Many years ago on the farm I made bread a couple times a week. There would always be a couple loaves and then something yummie - cinnamon rolls, or pecan rolls, or dough rolled and dipped in cinnamon and sugar and baked. The boys loved it coming home from school on bread day to whatever treat that might be waiting for them!
Baking bread is a process, and one that you can't start and put away til later. Once you start it you have to finish it - and it takes HOURS. I've solved a lot of the worlds problems while kneeding bread, and I really think that if I could take over office I could do a bang up job, as long as I'm armed with a mixer, some yeast, and a rolling pin!
Last week while in Iowa, my son made a loaf of hawaiian bread. I was watching him work his magic on that lump of dough, and could see the sheer delight in his eyes that reminded me of me, so many years ago. I decided when I got home, I was going to attempt baking bread again. This time for different reasons, not out of necessity - but out of love for the loaf.
Today is that day. The first day since we have returned home that I don't have to leave the house. I decided to make a sweet bread - its my fav. I had forgotten all the steps that are involved, and the ungodly mess it makes! Scald the milk - what does that mean? I used to do it all the time and now I can't remember what it means! Dissolve the yeast in the warm water - how warm is warm? I used to know exactly what the best temp was to do this and have it never fail, now I have no clue! I used my handheld mixer - I thought that is how I used to do it. Upon adding the first couple cups of flour all was well. But then . . . . the dough got stickier and the mixer made wierd noises, and the dough decided to climb the beaters and rest under the attachment part. What a mess. Something is terribly wrong!! I added the remaining flour and began kneeding the dough.
Standing in this southwestern home built in the early 2000's, I am having flashbacks of years gone by while doing this same task in a farm house built in the late 1800's. It is an unusual feeling, and memories began flooding my being. Memories of the boys as little guys wanting to help, and Jim coming in from a hard days work as the bread is being pulled from the oven - experiencing that oh its good to be home feeling. Memories of me standing there hour by hour loving every minute of this task.
It is almost time for me to punch the center of that big ball of dough down, and form into rolls or bread. I haven't yet decided what its gonna be yet. Because we won't eat as much as we did back in the day, I've read up on how to freeze dough - so this venture ought to prove to be enlightening, besides satiating our appetites.
Its a chilly cloudy day in Arizona today, a perfect day for homemade bread, as if there needs to be a perfect day! But, today is perfect in that I finally took the time to do it! I solved the debt crisis, and the fiscal cliff. I fixed the unemployment rate and guaranteed no recession, let alone depression. I fed all the children in starving countries, and ended abortion. I settled the gun issues, and ended murder all together. I cured cancer, and fought childhood obesity. I'm dead beat tired, and ready for some fermented grapes, but mostly I'm hoping it tastes as good as I remember, and I have the fortitude to repeat it again in the near future!
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