A very productive day! French bread and painting!

I would say today was a great day! Though the weather was a little gloomy I was all set to work. I started by making a french loaf. Sadly, it was a bit misshaped, but it tasted awesome! The recipe that I used was super vague. I had to change it completely to make it work and so, I think I was a little disheartened when it came to shaping the loaf because I figured it wasn't going to work. But, once I baked it, it tasted as good as the real deal. I even made some garlic bread with it. I really missed my Amma while I made this bread because this is her favourite kind of bread after croissants. My Acha would often surprise my Amma by picking up a batch of garlic bread for her. She would savour each bite and you could see the excitement on her face. I wish Amma was here to share the bread with us as I'm sure she and Acha would've loved it. Sometimes just speaking for hours on the phone with her and Acha doesn't seem enough. I wish I could somehow send this loaf of bread to them. Besides me missing my Amma and Acha I also ended up finishing a painting that I had put off for a long time. Sometimes it's just about sitting tight and focusing. I don't know what to call my painting; it just makes me happy! With me missing my friends and family this painting is all I have to keep my mind focused on something else. If only I could express how hard it is sometimes to be away from the people you love. Sometimes you wonder how does your day pass by when you don't have a conventional job or a college to go to. The fact is that it's all in your mind and your heart and you can choose how to live your day. It's easy to sit in front of the TV (trust me, I know this because personally I can be quite a couch potato if I want to be) but you tend to have more of a sense of purpose if you can spend your day more productively. Well, that's my thought for the day (I used to hate "thought of the day" during my school assembly, because by the time they got to the "thought of the day" I would be bored of the story and my feet would be hurting from standing so much). Anyway, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of flour
• 2 tsps of salt
• 2 cups of warm water
• 1 tbsp of active dry yeast
• a bit of oil for greasing your hands and the bowl

Directions:

• Whisk the warm water and yeast together.
• 
• Add 2 cups of flour and 1 tsp of salt and mix to form a batter.
• 
• 
• This batter is called a poolish and must be left in the bowl (covered with a lint-free damp towel) for 3 hours.
• 
• 
• Mix in 2 more cups of flour and the remaining salt and knead till you get a very sticky elastic dough. You might want to use a stand mixer as you will have to knead the dough for at least 8 minutes. If you mix with a spoon by hand you definitely need to prepare your arms for heavy bicep curls. I would advise you to do a few stretches before you begin.
• 
• 
• Grease a bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with a damp lint-free towel and let it rest for another hour.
• 
• Punch the dough with your fist and knead gently. At this point you might want to grease your hands as the dough will tend to be very sticky.
• Carefully add the remaining 1 cup of flour a little at a time as you gently flex the dough about. The flour is only added to dust the dough so that it becomes less sticky.
  
• Make a rough roll out of the dough and place it on a greased baking tray.
• 
• Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius.
  
• Cover the roll with a damp lint-free towel for 20 minutes till it rises one last time before baking.
• 
• Bake for 25 minutes; pull out of the oven.
• 
• Once it is cooled you can slice it up diagonally, spread some butter on it, crushed garlic, and spices and you have yourself an amazing serving of fresh garlic bread. It's also great eaten plain or with a slice of swiss emmental cheese or brie.
• 
• Done!