Bread Thoughts


Longer than an Instagram caption, shorter than therapy.
The Parts You Don’t See 🍞
A lot of what I do doesn’t really show up in pictures. Most of the time, what you see is the finished product, bread out of the oven, cookies cooling, something that looks simple and ready to go. What you don’t see is everything that happens before that, which is honestly a pretty big part of it and something I’ve come to really enjoy. Especially with gluten-free baking, the process looks a little different. I have a completely separate section of my baking cabinet just for gluten-free ingredients, and when... Read more...
That Back-to-School Feeling 🎒
There’s a very specific moment every summer when it feels like things start to shift. Growing up, that moment always came earlier than it needed to. Target would start putting out back-to-school displays sometime in July, and I remember being irrationally annoyed about it every single year. Where I grew up, we didn’t go back to school until after Labor Day, so it felt like they were trying to rush something that wasn’t even close to happening yet. It felt like summer was getting cut short before it was actually... Read more...
Late Summer Is Weird ☀️
Late summer always feels a little strange. It’s still hot, obviously, that part hasn’t changed at all, but something about it feels different from the beginning of summer. It’s less exciting, less planned, and a little more like you’re just moving through it without thinking too much about what comes next. The big trips are mostly over, the “start of summer” energy is gone, and everything settles into this in-between space where nothing is really happening, but everything is still going. I’ve noticed my routine shifts a little during this... Read more...
Sabre’s Late Summer Kitchen Rules ☀️
(a blog post by the cat who continues to run everything)Hello. It’s Sabre. Chief Crumb Supervisor, Professional Observer, and the only one here with a consistent schedule. We are now fully in what I would describe as “too hot” season, which means it’s time for an updated set of rules for how this operation will continue. Please review carefully. 1. I will not be hot.  The outside is unacceptable. The inside is acceptable. I will be positioning myself directly in front of any available air vent, tile floor, or shaded... Read more...
Hurrication ☔️
There’s a certain point in the year in Florida where everyone just quietly acknowledges that it’s hurricane season. Not in a dramatic way, just in a “we’ll keep an eye on it” kind of way. People check the weather a little more often, maybe grab a few extra things at the store, and then mostly go about their lives unless something actually turns into something. I didn’t grow up with that. I had been through Hurricane Sandy when I was living on Long Island, and that was its own kind... Read more...
Why I Don’t Do It All (And Don’t Want To)
aka: How Rest, Boundaries, and Saying “No” Make My Bread Better   If you’ve ever looked at Bread by Blaze and thought, “Wow, she must be doing everything,” I’m here to lovingly and crustily tell you: I’m not. And I don’t want to. I have a full-time job. I have a wonderful husband. I have a life group on Tuesdays, choir on Wednesdays, D&D whenever we can fit it, and I try to rest every Saturday or Sunday. I also have a cat named Sabre who supervises everything, including my... Read more...
Summers Like That ☀️
Summer always makes me think about the same few places. Growing up, we would spend a week every summer at Hither Hills in Montauk, camping right by the beach. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it didn’t need to be. Most days were some version of sand, water, and figuring out what we were doing next without too much of a plan. The setup was always the same. There was the boys’ tent, the girls’ tent, and then the tent where we ate breakfast every morning. For a long time, we... Read more...
It’s Hot. That’s the Post. ☀️
There’s a point every summer in Florida where it stops feeling like a season and starts feeling like a full-time condition. You walk outside for two minutes and immediately regret it, and somehow it’s still humid even when it’s not raining. It’s the kind of heat that makes you question every decision that led you to be outside in the first place. I’ve noticed that everything starts to adjust around it. You plan your day a little differently, you think twice before leaving the house, and you start appreciating anything... Read more...
The Kind of Food That Works for Days Like This
The Fourth of July always feels like one of those days where the plan is simple, even if the details aren’t. There’s usually some version of being outside, being around people, and eating at some point in between everything else. Sometimes it’s more organized, sometimes it’s just whoever shows up and whatever ends up on the table, but either way it tends to work itself out. I’ve noticed that the food that actually gets eaten on days like this is never the complicated stuff. It’s the things people don’t have... Read more...
Somewhere Between Plans and Reality 🍞
There’s always a version of the week that I think I’m going to have, and then there’s the one that actually happens. In my head, everything is spaced out nicely. I know what I’m making, when I’m making it, and how it’s all going to come together. It’s very organized, very efficient, and honestly a little unrealistic. In reality, it usually looks a little different. Something takes longer than I expected, something else gets moved around, and there’s almost always a moment where I realize I probably should have started... Read more...
Why I Can't Sell You Cheese Bread :(
Florida Cottage Food Law: The Rules Behind the Rolls Running Bread by Blaze isn't just about flour, faith, and figuring out how many focaccia cups I can fit in the oven at once. It also means following Florida's Cottage Food Law -the legal framework that allows me to operate a home bakery and sell directly to customers without a commercial kitchen. It's one of the reasons Bread by Blaze exists at all. So what is Florida's Cottage Food Law, what does it allow, and why do home bakers spend so... Read more...
On Dads (and the Very Specific Ways They Show Up) 👟🍩
Father’s Day always makes me think about how different dads can be, and how somehow they still show up in really similar ways. My dad is the kind of person who is always moving. He’s into triathlons, The Beatles, alt rock music, and supporting his kids in whatever they want to do - especially if it’s sporty. You can also usually find him on Facebook sharing sunrise or sunset pictures, or posting a reel with a bad dad joke that he absolutely thinks is funny. My father-in-law is different in... Read more...