The Smell of Baking Bread

"No yoga exercise, no meditation in a chapel filled with music, will rid you of your blues better than the humble task of making your own bread." - M.F.K. Fisher

Surveys often list the smell of baking bread in the top 3 of respondent's olfactory preferences. I enjoy this smell often while I bake all our bread products at home.

The Smell Report states, "Our olfactory receptors are directly connected to the limbic system, the most ancient and primitive part of the brain, which is thought to be the seat of emotion."

The smell of baking triggers pleasant emotional responses. I always think of my grandmother, herself a baker extraordinaire, who was as warm, comfortable, and life-giving as rising dough. Feelings of comfort and security wash over me every time I smell freshly baked bread.

Realtors have been known to advise house sellers to bake bread before showing their home to prospective buyers. It makes a house feel more like a home.

Baking is one way we can learn to participate more fully in the preparation of the food we eat. The satisfaction of developing self-reliance is a fringe benefit, and it saves us money. It is also nice having a very short ingredient list consisting of things that are wholesome.

I kept track of my last bag of whole wheat flour in order to record everything that I made from it. I currently pay about $6.00 for 10kg of flour. The products I prepared would be worth well over $100.00 if purchased at the store.

Some will point out that this is not as cost effective as it seems because you have to figure in the price of your labour. I disagree with the need to put a dollar figure on every micro-second of our time. It may be costing me time to bake my own breads, but it pays dividends in so many other ways. If my home baked bread were costing me the same as store bought I would still bake at home.

It takes a vigorous kneading to convert that flour into dough, and this repetitive exercise can be very meditative. The divine smells linger long after the bread is done, as does the calm, centered feeling. A day of baking forces one to be mindful throughout as there can be several stages that need to be timed. It is an excellent excuse to slow down and attend to this enjoyable single purpose for a morning or afternoon.

Today I am making pita bread to eat with Mediterranean dishes. Also known as Arab bread, pita is fun and easy to make. In the oven it puffs up into pillow-y perfection in about 5 minutes. Pita is great warm and fresh when ripped apart for dipping into hummus with olives. We will also use some to make pockets to fill with falafel, pickles, onions and lettuce.

Goods I Baked With 10kg of Flour

14 loaves of bread
2 dozen green onion cakes
3 dozen tortillas
12 servings pancakes
3 dozen spice cookies
2 pizza crusts
1 chocolate cake
12 chapatis
13 samosas

There is a net benefit in undertaking this basic and ancient activity, and I highly recommend it. It is a skill worthwhile learning, and the independence you gain is guaranteed to reduce the angst you may be feeling in troubled times. Your taste buds, digestive system, and emotional state will all be better off.

My Mom Would Think You're Lazy

Anyone seriously considering downsizing, or living with less, is going to be up against formidable opposition. Courage, perseverance, and a tough leathery hide are required to venture into the Simple Zone. When troubled times call for us to go shopping in order to do our part, not doing so is risking being unpatriotic. Being seen as a penny-pinching tight-wad pales in comparison.

When I first decided that I wanted to delve deeper into simple living, some thought I was making a colossal mistake, or worse. I could have stayed in my teaching position until I was 65, rather than retire at age 40.

Thing is, over the course of my career I heard of many colleagues that passed away shortly before, or just after retiring. All that financial planning is rendered ineffective if you die before the first pension check hits your mailbox. I had to change my life before it happened to me.

I took a two year sabbatical first, wanting to ease into a life with less. After the freedom of these two years I couldn't go back. I quit.

"If you don't teach what will you do?" I was asked. My mind was reeling thinking of the infinite possibilities. Don't get me wrong, teaching was one of the most incredible and satisfying things I have ever done. But it has a way of consuming your time; it takes over your life, becomes your life. It is 'right livelihood' but at what cost?

Someone else asked, "What about retirement?" Since I try to live in the moment, considering this was not at the top of my list. Sixty-five felt like a long way away, and I wanted to retire to a simpler life immediately.

My favorite reaction, though, came from two individuals I didn't even know. I explained to these friends of friends, that I had quit teaching to live a slower-paced, environmentally responsible, low-income life.

The young couple were silent as they shook their heads in response to my words. Finally the woman looked at me, and proclaimed, "My mom would think you are lazy."

Ouch. Move over Big Brother, Big Mother is here.

Call me a slacker, call me a hippie, a radical even, but don't tell me your Mom thinks I'm lazy. That's just mean. I guess what she was saying was she thought that my work ethic sucked.

This is what 20th-century French philosopher André Gorz wrote about the work ethic:

The work ethic has become obsolete. It is no longer true that producing more means working more, or that producing more will lead to a better way of life. 

The connection between more and better has been broken; our needs for many products and services are already more than adequately met, and many of our as-yet-unsatisfied needs will be met not by producing more, but by producing differently, producing other things, or even producing less. 

This is especially true as regards our needs for air, water, space, silence, beauty, time and human contact. Neither is it true any longer that the more each individual works, the better off everyone will be.

- Critique of Economic Reason, 1989

Go tell your momma that.

We have to become smarter about work and consumption and quality of life. We have to lift our foot off the gas pedal as we speed toward the precipice. If that means affecting the 72% of the economy that consumer spending accounts for, then so be it.

It has to happen or we are going over the cliff. I do not intend to do a Thelma and Louise thing. I am getting out of the car before it takes the plunge, even if your mom thinks I'm lazy, and wants to see me disappear over the horizon.

Oh, and by the way? Your mom is wrong.