Hands On (Learner)

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My cousin in Mallorca, Spain always make fresh bread. She came and visited us in Costa Rica a couple years ago, and she couldn’t believe that I had never made bread. ANd then once I saw how “easy” she made it and how cheap it is to make, I felt so silly! I should be doing this every few days, I thought! And then I remembered that I had a 1 year old (at the time). That’s really no excuse. It’s been on my “To Do” list for years. And now that I have a kitchen of my own, I figured there was no better thing to attempt on Sunday.

I’ve been realizing more and more that I really have to DO or BE in order to learn. And after watching several people make bread the last few years, and give me recipes, and PIN photos and ideas on Pinterest…..   well, yesterday I realized that there was no better way to make bread than just DO it. I swear I read like 10 different articles and recipes. And then Gavin and I just dove in and figured it out on our own. I had about 5 different screens open on my computer, 2 books open and Spencer looking something up on his computer for me. And I didn’t follow any single one recipe exactly. I combined different things and techniques and what worked for us…. and guess what? It turned out perfectly for us! And we all had fun creating different kinds (cinnamon raisin, basil/sunflower seeds/ garlic, walnut, date/cinnamon/honey) and different shapes!…. And then the eating….. but the recovery was a little slow….

Deia couldn’t tolerate Gluten when she was younger and breast feeding. So I cut out all gluten form my diet, and in turn, I felt so much better and haven’t really missed it at all because I feel so great not having it. And if Mama isn’t making muffins, pancakes and cinnamon rolls, well….then papa and babies aren’t eating them. That’s not to say we don’t eat them- we DO…..!!! My mother in law and mom have perfected SO many incredible recipes without gluten and they are so good, if not better than the gluten filled recipes. And we all feel better after we eat the gluten free brownies or gluten free pancakes. Anyways….. none of us have been eating much gluten. THat’s the point. Until yesterday afternoon. Spencer came in from working outside, to a house filled with the smell of gluten. And he was famished and starving. So he literally dove in to that fresh bread. And it took him until about 9 AM this morning to recover! He felt so tired and wanted to sleep at 5 last night. It didn’t seem to have the same effect on Gavin, but I think that’s because he didn’t eat as much (someone was hogging it all!).  I definitely ate a few slices, and woke up puffy and with a red eye.  Super interesting.

So now that I’ve made some whole wheat bread, I think the next experimentation will be to make gluten free bread so my husband doesn’t go pass out at 5 PM!

(and yes….gavin is wearing monkey pajamas, Halloween socks, and a Strawberry Shortcake hat in those photos. And that hat was from my Strawberry Shortcake doll 28 years ago!)