Crisp Rosemary Garlic Crackers

I love a good cracker. They are the perfect simple appetizer or snack, either on their own or along with a nice slice of cheese or a really good dip. I'm a sucker for almost any type of cracker, but those long thin "artisan" crackers are my favorite. And while there are a lot of really nice crackers out there available for buying, the other week I decided to try my hand at making a batch from scratch. I found a recipe for a beautiful looking artisan style cracker online and just had to try it. I only had to adjust it slightly to fit with the ingredients I had on hand, replacing the assorted seeds (which I didn't have) with some dried rosemary and garlic (which I did). 

The verdict? They turned out wonderfully! I've made crackers in the past, but these turned out far better then any of my past attempts. It really helps to use a pasta roller to get the dough perfectly thin and even. The rosemary flavor really shown through giving these crackers a warm herbal aroma and a nice punch of flavor. I plan on playing around with other flavors in the future, this is only the beginning...

Homemade crackers are great, but there is no doubt that they are not the quickest thing in the world to make. It definitely takes some time to roll out all the dough, cut it into whatever shape you want, transfer them to a baking sheet, and bake them up, but it is all worth it in the end. If you have an open afternoon and are looking for a fun project, try some crackers! They will be worth it, I promise!

Rosemary Garlic Crackers

Adapted from 

True Food

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (I used 7.5 oz whole wheat and 2.5 oz all purpose)  
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced dried rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup water (plus 2 tablespoons as needed)
• 3 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter), room temperature (I used 1 oz)
• Sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions

In a standing mixer with a bread hook, combine flour, sugar, salt, rosemary and garlic. Slowly add the ghee and water to the mixture. Mix on medium speed until a ball of dough forms, stopping the machine once or twice to scrape the sides and roll excess flour from the bottom of the bowl into the ball of dough. Note: You may need the extra 2 tablespoons water to get the dough to form, but allow it to mix for several minutes before adding any additional water. The dough should be slightly shiny and a little sticky to the touch, but should easily form into a ball without getting all over your hands

Preheat your oven to 425˚F and position the rack to the middle. Divide the dough into four equal parts. Working with one piece of dough at a time, feed one end through a pasta machine on the first setting (see note below if you do not have a pasta machine). I usually do this a few times until I get a nice supple dough. Then continue on to setting 2 and work your way up to setting 6 (this is where I stopped on my Atlas pasta machine).

Lay the flattened strip of dough onto a lightly floured surface and using a bench scraper or sharp knife, slice it into equally sized rectangles or squares, whatever you prefer.

Note: If you do not have a pasta machine roll the dough as evenly as possible with a rolling pin, so it’s about 1/8 of an inch thick (not see-through, but close) strip. If you find the dough snaps back, allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes before continuing to roll it out. Cut into crackers from there. It requires more elbow grease and they’ll have a more rustic look this way. Be sure to flour the surface so it doesn’t stick once you’re rolled the dough out thin.

Place the crackers onto a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with sea salt, pressing the salt in gently to ensure it sticks. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes, turning the pan once partway through for even browning. Be sure to watch them carefully, they’re done when the edges are golden brown. Cooking time will vary based on the thickness of your crackers.

Continue with the remaining three parts of dough until you’ve shaped and baked all your crackers. Depending on the size and shape you should yield about 50 crackers. Serve with cheese, dips, and spreads at your next get together. The crackers will store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week.

Yields: How many crackers you get obviously depends on how big you cut them and how thick you roll the dough out. However, just to give you an idea, I'll let you know that I got 65-70 crackers from one recipe.

Crackly Sugar Cookies

The simple sugar cookie: so simple, so basic, and so delicious.  Whether thin and crispy, thick, and chewy, or soft and tender, all are delicious in their own way. While I do love pretty much every sugar cookie there is, I am partial to the thick and chewy sort, but for whatever reason I have found it difficult to find the perfect recipe for this style sugar cookie. Every recipe I try seems to turn out more of a thin crispy cookie, still buttery and delicious, but missing that substantial chew that I am looking for. 

Thankfully, I recently stumbled across this recipe which has produced the best cookie yet! They are pretty thick (maybe not yet quite as thick as I'd like, but I can work on fixing that) and nice and chewy. With a nice crackly top that is covered in sugar they are a winner. I made them pretty big to ensure a nice soft and chewy center and a slightly crisp edge which was wonderful, but I'm sure a little smaller cookie would be just as delicious. With a base of butter, sugar and flour there is no way they couldn't be!

I baked up one batch of these cookies pretty quickly after I had made the dough because I needed them right away and they turned out very nice. The rest of the dough I put in the fridge to chill a little while and then baked them. This definitely helped the cookies stay a little thicker and even chewier, so if you have the time I would recommend chilling the dough before baking. But either way, if you're looking for a thick, chewy and delicious sugar cookie, look no further, this is it!

Crackly Sugar Cookies
Adapted from Chow.com
Ingredients

• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup sugar (sanding or granulated) for rolling cookies

Directions
Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl sides and bottom. Add yolks and vanilla, and mix on medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Add flour, baking soda, salt, corn starch and cream of tartar. Mix on low speed until dough comes together. Scoop dough by rounded tablespoons and roll between your hands until smooth.

Roll dough in sanding or granulated sugar to coat and place on parchment-paper-lined baking sheets. Bake cookies until they are golden brown around the edges but still soft in the center, about 16- 18 minutes. Immediately transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yields: 9 very large (100 gram) cookies, approximately 455 calories each or 18 more average sized cookies, approximately 230 calories each

Homemade Ranch Party Pretzels

If you are in the mood for some good snack food I have just the thing for you. Homemade Ranch Party Pretzels are addicting and delicious, and as snack foods go, not too unhealthy. I made this recipe up because I was craving something salty and snacky, but I wasn't going to waste my money on a bag of some snack mix at the store when I can make something better and cheaper at home. 

I'm always a sucker for Chex Mix, but just can't justify buying something full of ingredients such as "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil," "hydrolyzed soy protein," and "distilled monoglycerides" with "color added," especially when it's so easy to make yourself at home. It was time to make my own snack mix but I decided to switch it up a little and use ranch flavors instead of the traditional Chex Mix seasoning. I also didn't feel like going out and buying all the different components that make up normal Chex Mix so I grabbed a bag of pretzels and decided that was good enough, and I love these little alphabet pretzels, they are so cute! 

It was all worth it, this snack mix is amazing! Covered in delicious homemade ranch seasoning, these pretzels satisfied my craving for some addictive snack. It's a dangerous thing but I'll risk it!

Like I said, I was too lazy to go buy the different cereals, nuts, bagel chips and whatever else you often see in mixes like this. The pretzels worked great by themselves, but it you're looking for all the different textures have at it, I think that would be great too. I covered the pretzels in a homemade ranch seasoning mix, the recipe for which I found online and have been wanting to try. It uses buttermilk powder and a whole bunch of dried herbs and couldn't be easier to mix together. There are so many things you can do with this homemade seasoning besides make this mix so it's totally worth whipping together a batch. 

Also, one of the things that makes homemade Chex Mix so wonderful is the stick of butter on it. However, I wanted something that I didn't feel quite as guilty eating by the handfuls in the middle of the afternoon so I nixed the butter and used a lightly beaten egg white and a drizzle of olive oil instead. Honesty, I didn't notice the missing butter, not to say it wouldn't be absolutely fantastic, but I wanted these pretzels to be a little leaner than that. In the end I think I ended up with a super easy and absolutely delicious mix that you won't feel too bad about eating. Give it a try, I bet you'll agree. 

Homemade Ranch Party Pretzels

From Delectably Mine

Ingredients

• 1 15-oz bag small pretzels
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• Drizzle of olive oil, if desired
• 1/2 recipe homemade ranch seasoning mix (see below)

Directions

Place entire bag of pretzels in a large bowl. Pour in the egg white and a drizzle of olive oil (if desired, for a little more flavor). Mix together until evenly coated. Pour on the ranch seasoning and mix until well combined. 

Spread pretzels on a large baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes at 325 degrees, mixing halfway through the baking time. 

Cool to room temperature and enjoy!

Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix

From 

Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried buttermilk powder
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley, divided
• 2 teaspoons dried dill, divided
• 2½ teaspoons garlic powder
• 2¼ teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons dried minced onion
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Place the buttermilk, 1 tablespoon of the parsley, 1 teaspoon of the dried dill, garlic powder, onion powder, dried minced onion, salt, sugar, black pepper, paprika and cayenne in a food processor or blender. Process until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed, about 15 seconds. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container or glass jar, add in the remaining 1 tablespoon dried parsley and 1 teaspoon dried dill and whisk to combine.

Store the mixture in the refrigerator for up to 3 months, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Note: 3 tablespoons of this mix is equivalent to a 1-ounce packet of ranch seasoning mix.

Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

I've had my sourdough starter for a while now and love how versatile and easy it is to use. I only need to make sure that at least every few I use it in a recipe, or if for whatever reason that just doesn't happen, I only need to feed it to make sure it continues to do well. Since I love making bread and trying out new recipes it usually isn't much of a problem to find something to do with it. 

I discovered this sandwich loaf a little while back when I was looking for a quick and easy way to use my sourdough starter. Since I was in the mood for a few sandwiches I searched around for a simple sourdough sandwich loaf. This recipe, adapted from King Arthur Flour, fit the bill perfectly. A nice, pretty basic yeasted bread recipe with the addition of sourdough starter as well as a combination of seeds and grains for some chew and nuttiness. I changed up the recipe just a little bit to suit my needs without any real problem, and ended up with a perfectly delicious sourdough sandwich loaf, just what I needed for a few really fantastic sandwiches. 

If I'm going to make bread I like to make sure I make it worth my while so I decided to double the original recipe and make two loaves instead of just one and I was able to do this without any real problem. I've also increased the amount of whole wheat flour in my recipe to make the bread even more nutritious. Throwing in a few handfuls of whatever grains/seeds/nuts I have on hand gives the final product a nice heartiness that I really enjoy, especially in whole wheat bread. I think you could just skip this part all together if you wanted to, but it really does add a nice touch to your bread. In other words, this is a very forgiving bread that I've made several times now and really enjoyed. Play around with it to make it work for you, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

Adapted from 

King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• ~2 cups (11 oz) fed sourdough starter
• 1 1/2 cups (11-12 oz) lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoon (3/4 oz) olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup (5 oz) All-Purpose Flour
• 3 cups (15 oz) Whole Wheat Flour
• 2/3 cup your favorite blend of seeds and/or grains (such as coarse cornmeal, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and whole oats)    
• 2 1/2 -3 teaspoons instant yeast

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and knead to form a smooth dough, about 5-7 minutes. Cover the dough, and allow it to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours; it'll become puffy, though it may not double in bulk.

Lightly grease two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" bread pan. Gently deflate the risen dough, shape into two logs and place in the pans. Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap, and allow to rise until it crests at least 1" over the rim of the pan, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The bread doesn't have much oven-spring (i.e., it won't rise much once it's in the oven), so be sure to let it rise fully before baking. A loaf risen 1" over the rim of the pan will be denser and more close-grained; letting it rise higher will give you a "spongier," lighter bread. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, tenting it with foil after 20 minutes if it's as brown as you like it. When it's done, the bread will be golden brown, and will register 190°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center.

Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack, to cool completely.

Yields: 2 loaves, about 15 slices per loaf

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Muffins

It may be January, but I have one last Christmas-y recipe to share. I am a big gingerbread fan (as you could probably already tell from the  Gingerbread Bundt Cake I made for my big family Christmas party) but it seems to be something that is only eaten at Christmas, so I have to try and fit in as many different recipes during December as I can. Since I'm such a huge muffin fan I couldn't resist a gingerbread muffin of course. I decided to fill it with dark chocolate and fresh cranberries, one of my favorite combinations. Along with some molasses, spices and a little butter, this blend of flavors packs the perfect punch of flavor that can be enjoyed all winter long. 

Nothing fancy in this recipe, just a lot of nice add in's and spices that can be customized to your tastes. Don't have any fresh cranberries, how about dried cranberries? Or dried cherries for that matter. Try switching out the dark chocolate with some white chocolate, or skip the chocolate + fruit combination and throw in some cinnamon chips. Whatever you like and have on hand. That's what I love so much about muffins, they are so easy to adapt. So go ahead, have some fun!

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Muffins

Adapted from 

Sweet Phi

Ingredients

• ½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter, melted (I've also replaced 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt and they still turn out great!)
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1¾ cups flour
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon all spice
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with liners. 

In a microwave safe bowl microwave butter for 30 seconds, then remove from microwave and add milk, molasses, egg and vanilla. Whisk until combined, it's ok if there are a few lumps.

In another bowl add all dry ingredients except the cranberries and chocolate. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir a few times, then add the cranberries and chocolate, mixing until everything is just combined, don't over-mix. Spoon batter into muffin liners. Bake for 15-18 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool.

Yields: I got 10 medium sized muffins

Christmas Morning Breakfast Wreath

Today I'm excited to share one of the most beautiful and delicious recipes I've ever made. Last week I went to one of my favorite bakeries because I had to get a loaf of their stollen before Christmas was over. I'd never actually tried stollen, but I knew I would love this dense, heavy fruitcake filled with boozy dried fruit and almond paste, covered in butter and sugar. I was right, it is one of the most delicious breads I have ever eaten. Inspired by this bread, I decided to make something along the same lines for my Christmas morning breakfast. This recipe that I found from The Kitchn was the reminiscent of a traditional stollen, but with a twist, perfect for a festive breakfast to celebrate Christmas morning.

The ingredient list may look long for this recipe, but it really isn't any more difficult than most yeasted breads. The whole concept is similar to making cinnamon rolls, but with a filling of dried fruit and almonds instead of cinnamon sugar. 

I actually halved the original recipe since there was only two of us to eat this cake and we certainly didn't need the whole recipe. There were no problems halving the recipe, the only thing that changed was that the wreath wasn't as big as the original, there wasn't much of a hole in the middle, but this this didn't affect the finished product in any way other than looks. 

The recipe called for the wreath to be baked for 25 minutes, but when I checked mine at this point it wasn't anywhere near being done. I ended up baking it for about 50 minutes total. I don't know where this discrepancy came from, but I thought my wreath was baked perfectly at 50 minutes, I don't know why it took double the time called for in the original recipe. The only thing I can think of is that since I halved the recipe and my wreath was much more compact, it took longer for it to cook through, but who knows. Regardless, this recipe turned out so absolutely delicious, the perfect way to start off my Christmas morning!

Christmas Morning Breakfast Wreath
Adapted from The Kitchn
Ingredients
For the bread:

• 1 1/2-1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 tablespoons warm water 
• 1/4 cup warm milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten 

For the fruit-almond filling:

• 1/3 cup dried cranberries, cherries, and/or raisins soaked in 1/2 cup brandy or other liqueur
• 2-3 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour 
• 1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 oz almond paste, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

For the sugar glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon orange juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom powder

Directions
Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix together the flour, sugar, salt, cardamom powder, yeast, lemon and orange peel. Add the butter, water, milk and egg and mix until starting to form a shaggy mass. Then turn on the mixer and knead until it forms a smooth and supple dough (add more water if it is too dry and more flour if it is too wet as needed).

Place dough in a lightly oiled mixing bowl large enough to accommodate dough when doubled in size. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Prepare the cranberry-almond filling: Drain the dried fruit from the liqueur and reserve the liqueur for another use. In a small bowl, combine the drained fruit with remaining filling ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.

Shape the dough: When dough has doubled in size, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured board, kneading just enough to release any air bubbles. Roll the dough into a long rectangle. Crumble the filling over the dough to within 1 inch of the edges. Starting along a long side, tightly roll up the dough, pinching edge against loaf to seal. With a sharp knife, cut roll in half lengthwise. Carefully turn the halves so the cut sides are facing up, and then loosely twist the halves around each other, keeping cut sides up. (Check out the photos from The Kitchn if you're having a difficult time visualizing this.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment or non-stick baking mat. Carefully transfer the rope to the baking sheet and shape into a wreath, pinching the ends together to seal. Let it rise, uncovered, in a warm place until puffy, about 45 minutes. (Alternatively, place wreath immediately into the fridge and let it rise overnight. In the morning, remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature, 1/2-1 hour before proceeding with baking.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the wreath until lightly browned, 45-50 minutes. While the wreath is baking, stir together the ingredients for the glaze and set aside.

When wreath is done, transfer to a cooling rack by picking up the sides of the parchment and then sliding the parchment out from underneath. Cool for a few minutes then drizzle the glaze over the warm wreath. Serve with extra butter if you're feeling decadent.

Christmas Cookies 2014

Merry Christmas! Once again this year Lara and I had way too much fun in the kitchen baking Christmas cookies and lots of other goodies to share with friends and family members. It has been a blast, and I am sad that it is now over for another year. But that's okay, I can always look back on my photos and remember the good times. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, however you celebrate, and a blessed New Year!

The traditional rolled sugar cookies made their yearly appearance, decorated solely by Lara, I can't claim to have had anything to do with those. Gingerbread men are my favorite so they also joined the fun. I also made some mini almond pound cakes for another option this year using a pan my sister-in-law gave me a little while back. I am pleased with how it all turned out.

I brought a tray of cookies to my families Christmas party, and then made bags of cookies for friends, as well as boxes to hand out to the neighbors. Both Lara and I had so much fun with the whole process as we do every year. Now off to celebrate Christmas!

Gramercy Tavern’s Gingerbread

We had our Christmas party for my mom's side of the family yesterday. It was a wonderful time of food, conversation and festivities! I had such a fun time seeing everyone and catching up on what is going on in everyone's lives. Of course I offered to supply a few dishes to the lunch menu along with a few other family members. Everything turned out deliciously from the roasted beef tenderloin provided by my grandma to the salads and desserts brought by everyone else. My contribution to the dessert table this year was a rich and dark gingerbread cake that I had spotted on Smitten Kitchen some time ago. It had intrigued me, but until now I had never had the opportunity to make it. Gingerbread is not really something you can make year round so I was excited to have the opportunity to try it out. 

I ended up loving the cake. It really does pack a punch of flavor thanks to the oatmeal stout, the dark molasses, and the 2 tablespoons of ground ginger. It is an intense cake, definitely not for the faint at heart. A scoop of ice cream or a dollop of freshly whipped cream are the perfect accompaniment. I think a simple lemon glaze or some lemon curd would also be wonderful options. If you're looking for something different from the typical sugar cookies or chocolate cake this Christmas, give this cake a try, it will be difficult to forget. 

Other than needing to go out and buy a few extra ingredients to make this cake (the stout and the dark molasses) there was nothing difficult about this cake. I mixed it all together by hand, didn't even need a mixer thanks to the use of oil. It came together easily and baked up beautifully, perfectly done at 50 minutes, exactly as the recipe said. 

From what I read about this cake, it is very prone to stick to the pan so I heeded all the advice I read and made sure to butter and flour my bundt pan very, very throughly. It seemed to work as I didn't have really any sticking at all. However, my bundt pan is pretty new and releases cakes easily. My old bundt pan was notorious for having cakes stick and come out in two or more pieces, not so pretty. But regardless of how nice your pan is, I'd advise making sure you spend a little extra time greasing and flouring it up before pouring the batter in. It would be so disappointing to have this cake fall apart on it's way out of the pan. 

Gramercy Tavern's Gingerbread

From 

Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout
• 1 cup dark molasses (NOT blackstrap)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of ground cardamom
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• Confectioners sugar for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Very, very, generously butter a bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess. This cake will stick badly if pan is not thoroughly greased. 

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Serve cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream or ice cream.

Do ahead: I'm told this gingerbread is even better if made a day ahead. I made mine 2 days ahead and it was fantastic. I didn't try it freshly baked, but it didn't appear to suffer at all in the 2 day wait.