sour dough / my favourite things

I have been making bread
all week

it is a busy process

I put away my yeast
and instead have starters
for sour dough

two starters
from two friends

I have doubled the amounts by adding
flour and water

mixed it smooth
to look like pancake batter

saved some 'levain'
in the fridge

and let the other be warm and grow
waited eight hours
and fed it again

all week I have been feeding my levain
and waiting

smelling it
watching for it to rise and double its size
looking for it to collapse
waiting for it to be bubbly and wrinkled

I think it is dead

It has no life
gives off no sweet odour

lifeless

useless

I checked the part
I put in the fridge
the half I fed and put aside
to rest

It still had bubbles
and a pleasant odour

I will try again

I think I watered down the food
not enough sustenance
I starved it
maybe I did not keep it warm enough
I missed a few days
didn't measure just right
I am sort of a 'throw in this and a bit of that' kind of person

but there is a better way
it is already proven
it would have made my levain grow
given it bounce
given it life

the
Red Rooster
Bakery
said

my risen dough
when ready
should feel soft
with a body to it
just like a baby's bumb

(makes me smile to remember
all my Afrikan babies and TLC)

I am going to try again

remembering
my husband's happy heart
for a good loaf of bread

I am going to make a good levain
feed it well
let some rest
and watch
for the bubbles
and the wrinkles
and the pleasant odour

time with Jesus
resting in Him
being filled with His joy
getting old and wrinkled
being a sweet savour
to those around us

feeding on His Word
waiting on His Spirit

good levain

sour dough
my favourite things





I am making sour dough bread... or rather... trying!
It is a balance between feeding my starter or starving it, watching it bubble and grow and smell yeasty or seeing it lie flat out, unmoving, useless and dead...my heart is the same way...do I let God feed me so that I am alive and growing in Him or do I seal myself off and become useless to His Kingdom and to those around me?
I want to be good levain, alive, and bubbly, so I will unscrew my cap that keeps Him out and let Him feed me by His Spirit through His Word... I want to make good loaves, over and over again!
There is a hungry world out there!
He is the Bread of Life!
 
from the fisherlady