Bread is one of my favorite food groups. I can make a whole meal out of a toasted slice slathered with butter and sprinkled with a little sea salt. When in Paris, I can never resist tearing off the end of a just-bought baguette and noshing on it as I walk back to my Airbnb. That usually elicits a small smile from the otherwise stoic French person who happens to see me.

A while back, I was doing a lot of bread baking but somehow fell out of the habit. What better time to pick up this passion again than during a pandemic, along with everyone else. It was so strange to be texting with friends about how we couldn’t find any flour, or yeast. (Fortunately, I still had quite a supply of the latter from a pre-virus Costco run.) I had friends mail-ordering 10- and 25-pound bags of flour from mills in the Midwest because they couldn’t find any on shelves locally. I was worried that I would have to hit a few stores to shore up my stash, something I really didn’t want to do.

While hiking at Lake Maria a few weekends ago, we stopped in a little nearby town to grab something to eat. On a whim, I decided to duck into the local grocery store where – lo and behold! – the shelves were filled with whole wheat flour and all-purpose thanks to a shipment that had arrived that morning. Even better, they were on sale! I contemplated buying a few bags but decided one would be enough to last until the short supplies were no more.

Back home, I thought about making my tried-and-true, plain-Jane version from the New York Times. Then Ian asked for something “healthier,” so off I headed to one of my favorite baking sources, King Arthur Flour. There I found the perfect recipe: a no-knead oat bread that uses whole wheat flour and bread flour (which I happened to have in my freezer). The only change I made was dividing the dough so that I could make two loaves that would fit in my smaller Dutch ovens. They came out beautifully! And while I love the look of the oats sprinkled on top, they don’t really stick and create a little bit of a mess when the loaf is cut. Oh well. Technique-wise, I really liked not having to preheat the baker in the over before adding the dough – it starts off in a cold oven. I would definitely make this one again.

One tip: If your Dutch oven has plastic knobs like mine do, cover them with foil before putting them in the oven.