Breaking Bread, Building Communities

Today was the inauguration of the first bread baked in our brick oven.

Ahead of that, we were treated with a sermon about the history and magnificence of bread braking by Pastor Bryce Johnson.  Following the service, Pr. Johnson taught us the basics of brick-oven bread baking. 

Pr. Johnson has spent a lifetime working with dough and baking bread; he researched that throughout in the 1800s and early 1900s, brick ovens throughout Europe were the centerpiece of village life. Once or twice a week, the community oven was fired, and villagers brought their homemade bread dough to the center of the village to bake. As they waited for the bread, they conversed with one another, played games, and debated the day's events.

The bread nourished the bodies but it was the oven that was vital to building a strong community.

Now retired, Pr. Johnson has been key to dozens of other ovens throughout the United States.  He was instrumental in the design of our oven.

read more here​

images during the oven build

BREAD
~ E.J. Mudd  
​
Mix flour, water, salt, and yeast.
If the phones rings, don't answer.
Your fingers are a sticky mess.

​Let dough rise in a nice, warm place.
If the phone rings, don't answer.
You're creating.

Knead till satiny. Divide into loaves.
If the phone rings, don't answer.
You're sculpting.

Bake in hot oven till crisp and brown.
If the phone rings, don't answer.
You're in aromatherapy.

Take out and eat a piece at once.
If the phone rings, don't answer.
You're in heaven.

Panis Angelicus.

Photos by Steven Peer, copy derived from an article from Glenn Oliphant