Ingredients

“Do you have some of that bread?” I would ask, sometimes even before I said hi, as I walked into my Sister’s. When she hands me some, I keep the pieces of bread in my cupboard secretly wrapped and tucked away like a sacred relic. Yesterday, I looked for some in her freezer, but there was no sight of the tin foiled delicacy that is as precious to me as a Pizarro’s silver bullion. “It’s lightly sweet”, said my husband when I parted hesitantly from a small piece of bread. A rare event since I can’t purchase it at a store and have to wait for left overs of my sister’s baking. You have to understand, this bread is not only delicious, it makes my system “work” if you know what I mean… I’ll spare you any further details.

My sister called from her dining room: “Look, on the table… It’s for you.” A pink bag, ribbons, a card. Wrapping paper crumbled under my fingers as I tried to see what it contained. Ingredients. Spelt. Hard winter berries. Yeast. Flax seed meal. A bread pan. And a recipe. As I stepped into my kitchen this morning, yesterday’s ingredients whispered into my ears: bake. I whisked them together. Learned a new verb: to knead. And waited for 80 minutes.

As my sister’s note said: “Give a woman bread, and she’ll be happy for a day. Give a woman the recipe for the bread, and she’ll be happy for life!”.

Kindergarten Bread (a Waldorf School recipe)

2 tsp yeast

1 tsp salt

2 cups of warm water

¼ cup of honey

2/3 cup of olive oil

¼ cup of flax meal

1 cup (before grinding) of hard winter wheat berries

6 cups of organic Spelt flour

Pre-heat oven to 350. Combine yeast and warm water, salt, honey and olive oil and let it rest for 15 minutes. Add flour until dough is able to be kneaded and no too sticky. (Too much flour will make it tough). Add in ground hard winter wheat berries. And after, flax meal. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.Check bread at 1 hour mark and then bake it for 20 more minutes if needed.