The Art of Zen Living

My sister looks at things differently than I do, and often will see things I don’t.  We were talking about how sustainability fits into frugality, and she asked why I wasn’t posting about my bread baking experiences.  She made an excellent point that home made bread is not only frugal and healthy, it’s also one of the very basic tasks that we no longer do for ourselves.  Two months ago, I couldn’t have baked a loaf of bread - my sister still can’t bake one.  I’ve learned to bake regular bread, a nice “no knead” bread that has sort of an artisan texture to it, and Irish soda bread.  I’ve been having a blast trying new things (as an example, my basic bread recipe seems a little dry for my taste, so my next loaf is going to include a bit of olive oil for moisture) and learning different baking tricks.  My sister suggested I do a series of articles on my adventures with bread - her reasoning was that if I could do it, then anyone could.  Sometimes I think she sees me as kind of a big, sweet semi-trained chimp.  I’m not sure she wouldn’t be mostly right.

Certainly she’s right about this - I should be sharing this experience.  I’ve found it deeply satisfying on a number of different levels.  It’s a great time to practice mindfulness, it smells wonderful, and (usually) it tastes great.  I say usually because I am still learning.  For instance, I learned that if you split your dough into 2 pans that are half the size of the one the recipe calls for, then you shouldn’t bake it for the full time specified by the recipe.
At any rate, I’m moving this weekend, so things are scattered between the old place and the new, and most of it is in boxes.  Next week, we’ll start with home made wheat bread, made with whole grain wheat flour.  It will be my first loaf made with non-”enriched” flour, and I’m really looking forward to it.  I’ll post the recipe, step by step instructions, and pictures.  I’m making a commitment to have this as a twice monthly feature, but I reserve the right to post extras if I find something I just can’t wait to try!

All I need now is a catchy name for the series - anyone have a suggestion?