I had a new thought in my ongoing bread experiments. It actually suggests that I’ve been a bit stupid. But here’s the thing. Recipes for soudough bread nearly universally suggest that you cook the bread at a high temperature for the effect on the crust, and rise, and all kinds of bready things. But!

I use bread for sandwiches or toast or toasted sandwiches. I had taken some very tasty but somewhat dry bread to a picnic, and a shortage of mayonnaise really pointed up the shortcomings of the bread. And that particular loaf was one I was very proud of on other accounts. It had risen nicely. It was about half spelt flour which I have decided has a great taste, without the bitterness that sometimes accompanies whole wheat flour. That lack of bitterness might just be the particular mill I bought from but I don’t think so. (Although I do have opinions on using the best mill possible and it seems to come down to fresh milling. I bought some flour that had been frozen for six months. Um… Not the greatest! It’s going to take me some time to use whatever I buy, so then the flour is past its prime, what millers say is the best, even frozen. Humph.)

So, as I pondered this not so great bread, and my mind wandered around as minds do, I had a sudden picture of my grandfather, Axel. He lived with us, off and on, after his wife died. He’d stay with us and then miss his chess companions in Wisconsin and go back home. Then it would be too much for him alone and he’d come back to live with us. I came home from school once and he was sitting next to the oven in the kitchen, watching over a single loaf of bread the way a mother watches her brand new baby sleep. The loaf, when done, was perfectly soft and wonderfully tasty. I knew even then that the woman who was feeding hordes and cooking ten loaves of bread at a time, couldn’t spend the day sitting next to the oven for one loaf of bread. All the same I think of my grandfather with regret for the lost chance to be restful in his company.

This time when I thought of him, I also thought, why am I cooking my bread at a high temperature? I don’t want the crust all crisp and brown. I want a sandwich. Well! I didn’t make a loaf because we still have to eat what I’ve already baked but I did make some tasty little buns at a nice low 350º temperature and they are lovely. Even three days later they are still soft.

Before the week is over I’ll try a loaf with some spelt flour, sonora flour, eggs, sugar (1 Tablespoon), oil (because I have to practice without butter) and cooked in a bread pan with parchment paper so that I don’t grease the pan with butter. We will see!