Normally, on New Year’s, I would be writing about books.
There would be a new stack, attained under the Christmas tree, and there would be the stragglers from the previous year that didn’t get finished, or were put aside, for one reason or another (I must say, though, I’ve tried to end this habit, telling myself I owe it to the author to finish the book from beginning to end).
And while I did get reading done this year, and I did participate in a delightful book club, not a lot of progress was made on the stack. And that’s okay. If there is anything I have learned during the pandemic, it is that pre-pandemic perfectionism is not productive. So, I didn’t make it through the stack. Acknowledge, accept, and move on.
Baking was also something that seemed to happen earlier in the year, but got displaced by work, the fever-pitch election and all-encompassing volunteer work that went along with it. There’s that awful feeling you get when you’ve been away from something you enjoy – will you remember how to do it again? Can you find your beloved bread recipe? Do you even know where to look?
Perhaps it was the lines forming at the grocery store on New Year’s Eve that forced me into action. I’m an 8 AM-grocery-store shopper; no one there, no lines. As I had already made that trip, I was not about to go back and battle anyone for a packet of yeast. Which, as it turn out, I had a jar of on the shelf.
Bread dough is pretty forgiving, and luckily I have made this Artisan Bread for several years now. I even used this recipe with young children when I was teaching pre-school. Although it gets pretty sticky – I managed to get the dough into the loaf pans when ready and, when done, the bread turned out quite well, considering I had not baked for so many months. It helped to watch Paul Hollywood make his ciabatta on The Great British Baking Show Master Class. His technique reminded me to go back and read the original recipe, which also made four loaves, not the two I had adapted for classroom work. It was great to breathe new life into something I had done over and over for a long time.
If there is anything I will do differently in 2021 it is make the time to bake regularly. It is what our mothers knew – you do something weekly for a whole host of reasons. Sunday, for example, is often sewing day. Baking is joyous and, in dark times, is such a simple way of doing something productive, occupying my mind, and sharing something sweet – in return for a smile -- with friends, family, and neighbors. It’s okay, though, that other activities got in the way of baking last fall.
After all -- acknowledge, accept, and move on.