Greetings

Well, I figured it was well past time to introduce myself.  I have been a member of the board for well over a year but haven't started to post until recently.  Oh well, better backwards than never, I suppose?

First off, baking is a huge passion of mine!  I work in IT, so I can really only afford to bake on the weekends if I am not traveling.  I started to bake over eight years ago and have been continually improving since.  I remember seeing a yummy bread recipe in an old recipe book and thought I'd try it out.  It's quite funny and embarrassing thinking about how I attempted to make it.  It turned out surprisingly well, but I sought out books and other sources to improve my skills.

It wasn't until about a year and a half a go that I decided to get really serious about baking.  So I was lucky to find a hands-on class where I could ask and get feedback on how to improve my techniques.  Since then I have greatly improved my techniques through measuring by weight, dough temperatures, baker's percentages, and understanding the basics of what's needed in bread.

Now I'm wanting to really expand my skills and try out different breads.  I'm really partial to German breads (as can be seen from my posts ;-)) but I also love trying out breads from other cultures around the world.  I plan on posting more of my breads as I go along (which I should have started last year, but oh well) as well as share any experiments that I try.

Happy baking all!

PS: Below are some of my previously made breads.