I love to bake, probably because my first "real" job was working in the Harvest Barn at Gould Farm (an amazing place, with many stories... for another time, perhaps) where I learned how to knead dough and braid Challah, make GIGANTIC batches of Zucchini Bread and sweet Pumpkin butter, blend basil leaves into delicious pesto, grind dried mint for tea bags, bottle vinaigrettes for sale at the Roadside Store and, my favorite, churn fresh cream into butter (with a mixer of course...) Rising at 5 am to milk the cows, then showering to pick up my work crew and begin a days work of processing fresh veggies for winter, baking bread and packaging Gould Farm specialities for sale--these were some of the best days of my life...
My favorite bread recipe these days is a spin off from The Tassajara Bread Book's Oatmeal Bread. My measurements aren't exactly precise and I add ground flax seed and wheat bran to the whole wheat flour and oats so it turns out a bit different every time, but always warm to the belly and tasty with a dab of melted butter, occasionally a spoonful of jam...
(a pause and much love for the woman who taught me to bake. Her gifts have stayed with me...) 
6 comments:
such beautiful thoughts and shots. I wish I could bake - I'm very bad at it
this bread is packed full of love ~you did well
i really enjoy baking too. these look good :)
Ah, the promised bread! Lovely to behold, poised in the baking trays...
Baking is such a treat when there are egaer hands to receive. Every recipe I use tells a story about someone, recalling the smells of seasons, traditions, and, yes, even independence. I can smell your bread in your writing. How marvelous!
i adore making bread too. there's something very soothing and meditative that happens for me when i spend 10 minutes kneading dough by hand
thanks for commenting on my blog, now i get to visit you too
:)
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