I love baking bread! It’s easy. It’s satisfying. It’s fun. EVERYONE loves it. It makes me feel good. It’s a fundamental food mentioned all through the bible. “Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Simple. Bread.
Basic flat bread has 2 ingredients – flour and water (possibly salt). Mix it… roll it out… throw it on a **hot** surface for about 20 seconds each side… you have Naan – bread eaten all over the middle east by billions. Take the same ingredients and add yeast and the world of endless possibilities for bread just opened up: french loaf, ciabatta, white loaf. Add eggs and butter and … ooh la la… you have brioche, babka, sweet cinnamon rolls.
Bread elicits warm, nostalgic, memories. I remember the first time I attempted bread. I was around age 19-20-ish. I made whole wheat honey bread. First try – BAM! Beautiful! My dad got so excited he started talking about me mass producing this bread. My mom didn’t bake bread, however she made PLENTY of other VERY yummy dishes. But daddy got stoked about my bread. No, I didn’t go into business. I was, at the time, in college, with tons of extra activities to occupy my time and mass producing bread just didn’t fit in.
That’s bread. It’s simple, yet profound. Now I’m adding sourdough starter to the mix. I’ve done it once before – from scratch. It’s work! So, we’ll see how it goes. This sourdough starter was sent to me by my sweet cousin Angie. She’s my biggest cheerleader outside my immediate family. This starter is over 80 years old. (No pressure😳yikes) I’ll do my best and try to catalog my progress.
Remember to cherish the simplicity of great things!
The beginning…
Freedom Matters 