These are “epes”—baguettes cut to resemble sheafs of wheat—with the one of the left circled into a wreath. The recipe is Peter Reinhart’s “pain de campagne,” a versatile french bread variation. I hadn’t made rustic bread in a while, so I baked up a test batch a week or so before Thanksgiving to get back in practice, then used the same recipe to make knotted rolls for the big family meal. I love baking bread from end to end: the stages of fermentation; the measuring, mixing, and kneading; the sweet piping smell steaming from the oven. And it feels selfish to say so, but perhaps the best part is sharing it with others, because most everyone I know loves fresh bread and doesn’t get enough of it.