Bread Making

We bake our own bread. We have not bought bread in about a year, now. I won't buy bread for many reasons: Price, ingredients, things of that nature. But there's one other reason I won't ever buy bread... because of Ava. She takes such pride in her Mama baking our bread, I would never want to disappoint her. You can see the admiration in her eyes as she takes a bite of warm, fresh bread with butter and says, "I'm so glad you're my Mommy and you make our bread." Corny? Yes! But it's very true. There is just one problem- I dread making bread! I'm not sure why. I doesn't take long, although I always convince myself it will take all day. And the hardest part is finding something that will hold Serenity's attention long enough for me to get elbow-deep in dough, no big deal, right? But I start dragging my feet sometimes as early as Sunday night, knowing that Monday morning, after I clean my Dad's shop (PLUG: Tom How Welding Services Incorporated gives the best service around!!), I have to make bread. Sometimes I even put it off until Tuesday, as I did this week, and that just throws our whole menu out of whack! So when I finally get it going, mix it up, knead it, and set it aside to rise, I think, "Huh! That wasn't so bad after all!" Then, it's time to punch it down, which the kids think is the greatest thing ever, divide it into 3 loaves, let it rise a second time, then bake it. At this point, my house is smelling lovely, I'm feeling very accomplished, and I think, "I love baking our own bread! What was I so worried about?" But, it's that how most things go?