My stress levels sometimes dictate what I end up baking:
cupcakes, cookies = Life’s sweet! I’m happy! Hearts and sun and little puppies!
two-layer cake with buttercream frosting = I need to be cloaked from the cruel world behind a cloud of flour.
bread = Don’t talk to me. Seriously.
Made this herbed, cheesy Focaccia With Fresh Sage during election week, because I wanted to soothe my frayed nerves by working on some dough with my hands. I have a dough hook for my stand mixer and a bread machine as well, but sometimes, nothing beats kneading dough yourself.
I was scanning the images that I took as the focaccia took shape, and just looking at them makes me happy. So happy, in fact, that I’ve tacked some of these up on my corkboard in the office. The first one is my favorite. Call me crazy, but I’ve always thought that the pattern flour makes after I’ve thrown it across my work surface is one of the prettiest images in the kitchen. I often step back before I lay the dough on it to just stare at it. (Writing that out makes me seem INSANE. Ahaha!)
If you’re interested in the recipe, THIS is the one I used. I knew I wanted to include fresh sage in it because I had so much in the fridge from a previous meal. As it turns out, I was Googling stuff on the herb for this post and learned that its Latin name is salvia, which means “to heal.” And that, it did. 
Happy weekend, all!
November 7th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Whenever I am tired I find baking a good way to relax
Now for the bread, that look good ha. I havent tried making bread yet but I’ ll surely try that recipe soon
Have a great weekend J.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I’m the opposite, I bake bread when I’m happy. Means I actually have the energy and time to do it lol Now that the nights are getting cooler, not a bad idea to fire-up the oven and bake some warm bread
Let’s bake bread!
November 8th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Ahh…a much more productive way of letting out steam compared to scouring pots hahaha! Me? I don’t dare bake anything when I’m in a foul mood. My mood always affects my cooking. Kinda like ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ (kuno!)
November 8th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
j. ana, i love foccacia! so much! usually i like the herbed onion one, then dipped in olive oil-balsamic vinegar-parmesan cheese concoction…heaven! i wish i could smell the aroma of it baking in the oven…super sarap siguro!
and wow! parang puro exclamation points ang comment ko! !!! !!! haha
November 8th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Beautiful pictures
I especially like one with the dough ball in the bowl! I never understood Focaccia. I know it’s lovely bread, but is it for any certain dishes? 
November 13th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
“two-layer cake with buttercream frosting = I need to be cloaked from the cruel world behind a cloud of flour”
So poetic-funny! May I borrow that line sometime? I, on the other hand, can only bake cakes and pastries when I happy; high stress level for me commands a cleaver or a knife or both. Nothing beats mincing ingredients to wee little pieces in reducing my stress.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:21 am
So this is a healing bread!