2020
The above photo? That is concrete evidence that even if it takes you forever, you may eventually become better at something. I’ve been attempting to bake bread for decades and this is the year that I finally got it, if not “right”, well, it’s definitely not wrong, either. Don’t ever give up on your dreams! Especially if they involve pillowy loaves of delicious sandwich bread.
This loaf makes wonderful toast, and there’s no snack so enchanting as a thick-sliced, crunchy piece of homemade bread, toasted and slathered with butter. A drizzle of honey is nice too! Buttered toast calls to mind keeping warm and safe on blustery nights in cozy pajamas with milky tea and nursery rhymes and Mother Goose and it’s just…simple-gentle, magical nourishment for your inner child, as silly as that might sound.
When we were very young, our mother would prepare a supper of scrambled eggs and toast for my sisters and I when we were having a rotten day (or maybe she was having a bad day?) Even now, these many years later, the comforting fragrance of slightly carmelized and charred bread, the soothing hum of the heating filaments, and even the mechanical whir of the toaster gears springing up the now toasted bread is enough to lower my blood pressure and slow my breath when I’m feeling off-kilter and panicked. Buttered toast forever, please.
https://www.buzzbybakes.com/post/don-t-discard-the-discard…And for kindred spirit kitchen witches who are interested, this wonderful recipe is courtesy Buzzby Bakes.
MELISSA KOJIMA says
Congrats. That's so wonderful. I know it takes a lot of time and practice to figure out how to make a really, fluffy loaf of bread. My mother used to bake all our bread for us when I was a kid. It was this very heavy, whole wheat bread that had hints of honey to it, and one slice was a meal in and of itself. I didn't really appreciate it when I was a kid, but now, I realize how special it was. I can understand how baking a good loaf can bring back such wonderful and comforting memories. Congrats again! Whoo hoo!
S. Elizabeth says
It's funny...I don't know where I ever picked up the compulsion to try my hand at homemade bread! My mother never made it, and my grandmother (who actually did a lot of cooking) didn't spend any time baking bread either!
Sky says
Aw this is a sweet post. I have toast for breakfast every morning - and my mom did too all through my childhood - and now it's my son's favourite thing to eat in the morning. Something about bread and mothers. Total comfort food.
S. Elizabeth says
Absolutely! I don't recall eating a lot of toast when I was a kid (and somehow it was always at dinner?) but it always seems like such a treat. In a "no cake for me, please, I'd rather have toast!" sort of way, hee hee.
Sky says
haha yes! Carbs and butter. Yummm.