The Start

Recently I saw the movie Julie and Julia and was truly inspired! The movie is about a woman who decided to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook - Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The cookbook contained 524 challenging recipes and she gave herself 365 days to complete all of them. How challenging and fun! I immediately wanted to start a project just like this...

I went to the book store to check out the cook book and as I flipped through the pages I just thought... I just can't do this. Not only because of the complexity of the cooking, but because there were so many things my husband and I either couldn't or wouldn't eat. We are picky eaters and most recipe books include a seafood section (which is just not for us). Plus the cook book was $40... I carried it around with me as I wondered through the cooking section and came across some baking books... ah I was on the right track now. Breads, desserts, etc now that is more up our ally, although my husband doesn't like much chocolate.

Then I found it. The Bread Baker's Apprentice - Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart. I flipped through the pages and knew, this was the book. This was the challenge I wanted to do and the book I wanted to bake through! We LOVE bread so this would be just perfect. Also, I already love to make bread and do it fairly well... PLUS I have most of the supplies. This book is not just any cookbook filled with recipes it actually is written by a teacher and includes a great tutorial. The book was $35 - yikes... but I had a nervous excitement creep over me- I can do this, I am going to do this!

So this is my challenge- 1 year to cook through all of the recipes in The BBA. There are about 50 recipes and I intend to cook all of the variations listed. It is not as lofty as Julie Powell and her 524 recipes, but I am excited... and nervous.