Baking as therapy
To avoid thinking about whether the New York Times, where I briefly worked as a copy editor, is going to close the Boston Globe, where I spent most of my career as an editor, critic and writer, I baked.
That’s my consolation when I’m worried or upset. Usually I bake bread, mostly over a couple of days using a biga and long, slow risings. But today I didn’t have a starter so I made War Bread. This is a Bernard Clayton recipe from the 1940s, invented by a thrifty housewife who didn’t enough war-time coupons to use only white flour and instead substituted what grains she had on hand.
These fat, golden loaves are filled with whole wheat flour, cornmeal, oats, a little molasses which gives them their color, and a modest amount of unbleached white. The result is a wonderful bread with a good crumb, great taste and lots of whole grain nutrition. And unlike some whole grain breads, it’s not too heavy.
A perfect antidote for heavy times.
