My first love was bread. I started my baking career at 23 years old, surrounded by buckets of rising dough, huge steel mixers and a large deck oven. My favorite part was everything. Mixing and shaping the dough, scoring the loaves prior to bake and then slinging the crusty loaves from the oven onto the cooling racks and listening to them crackle as they cooled. Fresh out of college, I baked for work as a temporary place holder until I figured out a career, but really, it was the first time in my adult life when I knew that I was right where I wanted to be.

Fast Forward 25 years and a lifetime later. I have come full circle, and here I am, back where I want to be, hands in the dough. Only this time, I bake in my kitchen, surrounded by my boys, a sink full of dishes and a pile of Percy Jackson books.