Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone

“Man does not live by bread alone.”

I’ve heard this all of my life. I have said it more than a few times as well. When I said it I meant that there is more than one way to look at a problem or live a life. I suppose that I always knew in the back of my mind that it was a quote from the bible. It could have been Shakespeare of course or any number of old Romans, Greeks or Tibetan. I doubt that it could have been a German philosopher because it doesn’t mention hating your father or lusting after your mother or having a breast fixation.

I like bread, pretty much all kinds of bread. I think that bread likes me even if it never lasts very long when I am around. Often, I will look in the pantry and see several different types of bread, pita, tortilla, buns, bagels, artisan loaves, sourdough, whole wheat and your basic white bread. Sometimes one or more of these breads are sporting greenish blue mould and has to be tossed out. I have been known to have a sandwich and half way through I will notice the mould. Penicillin is made from bread mould isn’t it?

Anyways, today I looked in the pantry and there wasn’t a loaf, a slice, a bun or a crumb. I don’t know how I got to this sorry state of affairs but it needs to be rectified. I went out a couple of times today, but both times I forgot to buy bread. For the past few months I have been making my own bread which is one of the reasons there is always some in the house. I sometimes make my own tortillas (easy), we have a bread maker but in the past couple of years we have avoided using it for no particular reason. There is a wonderful no-knead bread called the New York Times 24 hour bread which produces a lovely loaf of artisan bread with almost no effort at all. That one is too good and never lasts very long. The recipe I make now is good but not so good that I will have a slice of bread because it is there. This bread is great to toast and is also good for sandwiches. It also costs less than a dollar a loaf which appeals to the tightwad in me.

So, long story short I just took two loaves out of the oven and if Louise doesn’t eat them both while they are warm, I should be able to have freshly baked toast and home made jam for breakfast tomorrow.

I may not be able to live by bread alone, but a dollup of butter and a generous helping of jam certainly can’t hurt.