SMELLS LIKE HEAVEN . . .

My house smells SOOOoooOOOOO good right now!

I woke up this morning with the STRONGEST desire to bake bread . . . Just out of the blue . . . I did not let the fact that it is AUGUST . . . or that I live in the DESERT . . . or that we are in the midst of a HEAT WAVE deter me . . . I wanted to bake bread, so I DID . . .

I used to make it all the time . . . at least once a week, sometimes more often. I had a big family of five children (four of those boys) and it was a good way to fill up hollow legs and not break the bank on groceries. Now my house is emptier, and my recipe still makes five large loaves . . . but I still just wanted to make it . . .

I wanted to sift the ingredients together . . . I wanted to watch the yeast concoction begin bubbling . . . I wanted to knead the dough and then shape it into loaves . . . I wanted the ENTIRE experience, not just the yummy end result . . .

I am not sure why, exactly, but baking homemade bread from scratch is a SOUL satisfying experience, from start to finish. It goes WAY beyond simply making my house smell delicious or provide food for my family and friends . . . I think it makes me feel connected on some deep spiritual level with my mother whom I absolutely adored (who baked bread) and her mom (whom I also adored and who also baked bread) and my pioneer ancestors (who also baked bread) . . .

Baking like this makes me feel . . . very feminine and womanly and homemakerish . . . WAY out of proportion to the effort involved or the yumminess of the bread itself. I mean, there is nothing about making bread that a man couldn't do, so I don't know why it makes me feel SO feminine, but it absolutely does, in the same way that sewing does, or cleaning my house til it GLOWS does. LOL . . . I know MANY women who have no interest in making bread OR sewing OR house cleaning . . . but even though those are not my favorite activities (except maybe sewing) I DO love how I feel while I am doing them . . .

Oh yeah . . . and I LOVE that when I bake bread, my house smells JUST like heaven . . . (I am SURE of it!) =o)