The Joy of Baking-My Journey

I would like to narrate my experience of bread baking. 

I have been learning to bake buns and breads for quite sometime. I just want to walk you through virtually the journey of bread baking.

It is like the paternal feeling during pregnancy and delivery. Though a man does not literally experience the pleasure and the pain of carrying the baby in the womb and delivering but still goes through the whole experience same is the case of baking, dough to bread.  A gist of comparison. 

I prepare the environment for the yeast to develop. Add water to yeast and let it work the magic. The water added should neither be hot(will kill the yeast) and cold(no room for yeast to multiply). But just right. I am happy that yeast(when the water foams)develops, wow the yeast solution is foaming up. I compare this to - The dearest wife has conceived. Then adding it to the dry ingredients and forming a dough, it does not produce bread or buns immediately. I have to wait for 2 hrs like the trimesters, it is dimester (there is no such word) for bread baking. The whole pregnancy period, on and off few check ups, to ensure the curious George in me to convince the dough is doing good, raising. Then the time comes to punch down the raised dough to incorporate the carbon-di-oxide well in the dough and then let it raise again(this is called proving). This again takes its own time. 

Happy to see my dough raise again. Then goes into the preheated oven, labor ward. Happy to part with the dough in the oven is seeing the wife go into the labor room. You literally walk left right look through the glass window of the oven, lights on. So curious to see the bread. Atlast after 30 mts of labor comes out a bread and through this process the whole house is filled with the nice aroma of baking.  Very nostalgic. We had a bakery in the neighborhood in my childhood days, everytime we cross the kitchens of the bakery it smells so heavenly, I have tasted this aroma many a times, like tasting the aroma of lemons and herbs. WOW..  Now my home smells the same. How I wish I had 4D technology to link it up here to endorse it and also kindle your nostalgic moments.

Coming back, I take out the bread. I check all around the bread for the complete doneness. I invert and let it rest just like holding the newborn head down.  It is cooled.  I take n no. of pictures of the freshly baked bread. I am still not happy with the nth picture i take. How long do i admire the beauty of the bread, time to cut and taste it.  Delicious is the word.

 I proudly can say "I bake my bread".  It is little sad to cut the bread but the story goes"Gingerbread is after-all made to eat.." so is the case of my bread.  

I hope you enjoyed my journey of bread baking.