I have always wanted to learn how to bake better and made that be one of my new year resolution. Like most people i usually stop my new years resolutions around January 15th, but this year i decided to join a group of bakers that I heard on NPR’s Talk of the Nation called Tuesdays with Dorie. In this group every other Tuesday we create delicious baked good from Dorie Greenspan’s Cookbook Baking with Julia.
Today marks the first day of the Baking and our recipe was for white Loaves. 
I was very nervous about making bread, it was very intimidating. I have never baked with yeast, and was nervous about if i was going to do it right. However, all my stress was not needed. The bread turned out great. If you link to Jules Blog you will be able to see the recipe and all of the other 300 baker that attempted this first challenge.
Once I got over the intimidation of baking bread i did not have many issues. One of the issues i did have was that my kitchen is not heated and when i had to let the dough rise it took a bit longer than the cookbook stated. I also had to turn on the oven to create the heat for the second rising i had to loaf a bit too close to the heat output and it cooked a bit.
Overall, i really enjoyed this challenge and am excited for the chocolate truffle tartlets on the 21st.
Sew, Sew Geeky 
I had always had a NY’s resolution to cook something new every week and use my cookbooks – when I joined French Fridays with Dorie last year I finally have fulfilled that years long resolution and am having a blast doing so. Looking forward to reading more of your posts through Baking with Julia!
I’m sure you will learn a lot from this experience! It’s very exciting isn’t it?
Congratulations on jumping into the world of yeast with both feet!
I think baking through BWJ is going up the skill level of us all -no matter how fresh or veteran we may be. Looking forward to the adventure!
LOL its a delicate balance to find a great place to proof your dough in the wintertime 🙂 I crank my oven, then turn it off, wait a few minutes, open the door and set my proofing bowl on the door itself and its just enough warmth for just long enough to perfectly proof my dough each time 🙂 of course i dont need to do it in the summertime but the winter makes the house quite cold!
The oven proofing method’s not foolproof, unfortunately! I was lucky that I was baking in a house with a gas fireplace. Its hearth is the perfect place for dough to rise.