In the past year I’ve learned a lot of things. I’ve learned that it’s possible to get along with people you won’t always agree with. I’ve learned that I need to keep the door to my balcony open and exhaust fan on when I turn my oven higher than 450 degrees or the smoke alarm will sound. I taught myself how to make pizza dough from scratch and I learned a little bit about HTML coding (I still can’t do it, but I know what it IS and that’s more than I could have said a year ago).

I’ve learned how to successfully navigate the taxi lines at JFK Airport, a task that once seemed intimidating for me to do on my own. I’ve learned that the world won’t come crashing down around me if I put on ten pounds (but my favorite jeans might not fit as well. That’s what department stores are for).
I’ve learned all these things since I began blogging approximately a year ago (a year ago yesterday to be exact).

While many bloggers celebrate their one year “blog-iversary” with an essay about why their blog has been meaningful to them or an image of a cupcake with one single candle, it wasn’t something I felt compelled to do. Which is a good thing, since it wasn’t until about 4:00 PM yesterday that I actually realized I’d hit the one year mark and I never would have had time to bang out a quick post.

So, consistent with the theme around here these days, it seemed appropriate to honor this here blog with my post about Artos, a Greek Celebration Bread that I baked as part of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge that I recently joined.

Though there are many variations on Artos, Peter Reinhart gives us a basic formula and two preferred variations, Christopsomos (a Christmas bread) and Lambropsomo (an Easter bread). While the latter two recipes incorporated various dried fruits and nut combinations, I decided to keep this one simple and bake it according to the master recipe.

I like my bread as non-denominational as possible, especially my celebration breads and particularly during Passover.
I digress.
My intention to “keep it simple” sort of backfired because I left the bread in the oven a tad longer than I should have (tad = extra half hour).

Despite a deeper hued and crispier crust, the bread was aromatic, spicy and even seemed out of place in my kitchen as I puttered around in a sundress. Artos would definitely be well enjoyed in colder weather, when we crave warm and comforting foods more than we crave fitting into our bathing suits.
So to come full circle, it seems like in the past year, I’ve also learned, um, how to burn bread.

If you want to learn how not to burn bread, more specifically, Greek Celebration Bread, feel free to visit some of my fellow bakers in the BBA challenge:

White Apples – Artos – It’s a Celebration!

Salt & Serenity – Artos, My Greek Jewish Bread

No Fear Entertaining – Artos: Greek Celebration Breads