It's alive, it's aliiiive!

I've always been way too afraid of yeast to bake my own bread. Any organism that lies dormant for a couple years only to awaken, hungry and smelly, when poured into a quarter-cup of warm water sounds like a science project, not food. In fact, my first exposure to Yeast, Model Organism was in a college biology lab, which I'm sure has a lot to do with my violent aversion to it. And even the word "yeast" is grosser than gross, a squirming Anglo-Saxon belch -- not something I want to usher into my kitchen and eventually eat.

Now that I've been properly psychoanalyzed, I am proud to say that I bought a package of Fleischmann's yeast (wow, even the brand name is gross) and made something with it! I found a pizza-like tart recipe from the web. I liked the idea of starting with something fairly flat and simple, nothing that tomatoes and basil couldn't salvage. All in all, it worked out fine, although I was unnerved by the warmth and feel of the dough and scrubbed my hands at least five times with soap and hot water.










P.S. I love this commercial. Enjoy.