I Like Bread

One of my weaknesses is a nice slice of bread. Not the grocery store brand of course, but a solid piece of homemade bread. Im not a huge fan of consuming a lot of bread though because of my exercise diet so I do try to limit myself. I've been splurging recently though and this week I was weak. I ate a lot of bread.

Not too long ago my dad visited a farmers market where he picked up a loaf of bread from a man by the name of Mr. Rein. Rein makes unbelievable breads. The Rye is the classic, and my dads favorite. Im partial to the Gouda Cheese bread. Yes, as in gouda cheese in the bread. It's amazing. This bread can only be bought on occasion though because Mr. Rein only bakes once a week and bounces between farmers markets.

This week was something special. After 9 years making bread Rein decided to hold an open house where he would give a tour of his operation. The ride wasn't long, about 40 minutes somewhere on the Cape. My dad and I made the trip and got to chat along the way which I always enjoy. So Rein, this guy is all about his bread. His basement houses a huge mixer and bins full of flour. After a quick tour we headed upstairs to see where the magic happens. His kitchen looked liked most minus the two full size bread racks he had. We spent the majority of the time in the kitchen were he showed off many of the tools he uses to cook and even some of the procedures. He went into some crazy detail with some of it too! The oven for example; two different sized iron pans would go in with water while it is heating up to moisturize the oven. There were clay plates lining the racks inside that the bread was placed on. He would squirt water into the oven via what I think is the exhaust of the oven now and then to add more moisture. He had stations for bread at different parts of the process with at least 5 or 6 timers that would all be set for different times to keep track of everything. At one point in the process he puts ice cubes in the oven that create steam and moisturize the bread while it's baking. I am now convinced moisture control makes bread good.

The tour lasted about 15 minutes after which we picked up our bread and were on our way!

The visit was something I thought more and more about as soon as we left. Rein was so passionate about cooking bread. It was his life. He was happy with what he had and I could feel the happiness radiating off of him during the entire visit especially while he was explaining everything to us. ITS BREAD. Its freaking bread and this guy is euphoric about it. It's amazing. I sit behind a desk and sell insurance. I've acquired tunnel vision in my work and everything else seems like a fog that I've had less and less of a desire to explore. I think this is important in my quest to do more in 2020, explore the fog, for better or worse. Visiting Rein was a light that is helping me see this. 

I'll be adding this to the list; be more aware of things in genera, appreciate their existence, and maybe go down a rabbit hole like this now and then. This has all come together now, so it definitely took a few days for me to digest after visiting Rein and I think writing helped the manifestation of the thought. It's interesting the way that works, that expressing/exploring thought or ideas in different ways sometimes helps in the production of ideas/creativity. I always find myself doodling when I get stuck, maybe I should write more. Food for thought.

I thought it would be humorous to write a piece about bread and I hope it made you smile.

Currently listening to Stuck In My Ways - Chris Webby.

Cheers - Peter B.