Lately, I’ve been looking for ways to find joy and meaning in the simple things of life. Today, I need look no further than my own kitchen. On this winter’s day, my home is filled with the aroma of freshly baked sourdough bread. Full disclosure, my husband Ed is the baker of our family. He puts all the ingredients together to create the bread. I’m the writer. I put all the words together to create the stories. With that in mind, this post aspires to rise to the occasion and warm your heart.
Here are some lessons from the art of breadmaking:
Get off to a good start.
In the back corner of my refrigerator stands a plastic container of goo technically known as the starter, a live, fermented culture of flour and water that acts as a natural leavening agent. Yes, live. You have to feed it some flour every now and then. It’s kind of like having a pet except that the starter doesn’t shed and you don’t have to clean up after it (unless it gets overactive and erupts all over the inside of the fridge.)
Our starter has a pedigree; it came from the James Beard Award winning baker Don Guerra, of Barrio Bread in Tucson. During the pandemic, Don kept his bakery open meeting (socially distanced) customers one at a time at the front door. He created an online bread baking course and offered to give a starter to anyone who wanted to try their hand a baking at home. This is how my husband learned to bake sourdough bread and how a baby starter came to live with us.
Don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and get messy.
Ed takes off his wedding ring and uses his hands to mix the simple ingredients: flour(we use the Barrio blend of heritage grains), water, salt, and starter- together in a glass bowl. At this point the mixture is sticky and wet.
Let things develop at their own pace.
Making bread, especially sourdough bread takes time and patience. Ed goes through a sequence of kneading, stretching, and proofing the dough several times before it is ready to be shaped into a loaf and baked. There are no shortcuts. The dough will let you know when it’s ready.
Ed’s Bread
Share the Love
Finally, Ed takes the golden brown loaf from the oven. We slice a few pieces off one end, spread on some butter, and enjoy our first bites. Perfection. We intend to save the rest to share with our friends who will be arriving soon. There is nothing more profound than breaking bread with others.
What else can we share? A smile, a word of encouragement, a helping hand extended to a neighbor, a ‘thank you’, a story? Let’s do it!
Threads of Thought
Don Guerra shares his loaves and bread baking expertise daily. You can learn more about Don and Barrio Bread at http://barriobread.com
I love to take life’s ordinary moments and turn them into extraordinary stories to share with you!
Excellent! Nothing like warm, fresh bread out of the oven.
Agreed!
Thank you for this lovely look at bread making. You remind me I have to feed my starter and begin making some bread today.
Thant’s a great idea! Thanks for reading and commenting!