On Rainy Days

I like to bake. This morning, I had two kids so grumpy that even the tv was of no help. So we baked. I mean, R sat in his excersaucer while chomping on cheerios, B stood on a chair repeatedly asking me for a "taste" and I did the actual baking.
A few years ago I dove into my Jewish roots, and learned how to make some baked goods that would make my Polish/German ancestors proud. The first was Kamish bread. It's a lot like biscotti but not so crumbly. It's super easy and fairly quick. It's not a yeast bread so it only take about 30 min. from ingredients to edible. I'd post a picture but by 1pm it's almost all gone and not that pretty anymore.
The second thing I learned to cook was challah bread. This is my fav. It's sweet, and light, and fluffy. It's great for breakfast, snack, or as french toast once it's a few days old (if it lasts that long.) The recipe is here. I use my bread machine for almost all baked goods, even if I don't have a bread machine recipe. I improvise and figure out how to make it work with the bread machine. Like most moms with young kids I don't have time to stand and hand knead dough for 15 min. Why bother when a machine can do the job for you. So here is my risen yet pre-baked loaf of braided goodness. It's baking now and I can't wait for it to be done.