Thursday, December 29, 2005

Bread Season......




I am not much of a Christmas person. I decorate for the season using the 15 minute rule. I don’t put anything up that takes more than 15 minutes to take down. It is probably a reaction to the commercialization of the season. The only tree we have up is the Advent tree at the meeting house. For the past 8 years here in Winchester, each Sunday of Advent a different person or couple tells the meeting for worship about Christ’s Advent (or arrival) into their lives. They put an ornament on the tree that represents their story. The tree embodies the true meaning of Christmas for me……the continual arrival of Christ into our world through the lives of people today.

I do like something about the Christmas season. Every year since the early 1980’s (with the exception of our years in Africa), Ron and I make a loaf of bread for each household in our meeting. We bake around 8 -10 loaves of 7 grain bread each day during December and deliver the fresh loaf to 8 or 10 homes. It is a tradition that we look forward to each year. It usually takes about 5 or 6 hours a day for 12 days during December to complete our list of around 100 households.

While I enjoy the baking, one of the real joys is to be in people’s homes and to tell them personally how much we appreciate their lives, their involvement in the meeting and their friendship to us.

Breadmaking is a process. I get up early in the morning and mix together milk, salt, brown sugar, and oil and I heat it up. Then I mix it with whole wheat flour and bread flour and yeast and I wait. When the yeast starts to work, it raises in the pan and then I call Ron and he kneads more flour, whole grains, sunflower seeds, and other healthy things into this huge pile of dough. He kneads and kneads until it all forms together and when it is slapped, it feels like you are patting the bottom of a baby. Don’t you wonder how we actually know what a baby’s bottom feels like?

Anyway, after the bread is kneaded I put it into the oven with the oven light on, and I let it rise until it fills this pan and almost overflows. From there I make it into 4 or 5 loaves, I roll out the dough and place it in a loaf pan and put it back into the oven with the light on and wait another hour until it almost overflows the pan. And then I bake it for another hour. It is the hour of baking that I love. The fragrance of the bread fills the kitchen, and I am reminded of what a miracle yeast and wheat are, and I have hope that this mixture of dough tells the person we give it to of our love and thankfulness for their presence in our lives.

The fragrance also reminds me of the gift from God of daily bread in a world where many hunger. The fragrance reminds me of God’s compassion on me and the call for me to open my doors and let God’s abundance and the fragrance of God’s spirit permeate the world in which I live. The fragrance of bread reminds me of God’s hope for my life to change the world, to be the friend of the lonely and to bring peace to the world in which I live.

I am thankful for this season and the opportunity to bake bread.

Whole Grain Bread

1 cup whole grain (wheat or a mix of 7 grain, rye, etc…)
6 cups water
1 cup instant milk powder
2/3 cup oil (canola)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons salt
3 Tablespoons yeast (or 3 packages)
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups bread flour
1 cup hulled sunflower seeds
½ cup ground flax seed
2/3 cup wheat germ
5-10 cups bread or all purpose flour

Bring the whole grain to a boil in 3 cups of water and let sit for several hours or overnight. In large mixing bowl combine 6 cups of water, milk powder, brown sugar, oil and salt. Heat in microwave for 3 minutes (or in a pan until warm (105 degrees). Add yeast, 3 cups of wheat flour and 3 cups of bread flour and mix well for 3 minutes. Let sit in a warm place for 20 minutes until foamy. Add cooled whole grains, sunflower seeds, flax seed, wheat germ and enough flour to make a soft dough. Begin kneading dough and adding more flour until the dough is not sticky, at least for 10 minutes. Let rise in a draft free place for 1 hour or until double in bulk. Punch dough down and divide into 4 large loaves or 3 large and 2 small loaves (this is what fits in a normal oven.) Place dough in a loaf pan and let rise for another 40 minutes or until double in bulk. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped.