We were out of bread, and my wife asked me if I would bake some. It had been a while, so I said yes. Now three small loaves of whole-grain wheat bread are rising on a cookie sheet with a clean thin cotton towel over them. They look beautiful too. If only I had a camera! Of course, then I’d also have to know how to use it. Food photography, I suspect, is not easy.

The bread contains whole-grain wheat flour, yeast, water, barley syrup, oil, and salt. Simple, healthy ingredients. Also good was all the kneading. There’s something satisfying about that. The bread tastes twice as good when I make it myself, maybe because it is part of a more authentic experience than going to the store represents.

One thing I would do, if I had my druthers, would be to grind the flour fresh from wheat berries. But we don’t have a mill like we used to when we were living in Augsburg, Germany back in the early 1990s. Also, wheat berries are expensive and not available here in DC in large quantities. In Augsburg my wife drove with a friend out to a farmer to buy sacks of grain—wheat, spelt, rye, barley, millet, and Grünkern (spelt harvested while only half ripe and then roasted). We ground the grain as we needed it with a little electric mill. We milled fine flour for baking or course stuff for cooking entrees of various kinds.

Now the bread’s in the oven.

Baking bread requires several periods of waiting. First I had to wait for the water and yeast mixture to bubble. During that time I made supper. Then I had to wait for the dough I made rise. During that time I made some whole grain ginger cookies. Then I punched down the dough, made the loaves and had to let them rise. Washed dishes, listened to the news, and began some blogging. Forty-five more minutes till nirvana.

I used to bake a great deal more, and then I went years without doing it. I started again last winter, but the heat in the summer put me off it. Well, winter’s here again, so a hot kitchen feels good.