Intention

I've started baking bread again. Real bread, not a mix from a bag. Baking gluten-free bread can be challenging. It involves lots more ingredients than regular bread. Making accurate measurements with the assistance of a very young baker is frustrating all around. So, I gave it up for a while.

Like so many things in life and in parenting, timing is everything. Sometimes you need to let something go for a while. And then, one day, you get the chance to welcome it back in.

Part of my return to bread baking is due to Dylan's ever increasing abilities and independence. Part is due to the wonderful recently published: Gluten-free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I think the first book in the series came out seven or eight years ago, right about the time I became so sick and had to give up gluten in order to recover my health. I am thrilled with the simplicity of the recipes. I can find five minutes to mix flour, five minutes to shape a loaf... And the bread is good.

Today I'm enjoying the end of a loaf topped with homemade carrot cardamom marmalade (from The Culinary Cyclist) and goat cheese. The combination of chewy, sweet, creamy and tangy is making me so very happy.

And so, we come to this intention. My days need more intention - all those mindless chores that fill the days of an at home parent...  My parenting needs more intention - too many times I drift away for a moment or two to myself, but fail to use those moments to nurture myself in a way that helps me recenter or readies me to refocus on my darling girl.  Making bread is kind of the ultimate intentional domestic task. It is a step.  The first of many along what I hope turns out to be both a familiar and a brand new path.