B--Baking

[zyzyly]

I started baking a few weeks after getting out of the alcohol recovery house, where I had spent the previous three months trying to pull my shattered life back together.

I found myself with lots of free time, very little money, and a strong desire not to slip back into old behaviors. My roomate, for some reason, had access to all sorts of government surplus food stuff--cheese, flour, butter, sugar, and so on.

One day in October, I picked up a Good Housekeeping cookbook at a garage sale for a quarter. I started thumbing through it to see what I could make out of what we had available. What I came up with was cheesy biscuits and pie crust.

I bought a couple of pie pans at another garage sale, and just started making crusts from scratch. The first ones were kind of pathetic, but the more I made, the better they got. Every once in a while I bought some apples and made actual pies.

I can't describe the satisfaction this gave me. At the time I stopped drinking, I had absolutely no sense of self-worth, and it was a difficult journey back from there. Being able to master pie crusts was the first step. I could actually produce something positive.

A couple of years ago I began to bake bread. Not the bread machine kind--the old-fashioned kind that requires much more than just measuring out ingredients into a cylinder. It requires thought and engages the senses. Kneading dough in a warm kitchen, with the smell of yeast all about me is about as close to heaven as I've ever been. It is like prayer.

I haven't baked bread for a few months, from before Arlina became ill. At first, there was just too much going on--bread making takes time. Then it got too hot. There is a huge difference between standing in a warm kitchen on a winter day and standing in a hot kitchen when it is 105 degrees outside. For me, bread making is one of those seasonal rites that accompanies the falling of leaves and the first chilly mornings of fall. It is the time I put away the grill and take out my mixing bowls.

I wait patiently.

Comments

[mylastsigh.livejournal.com]

not sure if you will understand but this help feel like i am not alone in the world

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I don't really, but I don't have to either. You are not alone in the world. I'm glad, because there have been times where your comments have made me feel the same way.

Peace.

[ineedcoffee.livejournal.com]

this made me cry!

Before I was a nurse, I was a baker. I worked at a local specialty deli, making breads, pies, cookies, dessert bars, and cakes that stood a foot high. It was so meditative, and gave me such a deep sense of satisfaction. I was on the verge of branching out into my own home based business baking for other local restaraunts when I decided I needed something more stable, so I went for nursing. Still love baking, and my husband and I have a secret dream of opening up a coffee and dessert cafe one day, for our second or third career go round.

Baking is also a connection to my mom, who's gone now. She taught me how to bake, how to cook, how to sew, how to create. It breaks my heart that so many people today have lost touch with what it takes to make something, even as simple as a cookie, with their own two hands.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I went to cooking school before I was a nurse, but missed the whole baking piece. One of these days I'm going to do a week-long baking class at the culinary istitute in Napa.

I have always harbored a secret desire to open a little cafe' somewhere. But for now cooking is a delightful hobby.

[eleanor.livejournal.com]

Do you make a traditional lard crust, such as a person might find in Maine or the midwest, or do make a buttery crust? Would you care to share a recipe and instructions?

(I'm a gourmet cook and a top-notch baker, but I've never made a pie.)

[myasma.livejournal.com]

I've tried both, but I like the buttery crust better. Once I tried the buttery crisco stuff, but was unhappy with the results.

I generally don't use one specific recipe, but there are certain things I always do. Use cold ingredients (I put my butter in the freezer for a while before cutting it in; use as little water as possible, and don't overwork the crust. Other than that, any standard pie recipe works pretty well.

As with many recipes, there is no substitute for doing it over and over until you are satisfied with the results.

[eleanor.livejournal.com]

When the weather cools down I'll give it a try.

[bigpancakes.livejournal.com]

Kneading dough in a warm kitchen, with the smell of yeast all about me is about as close to heaven as I've ever been. It is like prayer.

Is it any wonder we use bread as a sacrament?

Are you familiar with "Great Harvest" bakeries? They're sort of an alterna-chain that plops down in places like Ann Arbor, Madison, Berkeley. I would imagine a valley location in Davis if anywhere. They make WONDERFUL bread. My absolute favorite of theirs is "Oregon Herb" bread, which they will sell sliced or not. I like not, so I can slice gigantic inch-thick hunks of it off.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Sounds delicious. I checked their website and they are opening one in Folsom, which isn't too far from here.

[barebspool.livejournal.com]

Great harvest bread is good but why eat that when you can make your own. I too am a baker, and love to make bread. Just the act of making it makes a peros feel all sensual and wholesome at the same time. I also make great pies and the best blackberry kucken you'll ever taste. If you lived next door I'd bring some over. You're right, all this is sort of a fall thing. We're getting ready to leave the lake today and head back to the city. I was just thinking today how differently I cook in the winter from what I do in the summer. Happy therapuetic baking, happy eating what you create!

[stephaniebird.livejournal.com]

I've yet to master making bread, but pie-baking is among my favorite kitchen rituals, and I associate that with the fall, with apple season. You have to use good, firm apples, lots of lemon juice & butter.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Yes. Most of my pies are made for the hoidays. Last fall, I wrangled my nieces into pie-making lessons, and hope to do so again this year.

[zhenzhi.livejournal.com]

Being able to master pie crusts was the first step. I could actually produce something positive
i love this. to me it speaks of now being able to fill the pie crust with goodness. wonderful!