Baking Bread and other Rituals

"[Breadbaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells...there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel. that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread."
M. F. K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

One my resolutions this year was to really learn how to make a good loaf of bread. Not just throw it together and hope it comes out, but to hone in on a recipe and know it intimately, to understand how the ingredients come together, and how to finesse the best results from them. I want to be able to see how the dough is forming and know at a glance if it's too sticky and will need more flour, if it requires more kneading, etc. I want to come to a point where this process is as natural to me as breathing, as cooking rice, and making a hundred variations of chicken, just something innate which resides under my skin.

Intimacy and immediacy are what rituals are about, and for me, what food is about. The process of spending an afternoon in the kitchen preparing a meal out of the simplest of ingredients, is ritualistic, meditative and cathartic. It is through the many steps of dredging, browning, braising, or measuring, creaming and kneading that I begin to purge the everyday stressors of life, it is how I express my love to my family when I just cannot find the words.

I needed that this weekend. Something involved and nurturing that I could lose myself in. I'd already received the explicit request to have something, anything, other than soup this week! So I made sure my menu for the week had no soup in sight. Instead, this week we are feasting on roast chicken, short ribs, spaghetti with a quick meat sauce and plenty of lovely home-made bread.

BTW, I think I've found a recipe I want to work with for a while. The results were better than I'd even anticipated. I decided to do some research and added wheat glutten to the recipe, also, I moved away from the rapid rise recipes and plunged into the process of "making a sponge" for bread, adding a little sugar as suggested by Tiffany.

Here is the recipe as posted on Tasty Kitchen

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients
4-½ teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
½ cups Honey
4 Tablespoons Butter
2-¼ cups Water
1 Tablespoon Salt
2-¾ cups All-purpose Flour
4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup Quick Cooking Oats
1 whole Egg

Preparation Instructions
In a medium bowl (or in a saucepan), heat the butter and honey until the butter is melted. Add the water; the mixture should be warm (120-130 degrees). Stir in the yeast and let sit until bubbly, about 10 minutes (this is called making a sponge).
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine salt, yeast mixture, 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour. With mixer on low, gradually blend liquid into dry ingredients until just blended. Increase the speed to medium, beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. Gradually beat in the egg and one cup of whole wheat flour to make a thick batter. Continue beating for two minutes. Stir in oats, 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose flour. Knead till smooth and elastic. Use more flour if dough is too sticky (I usually add about 2/3 cup more).
Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch the dough down. Turn onto a floured surface; cover with the bowl and let rise for 15 minutes. Shape into loaves and let rise for 1 hour in greased 9 x 5 loaf pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
(You can make the dough in a bread machine, using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. Use the dough mode setting for the largest size loaf. Follow the recipe’s directions for the second rise and baking.)