I'm baking bread

I'm baking bread today and making chicken noodle soup.  Why am I baking bread?  Because bread makes me happy.  Because there is nothing like the smell of yeast bread in the oven oozing through your house.  Because bread is basic.  Bread and water, daily bread, bread as Jesus' body, breaking bread with those you love, etc. 
There is something zen about kneading the dough and watching it grow.  And if you do not appreciate the complete and total yumminess of homemade bread, warm from the oven, with melting butter then you must stop reading right now and quit subscribing to my blog.  Obviously our differences are too great for for us to ever be friends. 

So I used the Southern Living bread recipe that I posted the other day and it was terrific.  After the first rise I divided the dough in half.  I divided one of the halves in half again and made 2 loaves of bread.  With the other half, I folded in a cinnamon sugar mix.  I poured the excess cinnamon sugar in the bottom of the pan before adding the dough and then topped with glaze after baking. 

plain bread dough--that is melted butter on top

plain bread out of the oven/pan

Cinnamon  bread out just out of the oven

cinnamon bread out of pan

cinnamon bread with glaze

Cinnamon bread slice---can you see the ribbon of cinnamon in the middle?

I'm making chicken noodle soup because my whole family has been sick.  I figure a little old fashioned home remedy can't make it any worse at this point.

We went out to the fair to pick up C's pieces he entered. Here's pics----

  

The blue ribbon winners

Cross

basket

Third place winners

Veggie face mug and Frankenstein mug

5th place winner

fish plates

Annnnd, he also got $20 for having 2 first place and 2 3rd place entries!  Woohoo! He is very excited.