Lens Artist Challenge: Rewards of Waiting

Sandy

Once upon a time I never had time to make bread. The days were filled with things to do. Kids to school, self to office, kids to sports and in between my calendar was packed. I was so busy, I used to schedule bathroom breaks. Putting aside five hours to make bread? Ludicrous! Who had time?

Tempus fugit. Kids grow up. Self retires and time becomes my own.

I tried a week long course in artisan bread making and I was hooked.  Nothing matches the smell of baking bread. Except perhaps, the joy of eating fresh bread.  In baking school, six hours flew by when making multiple types of bread: staggering the batches, learning the techniques, experiencing different doughs, folds and shaping.

At home, I only make one type of bread at a time.  One batch of bread spread over two to three days.  It takes at least one day to get the first part going – the preferment or levain or sourdough starter – and another day or two, to get the final dough ready and baked.  It turns out that baking good artisan bread requires much more than five hours.

It’s not hard work – a bit of mixing and kneading followed by a whole lot of waiting around.

But the end result always justifies the wait. Fresh, crusty, tasty bread!

Today’s post brought to you by Lens Artist Photo Challenge#72: Waiting

20 Comments

    1. Sorry for the late reply Amanda. I missed your earlier comment and question.
      In culinary school we use fresh yeast exclusively but at home I use Dry Active Yeast. Unless I go to commercial wholesalers, it’s impossible to buy fresh yeast here. Dry active and instant yeast are easy to find in the supermarkets and have much longer shelf life. I find that I have just as good results with them.

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