Wednesday, September 17, 2008
One More Step
“We work to become, not to acquire."
-Elbert Hubbard
This morning Spouse left for work much earlier than usual and I intended to go back to bed for a while.
For breakfast, however, I needed to make bread: we had none, not a crust in the house.
I thought that I would take care of the bread-making after an hour or so, following my sleep. Then I reconsidered; I would be more hazy of mind and bleary-eyed at that time, and hardly fit to boil water for my tea much less to roll bread.
So, I decided to simply make the dough, which is one of the more difficult parts, and then I would sleep.
I made the dough with that determined outline of a plan but just as I was dusting the flour from my hands I considered that I might as well break the dough into spheres and save myself the task of doing that later.
I made the spheres, and then decided that I could go one step further and roll the spheres into discs, for that most certainly was an intricate process I would not relish doing after a sleep.
It is rather laborious to roll the dough into paper-thin pieces, for the mix will often stick to the breadboard, fall apart or just not turn out as I hoped.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that five flat shapes were made almost before I knew it.
Before I exited the kitchen, however, the thought struck me that it would be wise, after all, to have the bread already cooked by the time I rose for breakfast.
I heated the pan and patiently cooked the bread.
Then- wonder of wonders- I made a hot cup of tea and sat down to eat breakfast.
I did not go back to bed, and the entire bread-making endeavour had been free of frustration and impatience.
As they say: one step at a time.
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6 comments:
what sort of bread is it that you roll into paper thin wafers?
I like the way you talked yourself into making the bread in stages, thinking you'd sleep better knowing it was done and then surprised yourself by not feeling frustrated through the whole process. Maybe you should always plan to "go back to bed" so that nothing you do becomes a task to resist but merely a frustration-free exercise ;)
Pauline, yes I surprised myself :) I might have found myself a good way to get things done!
The bread I make is something that Spouse taught me, a kind of Indian bread called Chapati or Roti. It's usually used as a wrap to gather up other food on the plate but it works just as well with sweet things (like fruit) as it does with a dinner.
It's good exercise on the arms, all that rolling!
Good for you. There's nothing like homemade bread. Unless of course, it's going back to bed!
Pamela- precisely right ;) And if you get both, that's a very good day.
Would have loved to be at your house that morning..waking to the comforting scent of warm bread. You have much much more motivation at that early hour than I could ever dream of having!
:)
Jaime, I don't have as much motivation as Spouse ;) It was worth it to have fresh bread for breakfast.
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