Breaking bread

The tradition of breaking bread spans back thousands of years, yet seems to be lost in the modern world of sliced bread and coffee to-go. Don’t get me wrong, pre-packaged sliced bread certainly has its place, but something about the crackle of fresh crust between your fingers and the smell of wheat and salt escaping an oven makes my fingers tingle. I used to think that bread was the epitome of baking…that only someone who had mastered the ways of cakes and cookies could attempt to understand the chemical reactions of yeast respiration. Then one day, my friend invited me to bake bread with her. I went home 6 hours later with a jar of 100 year old sourdough starter (whoa!!!) and a blazing new obsession with homemade bread. I’ve had some grand successes which help me stay motivated through my unrisen, or soft crusted failures. My random attempts are chronicled as part of my “blog” and the recipes that I have tried, and trialed, and failed, and then figured out, and nailed, get listed in “recipes”. Alas, here I attempt to chronicle my journey and hopefully share the joy that I have found from this new-old tradition of breaking my bread with friends and family.