Bread: A Tradition that Transcends

I bake bread.

With my palms I push the warm, elastic dough against the counter. My fingers catch the edge of the ball and I pull it towards my body. It is a steady rhythm of push and pull.

Ten thousand years ago, ancient grasses transformed to domesticated grains. Domesticated grains reorganized the potential of civilization. Humans transitioned from hunter-gather groups to permanent agrarian societies. In 1914, an American archaeologist James Henry Breasted coined the term “Fertile Crescent” to describe the location of these transformations. The adoption of agriculture was followed by the construction of irrigation systems, the invention of the wheel, the use of pottery, writing, property ownership, early banking systems, and the first codes of law. This geographic region today includes portions of Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

I had been an adult for 31 days on September 11th, 2001. I stood in my dorm room, toweling my hair, as I watched planes crash into the Twin Towers in New York City: forever dividing time into before and after.

Slightly tipsy on a Honey Brown Beer in the lounge of my best friend’s college dorm we watched bombs dropping on Baghdad. My spring break arrested as the television screen lit up with fireworks flashing against the night sky. I tried to reconcile the beauty of the image with the horror of reality: those are not fireworks.

I graduated college with a peace sign on my cap listening to President Bush give my commencement speech. I got married, birthed a daughter, finished graduate school, moved across the country, gave birth to my son, bought a house and found a job. I plant and harvest my garden, wash laundry, cook meals and bake bread.

Baking connects me to my children and nourishes both body and soul. It connects me to my mother. It is a grounding motion that connect me to the women before who have kneaded warm elastic dough on kitchen counters. The rhythm a tradition that transcends geography and time: knead, rise, knead, rise… bake.

United States rhetoric and even local politics devolves to the level of Muslim bans, the refusal of refugees, and the persecution of immigrants of all kinds. The rhetoric fades but conflicts linger. Presidential administrations transition, again, but the Unites States continues old and starts new involvements in unrest and violence.

I bake out of rage, powerlessness, and desperation in an invisible and futile gesture of compassion.

I imagine that life in a war zone must go on as life does elsewhere. People fall in love, get married, have children, and have hopes and dreams. People engage in the mundane tasks of everyday life: go to work, care for children, plant and harvest gardens, do laundry, cook meals and bake bread - until those tasks of everyday life stop. STOP. What happens then? I know that I don’t know.

Wheat originated from grasses in the Fertile Crescent and traveled the globe to become a ubiquitous presence around the world. Its many uses and interpretations shaping histories, religions, and cultures – including my own.

The dough rests and rises.

I bake bread as testament to all we have in common.

Here is my favorite bread. I adapted it from a recipe I found in Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads, Revised and Expanded by Bernard Clayton, Jr

Braided Cheese Loaf

Time: about 3 hours

• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ cup water
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 pound Swiss Cheese (diced and divided)
• 5 cups all-purpose Flour (approximately)
• 1 ½ Tablespoons Yeast

Materials needed: measuring spoons, measuring cups, wooden spoon, saucepan, large bowl, kitchen towel, two loaf pans

Combine the milk, water, sugar, salt, butter and half of the diced Swiss cheese in a sauce pan. Heat until the butter is melted and the lumps of cheese start do disintegrate. The cheese does not need to melt completely. Remove from heat and let cool about 30 minutes.

In a large bowl combine the yeast and two cups of flour. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and stir. Begin adding the remainder of the flour, one half cup at a time and stir until it becomes too stiff to stir with a wooden spoon.

Turn the bowl onto a clean surface. Continue kneading the flour into the dough. It should be warm and pliable.

Once the flour is incorporated, return the dough into the large bowl, and cover with a damp towel. Let the dough rise 1 hour or until the volume doubles.

Turn the dough back onto the counter and knead the remaining Swiss cheese cubes into the dough. Divide the dough into halves. Divide each half into thirds. Roll each third into ropes and braid. Tuck the ends under to make the dough about the same length as the pan. Place in the pan. Cover with a damp towel, place in a warm place and allow the loaves to rise until the dough has risen about ½ inch over the edge of the pan (about 45 min).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit 20 minutes before baking.

Midway through baking, rotate the loaves so they are exposes equally to the temperature variations within the oven. If they brown too quickly cover with aluminum foil. Bake until the loaves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Tap the bottom crust, and if the loaf makes a hollow sound, the bread is finished. Remove the bread from the oven, turn it out of the pans, and let it cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Enjoy!!

Resources:

https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/a-brief-history-of-wheat/

https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/fertile-crescent

http://www.expo2015.org/magazine/en/culture/bread--the-food-that-unites-the-majority-of-the-world-s-civilizations.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/where/syria/

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