Rising to the Occasion

There is a reason that bread is referred to as the ‘staff of life’. The finished product in ancient times relied upon the skills of several members of an agrarian community: the planters, the farmer, the harvester, the buyer, the miller, the baker, the vendor and the consumer. It is a food that unites and binds through the traditional ingredients of flour and water. The breaking of bread is an act of communion not only in religion but also in a deeply personal way - since the beginning of time, people have shared bread at meals in representation of the covenants that bind us all.

Bread making has been considered a lost culinary art in contemporary times. After all, we can find chewy baguettes and specialty-grained loaves in our local grocers. But the simple act of mixing flour with water to form a dough, adding a touch of salt and then shaping, kneading and baking it is still part of many family traditions, especially around the holiday season. Christmas morning in my family has always meant buttered brioche and sticky sweet buns while sitting in front of a fire.

I want to dedicate any spare time I have this holiday season to the revitalization of the age-old rhythm of working with flour covered hands. Nothing like a little kneading to work out the stress knots of the season!