So,
in true academic fashion, I felt the need to analyze the word first.
Origin of Pre
Latin prae-, from prae in front of, before
Origin of Pare
from Latin parare to prepare, acquire; akin to Latin parere to give birth to, produce, Greek porein to give, present, Sanskrit prnāti he gives
Always love the self-reference (at some point I
will have to do a riff on my favorite mathematical seemingly circular
definition), but other than that I can go with a couple of different ways of
looking at the word prepare. The one
that really speaks to me, especially in PREPARING for the Rosh HaShana is
“before giving birth to.”
OK, so that’s an interesting one to latch onto,
so let me explain why that is the one that works for me.
When I first started thinking about the upcoming
High Holy Days my first thought went to what thinks I want to cook. Over the last year I have been getting better
and better at making Challah, and I made a round Apple Honey Challah for St.
Michael’s Episcopal Church’s homecoming to their building. So, top of my list for the new year is the
round Challah. Next on my list is a
recipe that I just found for Babka, which is a bread/desert bread that I
discovered at a Kosher Deli in Manhattan, I wish I could give them credit them,
all I remember was they were Upper West Side somewhere along Amsterdam.
Breads are things that take a lot of work to do,
and if you don’t do the work “before giving birth to” them, they don’t come out
right at all.
First you have to clean the countertops so that
you have room to work, and they are free of any contaminants. I love the counters in the kitchen in my
house here; my mom did a great job with them.
Marble countertops are so great to work on. There are no bug issues here, so it’s mainly
putting everything that has accumulated on the horizontal surface (as will
happen) and then wiping off the dust (the one major downside of living in the
desert and having dogs running in and out of the house). Fortunately my dogs are small so dog hair on
the counters is not a major issue.
Next, have to get the ingredients together. If you don’t have enough yeast, or flour, or
butter, or eggs when you start mixing, you will have to restart from
scratch. Bread is not something that you
can stop in the middle and run to the store to get that “one thing” you
forgot. Now the additions; the apples or
honey, or chocolate; you can go get those, but then you are rushed, and I have
noticed that the texture of the bread I make really is affected by the
temperament I am in when I make it.
Making bread, for me, has become a very
meditative experience. I don’t have a
bread machine, I tried that when I was younger and I have found that while it’s
not bad bread, it’s not what I want for homemade bread. There is something not homemade about
dropping all the ingredients into a machine, turning it on, and walking
away. I also don’t have a mix-master
right now. Every time I go to my mom’s I
will admit that I do indulge in a little bit of coveting about her Kitchen Maid
mixer with the bread hook, but for now that is just a dream in my kitchen. So, I end up making bread the “old fashioned”
way.
I have never been good at sitting and meditating,
my mind wanders off and schooling my mind to stay in the meditation gets
frustrating and makes it not a happy and restful experience. But when I am mixing and kneading bread I
find that I am able to let my mind wander and follow ideas without the guilt I
tend to impose on myself in sitting meditation.
Time is built into bread making. After mixing and kneading all the ingredients
you have to let the bread rest and rise, then shape it and let it rest and rise
again. In making the Challah and Babka
for Rosh HaShana I will be putting the braided and twisted loafs in the freezer
and then bringing out for the final rise, which takes at least 5 hours before
putting in the oven. All of that time
adds to the flavor to the bread. Those times
that I have tried to rush the bread it comes out too heavy and lacks
flavor.
So I will take time to prepare myself and my
bread for the New Year.
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