Goodlicious Goodness- A Loaf Worth Sharing

Some loaves don't rise quite as high as others. Sometimes when placed in conditions that are not quite right, the loaf might crack or split. But all loaves rise with meaning and are baked with a purpose. Whether they turn our beautifully or imperfectly, every loaf is kneaded with love and is worth sharing.

When I was a little girl, my mom would make homemade wheat bread. I can remember the sounds that the machines made and the smell that was to follow when the baking was all done. There was nothing like watching her use her special serrated bread knife (the only one she would use) to cut into that fresh from the oven loaf. She would always have stick butter, the real stuff, sitting out all day so that it was soft and ready for that slice of bread. We would go through a loaf of bread before it even had time to cool. If the neighbor kids knew mom was baking that day, you could be sure that there would be a houseful of kids waiting to get their slice of heaven too. She would make big batches of dough so that she could make many loaves. She often made loaves to be traded for other goods. She would trade a loaf or two of bread with the local beekeeper for honey, the same honey that she would use in her making her bread. In our small community word got around about "Karen's Bread" and she started selling it at our local grocery store. At one point she was making and baking around 40 loaves a day. But what I remember more than her selling it was that I can remember her sending a loaf of bread with someone who had lost a loved one, or was going through a hard time, or giving them a loaf of bread just because. She was always sharing a loaf of bread with someone.

Mom sharing her love for making bread.

Now you have to remember that this was back in the 70's before bread making was considered "Bougie" since that word was not even in our vocabulary at that time! In our little bitty kitchen (our entire house was only 980 square feet) she would clear off the kitchen table, set out all her bread making tools. The tools that you didn't dare touch as those were for bread making only. They were kept just so in the corner cabinet in our little kitchen. We didn't have a lot of money back then, and her bread making appliances and tools were some of the most precious things in her kitchen. She would take the whole wheat, and grind it in her Wondermill Electric Grain Grinder then add the ingredients to her Bosch Universal Plus Stand Mixer, which to this day she says is the only mixer she will ever use. I can tell you that she has the measurements down to a "science" (or should I say she can feel the measurements and knows if they feel right). She could bake this bread in her sleep. Rarely does a loaf not turn out beautifully but every once in a while, even though each loaf starts with the same ingredients, the same tools, and baked the same way, a loaf is a bit off. She only uses these bread pans because she says that the bread bakes best in USA Pan Large Nonstick Bread Loaf Pan . In her humble though well tested kitchen opinion this knife Paudin Bread Knife 10 inch Serrated is key to cutting through the bread like it was butter.

To this day, my mom is still sharing. She now not only shares her loaves of bread she also shares her knowledge of bread making with the community. She still claims the ingredients and the tools "make the bread" and if you are lucky enough for her to teach you, she will make sure you know how much she loves her "bread making tools". If you stop by her apartment and she is baking that day, she will offer you a slice of warm bread with butter and then hand you a loaf to take home. Every slice, every loaf is made with love and shared with not only those of us who know her, but with people she meets along the way. Mom loves to share her love for bread making with anyone who wants to learn.

When I started writing this post, I didn't start it out with a bread and life metaphor. Obviously, I have a niche for bread, I called our blog Nook and Knead, but until I started writing this post I never realized just how much life is kind of like bread. We are given the ingredients, simple ingredients really, to use the tools, to mix together and knead into dough, we work hard and let it rise, and there are loaves that rise above the pan, there are loaves that barely rise to the top, but all of the loaves were given the same ingredients, mixed together with the same tools, and given the just the right amount of time. But it is up to the loaf to do its part, rise above or just barely rise to the top, in the end they all go into the oven the same way. When each loaf comes out of the oven and is set to rest, you can see a split here, a crack there, a little over cooked here or under cooked there, but every loaf comes out of the oven with the same opportunity to nourish, to bring sustenance to our life, and to be shared with love.

Bread making like life is not about perfection. We are all given the same basic ingredients. We knead through the hard parts, rest when we need it, and rise in our time. Some will rise with ease, some will crack or fall a little flat. But all of us when done baking, when we have come through the heat, we all have something to offer. Something to nourish. Something worth sharing.

And maybe that is what makes our life, (and a loaf) truly worth sharing.

Loaves of bread for sharing.