Bread Loaf

It's a heavenly smell - freshly-baked bread.

The golden brown loaf sitting cooling on the rack.
Wisps of steam gently rising from the crispy crust.
It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
I must be careful not to drool on the keyboard!

But it can't be eaten straight away.
It's too hot, soft, and stretchy, to be sliced.
I'll just have to wait, and keep swallowing!

To think that the whole process started with planting seeds.
Way back in the Spring, or maybe even the previous Autumn.
Buried in the dark earth, the roots and shoot sprout unseen.
Then the green blade riseth out of the ground, into the sun.

The wind blows, the rain falls, the sun shines, and harvest comes.
Some seed yields thirtyfold, some sixty fold, and some hundredfold.
The harvester trundles across the field and gathers in the precious crop.

The grain may have to dry further before it can be milled into flour.
In the old days the water wheel would turn the heavy millstones.
Nowadays the stones or crushers are powered by machinery.
The end result is the same - finely powdered flour ready for baking.

It's a complicated business - getting the mix of ingredients right.
Lots of flour, a pinch of yeast, butter, sugar, milk, a little salt.
And don't forget the water - as I did once!

The ingredients must be mixed and left to rise.
Then kneeded, squeezed, and stretched, into shape.
Finally the baking takes place under careful control.

At last the heavenly aroma fills the house.

Life's like that.
From seed to bread.
Eat your fill.
Live life - to the full.