with us:

That's Bella.

Just one of the girls.

Well the weekend went too quickly and it's back to the grind.  I got in some cardio at the gym this morning (elliptical and rowing machine - still loving it) and had to stop by the post office to mail my taxes.  Fun stuff!

Most exciting thing of the day:  Hart of Dixie is finally new again!!  Ahhh so excited, I really love that show.  I will be foam rolling my way through it tonight.  I think 2 Broke Girls is new, too - perfection.  

Hope you had a great weekend (filled with chocolate like mine, haha) and that the week is off to a good start for you.

Song of the day:

Okay, this isn't so much a song of the day as it is a video clip of the day (but I do like the song, too).  For your viewing pleasure, here is James Franco in all of his corn-rowed glory, singing along to "Love You Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez & The Scene.  Yes.  Yes, please.