The Smell of Homemade Bread Reminds Me of My Mother

A distinctive scent can bring back fond memories from decades ago

Photo by Duminda Perera on Unsplash

Santa brought a bread making machine for Christmas. It’s a silver marvel of an appliance that takes up all the counter space. That’s a small price to pay for a device that can create a miracle in approximately 3 hours.

This thing is fantastic! Bread making is something like alchemy. I still don’t fully understand yeast. My mom once told me that the yeast is alive. If you put some in a little bowl with warm water and sugar it starts to bubble.

Is that respiration?

The bread machine is like a transformer… you know, like the cartoon robots?

There’s a little paddle in the center that the bread robot uses to mix and knead the dough. When it first starts, you think it’s going to be a disaster. There’s just a wet, sticky mess. But if you walk away and let the machine work for a couple hours, you’ll be astounded when you come back.

It’s perfect! The mess is gone! When else does that happen in life?

Then again, the older I get, the more I appreciate the value of walking away to let people do their jobs in peace.