As part of our continuous Valentine's Day date, Travis planned the activity that we would do this year while I planned the dinner. We got to go out last night for dinner, which was great! We stayed out late and had fun together.

When I woke up this morning, this is what I saw...

Normally some wives might be mad at seeing the mess, but I was so happy because I knew what it meant--homemade bread!

Travis told me this week, "To you, the smell of bread is so romantic, so that is what I planned for our Valentine's Day date activity." My man knows me well. Haha.

Bread #1:
English muffins
He woke up early and made homemade English muffins and I have to say, they were PERFECT! They were on the griddle when I came into the kitchen, so I got to see him work his magic when he cooked them.



Travis and I were saying that when you see English muffins in the store, you assume that either a baking master or a machine made them and how can one even attempt to make them look as good at home? But, he definitely did it and they looked and tasted great. We made egg sandwiches and they were very good!


Bread #2:
Ciabatta bread
We have made this recipe before and it is mouth-watering good! Ciabatta bread is always a treat that I spring for when we have some extra grocery money, but since we have learned how to bake it, it is totally cheaper, but just more labor intensive. The starter has to be done the night before and it needs quite a bit of work to knead, but it is a great bread with a nice, oily taste.



Bread #3:
Homemade pizza
For lunch Travis planned on homemade pizza, but he pulled out all the stops. We tried a recipe with feta cheese, prosciutto, mozzarella cheese, sweet peppers, and parmesan. Travis also made the tomato sauce from scratch since we had some extra tomatoes, which was also a treat. Travis says it was the best pizza he has ever tasted. The crust turned out perfectly--not too crunchy and not too chewy.


Bread #4:
Homemade rolls
We have tried a few roll recipes and we have some favorites, but Travis decided to try one more for me and he did most of the work on this one since our baby girl needed some loving and attention this afternoon. It is a french roll that turned out crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. We had it as an after dinner snack (because Travis also made a good Jambalaya crock pot dinner). He bought a Fontina cheese to eat with it (we have become lovers of expensive cheese whenever we can get it!) and it tasted really delicious!


I didn't think that I would marry someone who loves to cook and bake this much, but he sure did surprise me this Valentine's Day with some amazing bread!

I can't wait for Valentine's Day so we can finish the third part to our date and one of my favorite Valentine's Day traditions for us! Stay tuned for my last Valentine's Day post :)