Honey Whole Wheat Bread

For arialas on the occasion of her new home:

When I was a little girl, my mother made all our bread at home. This was done once a week, usually on Mondays. As our family went through several loaves each week, she would make it all at once, using a large, metal tub in which to knead the dough and let it rise. This tub was also the tub that we were washed in as babies. Thus the whole process of baking bread, from texture of the dough kneading, to the yeasty smell of bread rising, and the taste of hot bread slathered in honey or butter, has always been associated with family and the home.

There came a point in my life when I was horribly ashamed of the hearty wheat slices my mother put in my lunch. I wanted soft, white, bread like all my friends. But since then, I have learned to love baking bread myself. There is nothing like fresh baked bread to make a house a home.

( Honey Whole Wheat Bread )