Newly Discovered Passion

I love baking bread. I love everything about it. I love stretching the dough, and rolling it in herbs and spices, and scoring the loaves, and sprinkling them with cheese, and seeing them rise to the perfect height, and taking them out of the oven when they are the perfect color brown and have just the right amount of crustiness. I love the texture of the dough when it comes out of the refrigerator/ retarder, and the moist heat of the proofer, and the smell of the bread as it expands, and the little plump curves of the finished loaves, and the crackle of the crust. I love baking prayers into the loaves and thinking about who might come along to buy them. I love the very breadness of the bread. And it's so delightfully unexpected to discover something new to be passionate about.

Bread!