It’s probably been about a year since I baked any bread, but this dry spell will ended in a few days. I have been asked to baked some rolls for Rainman, family and friends for Thanksgiving. I’m excited, though I do wonder how well my bread recipe will work when used for dinner rolls. I hope they’ll be OK.

Baking is a strange thing for me. I can be rather impatient with various things in life, so it’s a little odd I enjoy baking so. I only do my bread from scratch, and entirely by hand. I’ve never used a bread maker in my life, and if asked to make bread with one I would have no clue how to do it.

The feel of dry flour on my hands sends shivers down my spines and instantly makes my skin perk up with goosebumps. Even the mere thought of it now as I type this makes my skin crawl. But once it starts to form into dough, the fun begins. I can knead. I find the act of kneading bread to be relaxing. Almost therapeutic. I can be very rough, or as gentle as I want, and the dough is forgiving for the most part. The 6 – 8 minutes of kneading.

The first time I really had a thought of trying to make bread on my own was after watching a few episodes of an anime called Yakitate!! Japan. It’s one of those anime with crazy battles, but instead of physical altercations, the encounters happen in a kitchen where the best bread wins. It was a fun show (albeit it with a crap ending, in my opinion) that sparked my interest in the baking arts.