New Book, My name on the Gold Medal Flour Bag (crazy) and the Ball Canning Contest Winner.

For the last week I have been fantasizing about this very moment. How great it would be to finally get the boys back on the bus and off to school. The luxury of an uninterrupted work day, my own music on the radio, no cleaning up after a gaggle of teens… But, the truth is, I miss them. The house is way too still, so quiet I can hear the clock ticking. We all know, by noon I will have found my rhythm and appreciate the silence. Their reentry will seem downright cacophonous.

On Friday I had a photo shoot in my kitchen. It was all very exciting and fun. The photographer was here for 10 hours, shooting every inch of the space, including the inside of my not-so-organized drawers. My extremely talented and stylish friend, Stephanie Meyer, was here to help me make sense of the table settings. These shoots really do take a village to create. The article will come out this holiday season in a magazine that I love, but am not allowed to mention, YET. To get ready for the shoot I baked a bunch of cakes, bread and cookies.

In the process I ran out of flour, which is saying something in this house, and went to the store to replenish. I stocked up on Gold Medal Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, which, in and of itself, is unremarkable, because I always do this, but when I got home and emptied the bag into my flour bin, I finally noticed the bag…it had my name on it!

My jaw hit the counter, then I composed myself and screamed. There it was in full color, the ABin5 logo and recipe right on the bag. We’d been working with the folks at General Mills to share our recipe with their customers on the bag, but I was under the impression it wasn’t going to hit the stores until this fall. Completely surreal. Oh, yeah, I have a new book coming out this fall…

Here is a sneak peek at the new cover with a gorgeous loaf shot by Stephen Scott Gross. With lots of help from our readers, we are putting out the seventh anniversary edition of ABin5. There are lots more pictures, recipes and techniques. We’ve added weights to all the recipes, for those who prefer to bake with a scale and have an index that is worthy of framing. For more details and all the information about pre-orders (since it doesn’t come out until Oct.) please visit Breadin5.com.

The lucky winner of the Ball Canning jam making kit contest is Anne Lynch – Happy jamming!