The spiritual in breadmaking

By Goya Caronan
May/June 2013

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I recently attended a workshop called “Spirituality and Bread Making.” I always wanted to learn how to bake bread, an activity that seemed to me to be as time-consuming as it is challenging. Intrigued by the name of the workshop, I found myself signing up.

What a wonderful revelation the workshop turned out to be. The easy and amiable approach of the wife and husband team of Bethany and Ed Osborne made the participants feel at ease and confident as we started to mix water, yeast, flour, salt, lemon, and sugar—the basic ingredients for a white bread. Under their watchful guidance we learned the proper way of kneading and adding flour as needed until the texture of the dough was of the right consistency, testing the dough when it was ready to rest and rise (and shine if I may add).

While anxiously waiting for our dough to rise, we were asked to share memories associated with bread. Most of the participants shared experiences of bread being a focal food item in family affairs that evoke festive memories. My own experience is of growing up beside a bakery. When the sweet smell of freshly baked bread wafted in the air, my siblings and I would run to the bakery to beg the old baker to spare us some. He was not supposed to sell the bread until it was displayed on the shelves, but he always accommodated us. Since there were four of us sharing, one loaf was not always enough to go around. Thus did I learn to save my allowance so I could sneak out and buy a loaf just for me alone to savour.

The breadmaking workshop was organized by Becoming Neighbours, a companion program that matches immigrants and refugees in Toronto with members of Catholic religious congregations and their associates and friends. We act as friends, guides, and mentors during the newcomers’ adjustment to Canadian society. This workshop fit well with Becoming Neighbours’ vision of presence, prayer, relationship, and solidarity.

With the scent of baking bread filling the room, Fr. Peter McKenna of Becoming Neighbours announced that our bread was ready. We all excitedly looked for our individually-labelled finished product. As I looked around I could not help but notice that each bread was different in size and colour despite our having used the same amount of ingredients. The variety of the finished product somehow reflected the diversity of the participants’ either by ethnicity or professional backgrounds.

Each one of us brought our passion and individuality, which made for the uniqueness of our baked creation. I felt deep gratitude for finally learning to make bread and becoming mindful that bread is such a nourishing gift from God meant to be shared with others.

I am particularly thankful to Bethany Osborne for her passionate sharing of her skills and experience as a baker, and to the staff of Becoming Neighbours for arranging this event. Not only did I make my first baked bread (which I proudly shared with ten people who were generous with their praises), but now I am inspired to make more bread for my waiting neighbours.

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