Dough, Dough...Why Do I Love Thee So?

When I hold a nice round ball of dough in my hand, it makes me feel so warm inside. Bread dough, pasta dough, playdough (just kidding)...it all makes me feel alive. It's also another one of those connections to the past for me. Bread has been handmade for years and years. It cannot be that difficult if people back then could do it without the technology we have now...

I used to be afraid of dough. Especially a yeast dough. What is that stuff? It is alive? That just sounds gross, like I'm cooking with a germ or virus! And it's so touchy. If everything's not right, it can be a baking disaster. I once heard a dear friend say, "If I get to a recipe that has yeast in the list, I just turn the page." Where does this unfounded, gripping fear come from? Maybe it's also the unknown...inexact flour measuring which depends on the weather or the "warm" water temperature required to wake the yeast, but not kill it. My grandmother baked bread and cinnamon rolls frequently. She never measured, she experienced the dough. She touched it. She never took the temperature of the water. She felt it with her fingers. That all may sound so scary, but it just takes practice! That's how she learned. And oh, it's so worth it.

See, you have to be okay with messing it up and experimenting. Someone may show you how to use yeast and make dough, but unless they let you feel it with your own hands, it will be difficult. The first time I baked Grandma's bread from her handwritten recipe, I only let the dough rise once, then put it in pans and baked it. It was like bricks! I called Grandma quite disappointed and told her what happened. She said "you didn't let it rise once you put it in the pans?" "No!" I replied. She had left that part out of the recipe. "Well you have to let it rise again" she said, quite sure of herself . How in the world was I supposed to know that? It's one of those things she has done for so long with no written recipe that it was hard for her to put the instructions into words!

Well I tried again and again and again and I have decided it is one of those things that gets easier and better every time I make it. I now use so much yeast I buy it in bulk at Sam's Club and it does not expire before I get to use it. I can make pizza, breadsticks, rolls, bread, anything I desire!!! I plead with you to use yeast if you haven't tried it. Just promise me the next time you make a dough, you'll hold that ball of yeast and flour in your hand and search yourself. Do you feel warm and cozy? Isn't it a lovely feeling?

The Soul of a Cast Iron Skillet

What is this feeling I get when I use my Lodge Cast Iron skillet? I feel skilled and resourceful. Part of something bigger than just my kitchen.

I think it is a connection with women and men who cooked in cast iron on the prairie. It makes me think of my family, living in the Backbone woods of Marion County, IL. It makes me think of my grandma and her mom and so forth. I feel connected to them and I also feel connected to my food.

It may sound gross, but when a cast iron skillet is used correctly, it becomes seasoned. See, you don't wash it with soap. Just hot water. Then you dry it and oil it up real good so it doesn't rust. That makes me feel like every meal I've ever cooked in that skillet is still in it's soul. It hasn't been washed away.

Of course there are a few I'd like to wash away. It's slightly difficult to get used to cast iron. It gets really hot and stays really hot. Unlike our stainless or teflon pans. And food will stick. One morning, 5 or so years ago, I was so excited to make biscuits and gravy for some friends who spent the night. I cooked this beautiful country gravy in my cast iron skillet, feeling like a woman by a covered wagon. We plated it and dug in. The first bite was terrible. Disgusting. Revolting. Repulsive. I quickly grabbed away plates before anyone else could taste it. I had over cooked and burned the milk in the gravy. Wow, don't do that! We went to McDonald's that morning. And their biscuits and gravy left me wanting.

I eventually got the skillet out again and gave it another try. I learned to adjust the heat, keep it low and slow. And use some oil when necessary. Now I love to cook in it. Today's sausage gravy and cream biscuits turned out perfect! It gives a flavor I can't get from my new-fangled pans. And a feeling I can't get from them either. A reminder of my roots.