When in doubt, bake bread. When the going gets tough, or I am tired, or stressed, I don’t go shopping, I don’t get drunk, I don’t watch sad movies to allow myself to cry, or eat vast quantities of comfort foods.
I do things, productive and creative things.
I like to cook, but mostly I like to bake.
It makes me feel better. It also produces yummy things that make other people happy. My children have been delighted by home made banana bread this week, and have also got used to home made bread. I started baking bread in the summer, to lessen the need for buying constant supplies of shop bread, as my children tried to eat me out of house and home during the school holidays and it’s become a cathartic part of my routine.
Baking daily bread. When things are crazy, and I am spinning many plates, or life is making demands of me, or isn’t quite going the way I want it, spending time in the kitchen, putting a basic bread dough toghether and then baking it, and producing a perfect every time loaf, which is receiveed with delight by my family.
It makes me feel good. It works every time and makes me feel like when the world is spinning around me, this simple act of producing freshly made bread, that I can handle what the world throws at me.
So, that’s me in the corner, making bread. It might seem weird, but some days, the act of making bread is keeping me sane.
Oh, and eating it, fresh from the oven, with good butter, and a cup of coffee, that makes me happy too!
This basic bread recipe is from the lovely Le Coin de Mel, and it got me started on getting back into bread making. I promise it’s super easy and pulling it out of the oven will make you smile, if eating it doesn’t!
When in doubt bake bread, it always works for me.