Mommy Moment…
Making bread is relaxing and fun for me…most of the time.
I remember watching my mom knead bread. In my memory I am standing near her as she works the bread at our kitchen table. The fragrance of the bread and the sight of my beautiful mother is a sweet memory. My own attempts at making bread aren’t exactly sweet memories.
I was too proud, and Mom was too busy to ask for help. The internet wasn’t invented yet, so no Pinterest or YouTube to help me out. Oh, I have thrown out so many batches of bread dough! I didn’t know how to judge the temperature of the water, too hot or too cold will kill the yeast. Yes, I have done it both ways. Once mixed together, and successfully raising, it’s still possible to kill it. I’ve done it. I didn’t start out unsuccessful and gain the knowledge and skill I needed in a step-by-step way. No. Not me. I would have one lovely batch of bread dough, and then an absolute disaster the next. Even just a couple years ago, after 35 YEARS of cooking and baking, I had a disastrous batch.
It was a cold day. The house was a bit too cool for my bread to raise nicely. I considered many places in the house and searched for the best spot. I finally came to the conclusion that really the warm oven would best. I’ve often turned the oven on for a few minutes, shut it off, and placed my dough in it. Usually…it works quite well. Not this day. I put my dough in the oven and busied myself cleaning up the flour covered counter…and floor. It dawned on me when I heard the oven element click faintly that I had NOT turned it off when I had intended. It hadn’t been long. It was still preheating. I jerked open the door and shut the thing off. All might have been well, but this day I had chosen to mix the dough in my large TUPPERWARE bowl…not the ceramic one…not the metal one. Yep. When I looked into my oven my heart sank. That lovely blue bowl that I had very recently purchased was drooling through the rack and the dough right along with it. –I cried.
Motherhood was like that for me. Some days I got it right, more days than not. And then…something would happen, and I’d end up in tears over something I didn’t. But also like my bread dough experiences, I didn’t quit just because of a disastrous day or sad mistake. I laugh when people praise my baking…even today.
Mommy, you got this!!
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