Time on My Hands

FOR THE LOVE OF BREAD

It almost feels cliche to write this, but I have turned into an obsessive baker of bread. All breads. Yes, of course, sourdough, but also challah, brioche, babka, cinnamon buns, cakes, focaccia, scones. Any recipe with flour. 

I have also developed an obsession with stone milled flour. Ground Up Grain in Holyoke especially and Carolina Ground in North Carolina. I am surprised that in all my years of baking, I never thought much about flour— until I did. Now I can’t ever go back to commercial flour.

Meeting Andrea, owner of Ground Up in Holyoke, Mass was like meeting my favorite rockstar. 

I actually feel an energy in my hands when they dive into the flour and I believe this is one of the many reasons that my baking has improved. My heart quickens when I reach for the flour to mix my ingredients at the wee hours of the morning, or make a levain in the evening to develop overnight. I didn’t even know what a levain was six months ago. 

TAKING MYSELF OFF SOCIAL MEDIA

How do you find the time? I am asked often. Perhaps all of this new found time to do all of this baking correlates directly with taking myself off social media. I just couldn't take the time suck, the rabbit holes, the scrolling and posting. No matter how much it helped my business, it wasn't helping me and I just decided that life is too short to waste time on a telephone. So I removed the apps from my phone - and like magic, all of this time opened up. Time for yoga, for writing, for creating and for baking.

I didn't think I spent that much time on social media until I stopped. 

Being a business owner, many of my friends and family will say to me, Alayne, what’s next? A bakery? A business? Hell No. Does everything have to mean anything? I am leaning into this meaning nothing. Not everything has to become a thing. Besides, I would have to charge twenty-five dollars a loaf for the amount of time and ingredients in all of this baking!

This is pleasure- a joyful and peaceful hobby. Some people play golf in their spare time, I bake and then I give it away. Usually half a loaf. 

GIVING IT AWAY

Half a Loaf was born from the early stages of my baking and my lack of confidence about its taste and texture. Unsure of my bread outcome, I would cut the bread in half and slice a thin piece from the middle to be sure it was delicious; then wrap each half. Those halves were then given to two people who I thought shared some common connection. 

I love giving bread away. I know that my heart is part of this bread. 

FEEDING MY SOUL FOR GOODNESS

If you are interested in trying out some bread, make at least a $25 donation to EAST BAY FOOD PANTRY, send me the receipt and I will make you a Half a Loaf for pick up in Bristol. I can't guarantee a date, or a time, I can't even guarantee what type of bread you will get. If you have a question just reply to this email. I bake about 3-4 loaves every day so it would probably be available within a couple weeks depending on what happens from this post. (I may regret this- haha:)

What I do know from all of this baking is that my heart sings from beginning to end. If baking bread and giving it away helps feed people while I feed my soul, stopping social media has more benefits I could have ever imagined.