our daily bread

People often refer to our daily basic needs as “our daily bread.” What I love about this phrase is that when you understand the process of making bread you can begin to grasp how complex of an idea it is. There is a connotation that one’s daily bread is what one requires to survive. But, as a bread baker I can’t help but think this phrase must be deeper than that. Certainly bread baking includes many elements in its making that are indeed needed to survival. A basic bread recipe includes flour, water, salt, and yeast. However, in a larger picture bread making requires sun, earth, and rain to grow the grains needed to make the flour, the earthy mineral of salt, and the process of fermentation represented in the yeast. The process of making bread requires skill, a skill that must be taught. I imagine historically this skill was taught from one mother to her daughter or from one head baker to his or her apprentice. Bread making necessitates the time required to prepare the dough and begs the active use of your hands. As the dough is prepared and baked it grabs onto your senses: the feel of the moist dough, the aromatic smell of the yeast, the warmth from a loaf just pulled out of the oven, the pleasant sight of a loaf of bread torn to be shared with the family. And of course, it requires many periods of rest. There are periods of rest after each significant step of the process of making dough. These rest periods range from 10 min – 24 hours. And what exactly are we waiting for, especially during that long 24 hour slow rise of the dough that I so love. We are waiting for the yeast and gluten to develop. We are waiting for the magical fermentation process of unfold. We are waiting for wonderful taste and texture. We are waiting for growth, for the rising.

So when we speak of “our daily bread” I feel we speak of much more than just our most basic needs. We speak of enriching our lives with the cycles of nature, time, sensual enjoyment, communal exchange, and blessed rest. It is possible to side step some of these aspects of bread baking, but the result is not nearly as delicious or satisfying. In order to be truly satiated one must go through each step of the preparation. If you are seeking your daily bread you must be completely dedicated to the process. We expect too little of our time at the table for indeed it is planted with miracles and wonders just below the surface of the wood.