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Wednesday, January 10, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Commentary...
Baking bread and other life lessons
Correspondent
There’s something grow-
ing in my refrigerator. I see
it when I open the door…ris-
ing, bubbling and needing my
attention. All kinds of things
are changing right now. It’s a
new year, full of possibilities
and transformation. But noth-
ing will happen if I don’t take
a few risks.
Once I made the decision
to leave my long-time and
rewarding job, I began try-
ing new things. Even though
I was leaving on the best of
terms I still felt a sense of
freedom and relief. A big
door was closing, giving me a
gentle nudge to keep moving
away from familiar routines
and surroundings. It felt OK
to stretch and take a leap into
the unknown. Some of the
things I’m doing now, I never
could have imagined. And it
all came down to not worry-
ing about what others think,
and just saying “Yes!”
My sister and I are doing
low-key and super-fun back-
up singing with a band. Even
though I sang for years a long
time ago, I never thought
singing would be a part of
my life again. I rarely even
sang in the car or the shower.
I just accepted that I’d lost
my voice. Now we show up
at farmer’s markets and cof-
fee houses, get on stage and
do a few numbers with dear,
encouraging friends.
Another new endeavor is
bread-making. That’s when
the yeasty little bubbles took
up residence in our kitchen.
I’d watched “real cooks”
make sourdough bread and
thought it was too much for
me to try. There seemed to
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be so many mysterious tricks
required to produce a deli-
cious round of homemade
bread. Then I was offered
some sourdough starter. I
didn’t want to refuse just
because I was afraid I
wouldn’t follow through and
actually use it. (Something I
did the first time I was given
some of the creamy-colored
liquid.)
Toby, my daughter’s boy-
friend is a seasoned bread-
maker, and after tasting some
of his caraway seed bread, I
had to give it a try. For some
reason, cutting ties with my
past seemed to give me new-
found courage to go for it.
Being such a one-trick-pony,
I always found an excuse to
stay in my lane and focus on
my job. I rarely ventured out
or tried anything new.
Now the starter is grow-
ing and I’m learning how to
take good care of it. I feed
it about once a week, and
bought a large glass jar for it
to live in (the first jar was too
small and when I added flour
and water, I came home to a
growing blob of creeping,
gooey starter oozing across
my counter).
Before the holidays, I
began baking sourdough/
whole-wheat bread for gifts
and holiday meals. I had
some quickly written-down
instructions from Toby that I
tried to follow. When he came
for Christmas, I was excited
to have him taste bread from
his starter. When I asked for
feedback, he mentioned that
I should be keeping the lids
on the dutch ovens, then tak-
ing them off for the last 5 or
so minutes. I’d been doing it
backwards. That explained
why the bread wasn’t getting
that golden-brown color.
Several loaves later, the
color, texture and flavor
began to improve. I realize
now that I’m dealing with a
living thing that reacts to tem-
perature and other changing
variables. No two loaves are
the same. Another improve-
ment came when I realized
I wasn’t slicing into the
unbaked bread properly. That
caused a weird dome to form
on the top of each loaf. Once
Toby showed me how to slice
the top and let air escape
during cooking, my loaves
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stopped looking like the top
of a big crimini mushroom.
All this unleashed cre-
ativity has motived me to
try something new and then
show it to the world. I think
my writing has helped me
get over a fear of judgement,
ridicule or just plain embar-
rassment about what I pro-
duce. I’m still surprised when
someone likes what I write or
cook. It’s funny, I needed to
stop caring about what people
think before I experienced
more positive responses to
my work.
I see baking bread like a
parable for my new career as
a full-time writer. I’m learn-
ing how to take care of my
ideas (starter) by first not
ignoring them. When I pay
attention and follow through,
the results keep getting bet-
ter. My focus has shifted, my
inner conversations are less
adversarial and more sup-
portive. The words I speak
in my mind are alive and will
produce offspring. When I
“feed” my imagination with
healthy, measured doses of
well-seasoned ideas the result
can be downright tasty.
Then there’s the crust. Its
smell and texture can reveal
the essence of what lies
within. With each loaf, it’s
been too hard or too soft and
sometimes burned if I don’t
pay attention. This process
has me asking what kind of
outside am I revealing to the
world. Who I am and how
I’m perceived by others is
partly of my own making.
Am I paying attention to what
I need? Do I plan ahead and
take the steps necessary for a
positive outcome?
When I’ve tried to protect
myself with a hard shell, all I
accomplish is keeping others
out and making it difficult for
anyone to know the real me.
Some people can’t be both-
ered with having to really
chew through a hard crust to
get inside. I wonder who I’ve
missed because I made it dif-
ficult for them to get in?
Once again, a wise wom-
an’s words speak to me. “Take
your time. It’s a process.” So
I’ll keep baking, learning and
sharing what I create. It’s time
to be bold, take risks and burn
a few loaves along the way.
It’s all worth it in the end.
New Year, New Smile!
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ORDAN
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