No Bread, No Food!

Ever noticed that when you don't have a particular food item in the house, that's the one thing you crave? It's like when the water's been turned off at the mains for repair - suddenly all you want is gallons of the stuff to drink. Or when there's no milk - same thing. (Only slightly applies to chocolate supplies)

Well, we've run out of bread. I bought a minimal amount at my weekly grocery shop, intending to stock up on better bread from a nearby shop (the BEST you'll ever taste) over the weekend. And didn't get round to it. So we finished off the last crust this morning, and suddenly all I could think of for lunch, supper and on into the rest of the week is bread!

I would bake a couple of loaves, but the flour's running low (did I mention I baked a most excellent loaf of garlic-infused bread over the weekend, from scratch, WITHOUT A RECIPE?? I'm becoming a regular Jamie Oliver!). Just enough for muffins (a bread subsitute, as leftovers can go into the kid's breaktime lunchbox) for supper. We're also running out of salt...

Well, we hummed and hawed over what to eat for lunch, all the time thinking "bread, bread, bread". I ended up making a thick veggie soup (more like stew) for me, and the kid had instant noodles with leftover custard for afters. You see, we were going to have bread for supper last night too (we're weighed down with ripe avo's just crying out to be spread and sprinkled with Aromat) - but I wanted enough left for this morning's breakfast. We ended up with hot cooked apples and custard instead for supper. So much for nutrition...

I've noticed that bread has become very much a comfort food for me. Not only eating a darned fine loaf fresh out of the oven (home-made or bought) with an indecent amount of butter and stuff on top, but also the MAKING of bread. Mixing, then kneading, kneading, kneading - it's very calming, and you get to work out a few tensions while you're at it. I love the smell of baking bread, and that first steaming slice cut with a crisp crust from the end of the loaf.

Oh man, I'm drooling on the keyboard again.

My parents are always complaining about the lack of decent bread in Australia. It comes sliced, and you can crumple an entire loaf up to a mere handful. No substance, no taste. First thing they rush for when they arrive is a freshly-baked loaf from Pick 'n Pay. (By the way, American bread is WAY worse than Australian bread...). I've sent along a number of recipes for mom to try baking her own, but she says "the flour is different" and "it won't work", so they stick to the bad bread they buy.

But I'm coming over! And I'm going to show them how to create a perfect loaf, independent of "different flour" issues. I've found one can use nearly any type wheat flour and still get a superb loaf of bread. Maybe, just maybe, they'll catch on and continue to make it when I leave.

In the meantime though we've got no food in the house - simply because we're out of bread.