I just pulled two loaves of bread from the oven. They’re cooling, and the cozy smell of baking is warming against the chill of impending dusk.
Bread is a hard set of lessons, and I’ve yet got a way to go. But my change in thinking is evidence of turning the corner.
These loaves are truly my first homemade. I’ve baked bread before, but I’ve always nervously followed some recipe that had what seemed like endless and inefficient steps. These inevitably resulted in disappointing loaves, as if they had to suffer the consequences of my disdain. For better or worse, today’s loaves are made of sheer ingenuity and an unwillingness to suffer a strange set of steps. Plus, my low flour until my Azure order delivers necessitated my inclusion of ‘bread flour, of which I had plenty which has been sitting for months. (Why do all the bread recipes call for all purpose flour?)
All my best homestead gains are from the kitchen (with sewing a solid second place). I’ve learned countless lessons this year, some so incredibly basic and useful I shudder to think I hadn’t known them before.
And baking in particular has seen my biggest gains.