Thoughts on Challah bread

Bread, "the staff of life." I was amazed at the historical influence that bread has had on language and culture.  If one was to study the history of bread more in-depth, one would truly find the history of the world. While this blog has been about ingredients and mechanics of bread making, I could not help turn my thoughts towards the more philosophical questions of bread.

One often hears people comment on the change of pace in modern life. Often times the reference suggests the underlying speed and ease with which we get things. Our physical needs are met with just one trip to the grocery store. We exchange dollars for fruits, vegetables, bread, even sweets. No more preparing, planting, sorting, waiting, baking, etc. It's funny how the thing that we miss, the thing that the "good'ol days" were full of, is work. Yet, we feel more overworked than ever. No time to tend a garden, or make bread at home. Honestly, few days seem to have enough time to make a 30-minute meal. The loss of our time to me, seems to be the loss of appreciation for the things that make us happy. Bread is a prime example.

Consider the time it took to make a loaf of bread 300 years ago. The wheat had to be planted, harvested, milled, turned into flour. The water had to be carried. Other ingredients were worked for, traded, who knows. At last, the lady of the house set out to make bread. The dough was made. It sat. A day or two later, the fire was lit, the oven preheated for hours before. The ashes cleaned, the fire adjusted. The dough was kneaded, formed, and set to bake. For how long, I don't know. Finally a loaf came out. The deliciousness of the bread was secondary, I think, to the substenance it provided. I don't doubt it was delicious. But it was appreciated as the reward of long and hard labor.

Manufacturers today produce dough with good aeriation and gluten structure in 4 minutes. Making bread today still takes time, but the time is not spent by the consumer. The question I am left to ponder then is, am I capable of appreciating a loaf of bread the way our ancestors were? In terms of flavor, our society accepts mass-produced bread with no qualms. It is good enough. Artisan bread tastes better, but is the difference enough? Based on the market, most people don't see a good enough difference to pay $4.50 for an artisan loaf versus $1.20 for Wonder bread.

So where does happiness come in? It is my personal philosophy that we can only appreciate the things that we know, and happiness stems from that knowledge. It is not up to me to say whether today's society is any more or less happy than our bread-making ancestors, but I know for a fact that I can't appreciate bread in the way they did. Maybe instant gratification isn't happiness at all. Maybe happiness is solely connected to the intangibles of time, effort, and labor.