Got Eggs?

Don't you just hate it when you are up for something and you're excited an you already to jump in and get it done then you find that you are missing one or two ingredients. I am not pointing blame this fine Sunday morning but just out-ling my frustration for missed opportunities.

I was going to rise early early today and make bread—that's right, from scratch, yeast driven cracked and whole wheat bread. It's Fall crisp and clear morning like today are great for such enterprises. I used to bake bread every week. I would even grind wheat to make the bread. I love the process, measuring the water, adding the yeast and the sugar letting the creation start to grow. I love seeing the foaming of the yeast begging for something to push so i start throwing in the flour and what other ingredients. Truth told I use a mixer these days, just mixture together. I still knead my bread mass with my hands. I have a theory that to make really great tasting bread it is essential to have the physical contact of flesh to dough. Maybe it the oils in the skin mixing interacting with the dough or the salt` from the human perspiration from the hands but what ever the component is the end result is a flavor enhancement which says homemade bread. Fresh baked flavor wafting through the air can sell houses, bring neighbors to visit offering freshly made jams or jellies of take the sensor to another space in time.

I love to make my bread early in the morning uninhibited by schedules and pressures of other family members. I usually bake a double batch: four loaves of bread. I like to send a loaf to our neighbors and sometimesw to our married kids living in this part of town. I sometimes will make start a soup or stew that will finish itself later in the day, perfect for eating with the bread. This makes for a perfect dinner, especially on a briskly cool or cold Winter's Sunday.

I warm the oven so the kitchen will be warm and welcoming for the yeasts to grow. I let the dough rest for an hour following the first kneading. I am fascinated to see the dough grow to double it size, larger, if I would allow. Then punching down the living mass, I deflate and massage the dough again for ten or for fifteen minutes before putting the dough into the pans to let raise a last time before I finish the task and put the loaves bake. The process is a miracle! I am always amazed at the result of my labors. Perfect loaves of bread that everyone loaves.

However, this is not going to happen today. I opened the fridge door to get the eggs and there were none to be seen. I should have realized we did not have the eggs yesterday. I did not think of it yesterday. And I was out and about. So, most likely no bread today but watch out next Sunday. I'm making bread for sure.