Yeast

Rustic Bread

Baking is not my forte but lately I have taken an interest in batter bread recipes.  I have discovered, to my surprise, there is more than one way to make a bread rise, other than yeast. The one recipe I have been baking, however, uses only ¼ tsp.of yeast.  It seemed hardly enough to make a difference but after the rising time, up to 18hrs. I saw with my own eyes how powerful it was. This yeast, along with 1 ½ tsp. salt, flour and water yields a wonderful loaf.  It takes about 24hrs. but that’s OK. Another recipe I was looking at uses 2 packets of yeast but that is for whole wheat flour.

The action of yeast in this process begs a question for me in my life, and perhaps for you. “What in my life might be ‘like yeast’ to be of help in another person’s life?” Maybe a phone call, visiting them in the hospital, delivering a meal, maybe just a willingness to stop in the hall as I pass giving a few minutes to listen as a person shares a heart ache. These are all simple things that do not require any “kneading” but only a little bit of our time.

Yes, there are other situations, like whole wheat flour, that require “2 packets of yeast”: giving several days as I watch a friend's two dogs, driving out of town to share a ride going to visit someone in an intensive care unit…it could be anything…pick your ”loaf of bread” you would like to bake!! I bet, though, that whatever you choose, the results will be wonderfully surprising to you, too, just like it was for me!!


I am a spiritual director, practicing out of Wisconsin. For more information, please visit my website: mollylafond.com