The Sabbath and Idolatry

There's lots of different things that get focused on when we start talking about the Sabbath day. There's obedience, and holiness, and things we should (or should not) be doing. Sometimes, we talk about certain verses. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us to bring our oblations -our offerings- that we may be unspotted from the world. But there are other, less familiar, passages as well:

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Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
-Exodus 31:13, emphasis added

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I feel like, with the Sabbath so often being disregarded, it's easy to think of it as a relatively minor part of the covenant. To be obeyed when there's nothing pressing going on, when it works for you. But if the boss schedules, you... what're you going to do? Ya gotta eat, right?

The Lord is pretty serious about the Sabbath, though.
Sabbath breaking was a capital offense under the Law of Moses.

Stop. Look at that again.

The Lord  is very serious about the Sabbath.
He ordered death by stoning for Sabbath breaking.

The Sabbath is important. All the time-
-not just when there's no game on.

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Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that sould shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. 
-Exodus 31:14-15

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So, why the emphasis? What's so important about a day of rest?

A few years back, I discovered that they publish chronological versions of the Bible, and when my kids asked me to read them the Bible, we decided that's how we're going to do it: we're going to get the story, in order. It's amazing. I can't recommend it enough: putting the story in order makes things make so much more sense. Hero and I have been reading it for a couple of years now; he was pretty small when he made the request. We sometimes read just a few verses, occasionally it's been multiple chapters. And as we go along, passages that I have read in the traditional order, but had not context for, they are starting to come into focus. And sections that always bogged me down and defeated my efforts to read the whole thing cover to cover have been split up and become much more manageable, when read chronologically.

We're about halfway through the book; it's exciting: I now think of it as being halfway through the story. Having a strong narrative to attach the sermons and prophecies to makes a huge difference in how I'm understanding and retain things, and in the connections that I'm able to make as I read it. So. The Northern and Southern Kingdoms have long since split, and the North has fallen into serious apostasy.

It started with Jeroboam. He's always, "Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin". What a way to be remembered! He introduced idolatry in the Northern Kingdom; taught them to chase after false gods - wood and stone, made by their own hands, gods that don't think or breathe. Gods with no power.  And they refused to return to the Lord, on the whole, until they were destroyed. We read about the brief reprieve, under Hezekiah, who was contemporary with Isaiah (and just a little bit prior to Lehi -- about the same distance in time as we are from Joseph Smith right now). But if you look in the Chronology, in the Bible Dictionary, right under Hezekiah it says, "End of the Northern kingdom".

So, right before Isaiah there was a much less well-known prophet, Hosea. He, like Isaiah, was sent to a people who would not listen. Like Isaiah, Hosea's marriage was made at the instruction of the Lord, and his family was a sign to the people.

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And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land had committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. 
-Hosea 1:2

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So Hosea does it; he marries a woman named Diblaim, and she bears him three children: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi.


When the Law of Moses was given, the Lord told them that if they would keep the commandments, they would be the beneficiaries of a host of blessings. Rain in "due season", plenty to eat, protection from enemies -even when the other nations are vastly stronger.

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Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 
If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; ... I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. ... And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
-Leveticus 26:2-13

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So there's this inverse connection between idolatry and sabbath worship: they don't seem to ever coexist. To the degree that you do the one, you don't do the other. If you obey the first of the Ten Commandments, if you have no other gods, then you will keep the Sabbath. They are linked. But Israel in the Northern kingdom turned to idolatry under Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And now as Hosea is sent to them, their day of grace is nearly done, and destruction awaits them, foreshadowed in his children's prophetic names:


Jezreel: once the capital, after the fall of the kingdom it was never important again.
Lo-ruhamah: the name means "not having obtained mercy".
Lo-ammi: the name means "not my people". 

And then there's this amazing imagery, thoughout the book of Hosea, of Christ as the bridegroom -- and His church, the daughter of Israel, as an unfaithful whore of a wife, gone chasing after every sin imaginable, consorting with every other fake and useless god, turning away from the husband who sacrificed His very body for her.

But He loves her anyway.
He wants her back.

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And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. 
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her... For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name... And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord. 
-Hosea 2: 13-20

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There's this contrast between the richly deserved destruction, brought on by idolatry: betrayal so profound that it is compared, not just to adultery, but to whoredom. To deliberate, repeated, gross unfaithfulness in the holiest of relationships. And in contrast to the abominations of the people, there's this amazing steadiness, this depth of love, of mercy. The Lord knows exactly what his bride has done... and He wants her anyway.

That's Hosea. Hosea taught me what a terrible betrayal it is to put something -anything- before the Lord. And he taught me how, however often, the Lord is not just willing but anxious to have us back. Hosea's whole book is about how much the Lord loves His people. And Hosea's themes come back in later writers. You see it in the book of Isaiah, and tonight we found it reading in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah follows Isaiah, this time among Judah, in the Southern Kingdom. His prophecies cover a good chunk of time, including the reign of Zedekiah, the same king we're familiar with from Lehi's exodus from Jerusalem. Jeremiah picks up Hosea's theme:

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Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase... The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. ... Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. 
Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
-Jeremiah 2:3-12

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In chapter 3, Jeremiah talks about how Judah had her sister's example as a cautionary tale: Israel turned to idolatry and was destroyed, but Judah has only given lipservice to the lesson; she plays at observing the forms, but the Lord is not at the center of her affections. And it's bringing disaster upon her.

And then Jeremiah offers the people the cure:

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And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein...
-Jeremiah 17:24

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The cure for the ills brought on by idolatry, the suffering that comes from allowing anything to come before the Lord in our lives and our hearts, is to shore up our Sabbaths. It is both a barometer, offering us a clue to how we are doing, and also an immunization, offering protection against the evils of the day.

Is your faith wavering? Keep the Sabbath.
Do you need blessings? Keep the Sabbath.
Have you strayed from what you know? Keep the Sabbath.

Keep the Sabbath. It's a starting place. A place to catch your balance and draw strength to face the rest of the week. Keep the Sabbath; attend your meetings and learn how to try a little harder to stand a little taller. It's firm ground from which to begin the long climb to the heights that He, in His mercy and love, invites us: to approach Him, to be joint-heirs with Him.

Keep the Sabbath; He is Lord of the Sabbath, and His plan is a plan of happiness, but unfaithfulness leads to misery every. single. time.

No wonder the Sabbath is a delight! 

The Law of Moses and the Atonement of Christ

I was asked to speak in church last Sunday. We all take turns at that in the Church, and it'd been a while. I actually don't mind the public speaking, and I really enjoy the preparation; I always learn so much getting ready! This one was challenging for a number of reasons, including that I didn't know very much about the topic at the outset, and for whatever reason I didn't have as much time as usual - only 4 days to get ready. But I ended up learning a lot. I was speaking on The Law of Moses and the Atonement. Very cool stuff. A number of people asked to see a copy of my talk, so I'm posting it here, along with links to the sources I used in preparing it. I hope that y'all find it useful!
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When Moses brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, they had been there for 430 years, and were in a state of apostasy. They had forgotten the covenants the Lord had made with their fathers, and had embraced the idols and gods of Egypt. The Lord called Moses to speak to them, but they wouldn’t listen:

1.     Exodus 6:9 (first part)

And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses

They witnesses the signs that the Lord showed Pharaoh, they experienced the tender mercies of the Lord first hand in the Passover, but miracles do not produce faith, and we read of their inability to trust the Lord at the edge of the Red Sea:

2.     Exodus 14:11

 And they said unto Moses, 

Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? 

wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?

Even then, after crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground where moments before there had been only unending water, even after this miraculous deliverance, they did not cast out the idols as they were commanded, and they continued to murmur. Israel had been brought out of Egypt, but much of Egypt remained within the hearts of the Israelites, and they were not converted to the Lord. Rather than destroying them, the Lord in His mercy gave them the Law of Moses to prepare them for the fullness of His gospel. For well over a thousand years from that point, the Law of Moses was the criminal, civil as well as religious code for the Jewish nation. Although the Israelites had continually struggled with apostasy, “the Law” had been there to guide every aspect of life for so long that the Jews at the time of Christ struggled to imagine life without it.  

From an Ensign article in Sep. 1983 we learn:

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Much of the New Testament deals with the Law of Moses and with the implications of its fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The books of Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews, and important parts of several others, including Acts, James, Colossians, Jude, 2 Peter, and 2 Corinthians, all wrestle with the issue of the Law, and its continued role after the Atonement. Therefore, it is important to understand what the Law was and how it was fulfilled in order to fully understand these portions of the New Testament.

Strictly speaking, the Law of Moses consists of the first five books of the Old Testament—what the Jews call the Torah. These five books of Moses (Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers; and Deuteronomy) are also called the Pentateuch, but in the New Testament they are usually just “the Law.” Sometimes the term “the Law” was used for the whole Old Testament, but usually a distinction was made between the books of Moses (the Law) and those of subsequent prophets (the Prophets); hence, the custom in Jesus’ time of referring to the Hebrew scriptures as “the Law and the Prophets” (for example, Matt. 5:17; Matt. 7:12). 

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In the past, when I have thought about the Law of Moses, I thought of the animal sacrifice, and the exhaustive lists to be slogged through in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, but the Law is much more. Everything about the Law of Moses was designed to point the mind to Christ.  According to the Doctrine and Covenants, it was a preparatory gospel:

3.     Doctrine and Covenants 84:27 (first part)
Which gospel is the gospel of repentance 
and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments

 Understanding the Law of Moses is vital to the modern reader because it is indispensible in understanding the scriptures, particularly the Old and New Testaments. The Nephites also kept the Law of Moses, and Book of Mormon prophets add important explanations.

Ancient rabbis considered all parts of the Law to be equally important, but recognized a distinction between the ethical portions and the ceremonial portions of the Law. This division is still useful to the modern reader of the scriptures. I want to deal with the ethical portions, which dealt with relationships among people, first. The principles the Lord gives His people to guide their actions and relations are eternal in nature, and the Law of Moses requirements are actually still present in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Again from the Ensign:

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 For example, the Savior expanded the commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” by now commanding Christians to avoid even hatred or lust. (Matt. 5:28, 44.) Merely abstaining from adultery and murder was no longer sufficient. Christians must now change their very hearts, and this was more than the old Law had required. Also, at the Last Supper Jesus had made it clear that the atonement he was about to accomplish instituted a new covenant which would replace that of Sinai. (See Luke 22:20, 37.) And on at least two occasions in the New Testament (Matt. 5:31–32; Matt. 19:3–9), Jesus made it clear that the teaching of the Law (in this case on the issue of divorce) was not eternal but was only a temporary concession made necessary by the hard-heartedness of Israel. In the Book of Mormon, this was also the teaching of Abinadi to the court of King Noah on the nature of the Law of Moses. (See Mosiah 13:29–31.)

And yet it is vital to note that in the teaching of Jesus, the Law was not revoked nor repealed but fulfilled. (Matt. 5:17.) Under the gospel of Christ, murder, adultery, and dishonesty are still prohibited, and the formal requirements of the Law are still essentially in place; but the demand of the Law of Moses has been expanded, has been filled to its fullest extent. Where there is no hatred or greed, there can be no murder; where there is no lust, there can be no adultery. With the coming of Christ, the ethical portion of the Law had not been abolished; it had been caught up by, included in, and expanded to a broader application its intention, its potential as an ethical standard, had been fulfilled.

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Then, as now, keeping the ethical portion of the Law prepares the mind and heart to receive further light and knowledge from the Lord. Obedience to the commands to love God and love our neighbor prepares our hearts for the fullness of the Gospel and invites the guidance of the Spirit in our lives. This portion of the Law points the heart toward Christ by increasing faith and righteousness in the heart of the worshiper.

The ceremonial portions of the Law of Moses consisted of performances and ordinances which were deeply symbolic, with all the symbols pointing toward the coming Atonement of Jesus Christ. The intent is that the Law of Moses should become a schoolmaster to bring the people to the Lord. Speaking of animal sacrifice, the Prophet Joseph Smith said,

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“Certainly, the shedding of the blood of a beast could be beneficial to no man, except it was done in imitation, or as a type, or explanation of what was to be offered through the gift of God Himself; and this performance done with an eye looking forward in faith on the power of that great sacrifice for a remission of sins.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 58.)

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Like the sacrament, animal sacrifice under the Law of Moses pointed the mind toward the great Sacrifice of our Lord. In our day, the Sacrament serves to bring to remembrance the body and the blood of the Savior. In ancient times, animal sacrifices were designed to point the mind forward to the coming Atonement, both ordinances serve to strengthen the participant’s faith in Christ. Elder Ballard explained more about the symbolism of those ancient sacrifices:

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Always a firstborn male animal without blemish was sacrificed to represent the firstborn of God spiritually and physically, a perfect or sinless offering. The shedding of the blood of the animal represented the sacrifice and suffering of an innocent life for others. The offering of the whole animal, at times, was an emblem of the complete and infinite sacrifice that Christ would make. The consumption of the animal by fire, a symbol of purification, suggested the possibility of receiving the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost through the exercise of repentance and baptism. Similarly, the ordinance of the sacrament consists of the administration of the “emblems of the flesh and blood of Christ”, in remembrance of his atoning sacrifice and suffering: “… this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you.”

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At a time when life depended very directly on the family’s herd animals and crops grown, the Law of Moses asked for sacrifice of the best of both: the firstlings of the flock, and the first fruits of the field. This was a real test of faith for those who wanted to worship the Lord! While the Law of Moses has been fulfilled, the Law of Sacrifice is still essential to the Gospel of Christ, and essential to our efforts to come unto Christ. Joseph Smith the Prophet explained the relationship between faith and sacrifice:

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“Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; … it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life” (Lectures on Faith [1985], 69).

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Elder Ballard said:

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As we sacrifice our selfish desires, serve our God and others, we become more like Him.

Elder Russell M. Nelson has taught: “We are still commanded to sacrifice, but not by shedding blood of animals. Our highest sense of sacrifice is achieved as we make ourselves more sacred or holy.

“This we do by our obedience to the commandments of God. Thus, the laws of obedience and sacrifice are indelibly intertwined. … As we comply with these and other commandments, something wonderful happens to us. … We become more sacred and holy—[more] like our Lord!” (“Lessons from Eve,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 88).

In fact, the word sacrifice means literally “to make sacred,” or “to render sacred.”…

As we contemplate the replacing of animal sacrifice with the sacrament, we cannot help but notice a strong relationship between the two. Both sacrifice and sacrament:

    • Are affected by a person’s attitude and worthiness (see Amos 5:6–7, 9–10, 21–22; 3 Ne. 18:27–29; Moro. 7:6–7).

    •  Were designed to be performed by priests officiating in the Aaronic Priesthood (see D&C 13:1; D&C 20:46).

    • Focus on Christ (see Luke 22:19–20; Alma 34:13–14).

    • Use emblems that represent Christ’s flesh and blood (see Luke 22:19–20; Moses 5:6–7).

    • Provide a means whereby one can make and renew covenants with God (see Lev. 22:21; D&C 20:77, 79).

    • Are performed regularly on the Sabbath as well as on other special occasions (see Lev. 23:15; D&C 59:9–13).

    • Are associated with meals that symbolically represent the Atonement (see Matt. 26:26; Lev. 7:16–18).

    • Are the only saving ordinances in which members participate for themselves more than once.

    • Provide an important step in the process of repentance (see Lev. 19:22; 3 Ne. 18:11; Moses 5:7–8).

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When I was asked to talk about the Law of Moses and the Atonement, my initial reaction was to wonder, “What sort of a topic is that?” As I began studying, it became a very interesting academic exercise. As I continued, I learned that it’s neither off the wall nor strictly an academic exercise. The relationship of the Law of Moses to the Atonement is as compelling as the Sacrament’s, and both are intimately connected with the Law of Sacrifice, the scriptures, and our salvation. I want to close with a final quote from Elder Ballard:

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If I have a fear, it is that the principle of sacrifice may be slipping away from us. This principle is a law of God. We are obliged to understand it and practice it. If being a member of this Church becomes too easy, testimonies will become shallow, and the roots of testimony will not go down into the soil of faith as they did with our … forefathers. May God grant each of us an understanding of the law of sacrifice and a conviction that it is necessary today. It is vitally important that we understand this law and live it.

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To this I add my testimony of Jesus Christ. That He lives. He loves us.

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Dairing Bakers: (not quite) French Bread

I've made bread before, and it's not hard, but I've never worried about getting things exactly as the recipe says. In fact, my Dad teases my Mom about never making the same thing twice, and I seem to have followed in her footsteps: I often will play with things a little bit. So needing to do it exactly the way the recipe said was part of the challenge for me. The next big challenge was finding time to do it, as the recipe requires that I be home and thinking about bread all day long, and February has been a busy month for us.

We got up to an ice storm on Sunday the 17th, and when church was canceled, I decided that it was a great day for doing bread!



First, I printed out my recipe and had a chocolate-maple cupcake. These cupcakes were supposed to be for my Sunday School class, but with church canceled I'm stuck with 16 of them. I need to find someone to give them to before I eat them all.



Concerned that my regular all-purpose flour might not be gluteny enough, I bought some unbleached all-purpose flour when I went shopping this week. I looked at several packages trying to find where they say what the gluten content is. But I never found it. On any of the packages. So hopefully the flour is the "right" stuff. If not, I'm sure that it'll make tasty bread anyway.



So, having decided to do this, I assembled my "cast of characters," al la Pioneer Woman. I love looking at her food blog.



Now, truth be told, the Daring Bakers instructions were much more precise than what I'm going to type up. That sort of finicky directions makes me tense, so I'm not going to reproduce them. But you can find them here. I think it makes making bread a lot harder than it needs to be. But if you really really want to do it the Julia Child way, the recipe is from Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume Two by Julia Child and Simone Beck. So. Here it is: french bread.

1 3/4 t instant yeast
1/3 cup water, about 100F
3 1/2 cups (unbleached) all-purpose flour
2 1/4 t salt
1 1/4 cups tepid (70-74F) water

Proof your yeast. To do this, take your warm water and put the yeast in it. I don't usually actually use the thermometer, just get it a bit warm, yet not hot. But this being a Daring Bakers challenge, and part of the challenge to do it just right, I got out a thermometer I bought for something that I never actually made, and used it for the first time. It was kind of fun. In a fiddly sort of way. I nuked the water for 45 seconds, which was way to long: shot the temp up over 150F. So I poured a bunch out and added some cold water and then it was fine.



Add your yeast to the warm water. Stir it up a bit, and then let it sit while you measure your flour out into your big bowl. And do put it in a big bowl, it'll need room to grow.



You want to give the yeast a few minutes, so it'll start to get foamy. I've read that proofing the yeast isn't really necessary for making bread before, but the ladies that issued the challenge say that it is important for the taste of the bread, so I'm proofing it. And there's just something kind of fun about seeing the yeast all bubbly like that.



Add the yeast, the salt, and the rest of the water to your flour.



Now, although it's not actually in the recipe to do so, the squeaks coming from the high chair informed me that it was time to release my assistant from his seat, where he had been enjoying one of those tasty cupcakes.



But then I returned to my bread making. The direction say to "stir and cut liquids into the flour with a rubber spatula, pressing firmly to form a dough and making sure that all the bits of flour and unmassed pieces are gathered in." I did the stirring and cutting with the spatula, but it was still pretty crumbly, rather than soft and sticky. It was also hard to work in the bowl with the spatula, so I went ahead and turned it out onto the counter.



It was about this point that my assistant finished up whatever it was in the living room that he'd been doing, and he joined me for the kneading of the bread. I let him check out the dough, then I got to work on it.



I kneaded it a bit, just to make sure that it really was too dry, then I added a small slosh of water, right onto my dough ball. It didn't take much and it started to act more like good bread dough. Once I'd formed it into a ball, Monkey informed me that he needed to have some turns kneading the dough too. First I took pictures of him kneading it.



But it didn't really do justice to the Monkey kneading bread, so I also took a movie. As a result of my assistant's efforts, it actually took a little longer than the recipe said to knead the dough, but I thought it was worth the time. Oh, and I also learned that it's difficult to keep the camera steady while kneading. But I didn't do too badly.



Then, the bread is supposed to rest for 3-4 minutes. So we checked the weather. It's still yucky. We also stopped by the computer room and said hello to Monkey's dad. Then we returned to the kitchen.



We kneaded the bread just a little more, then got the big bowl ready to put the bread in for rising. The bread is supposed to grow to 3 1/2 times its current (small) size. The recipe suggests measuring 10 1/2 cups - 3 1/2 times it's current mass - and pouring the water into the bowl to mark where it needs to grow to. I took a picture instead.



Then, you dump out the water, dry the bowl completely, and grease it with butter to keep the bread from sticking to it. When I put bread in to rise, I like to sort of roll the dough around to get the grease on all sides. Helps keep the moisture in. My kitchen is pretty cool, I don't think that it's really the 70 degrees that the bread needs to rise, so I turned my oven to warm, then when it was preheated, I turned it back off. Just enough heat to make a cozy place for the bread to rise. The recipe suggests that you can also just turn your oven light on to keep things just a bit warm in there, if your kitchen (or your kitchen counter) is too cold for bread to rise on. Cover the bread with plastic wrap, then a towel, and let it rise 3-4 hours, until 3 1/2 times as big as it was.





At this point, I decided that I had no idea what was going on with the shape of the bread, so while I was waiting I went and googled "Julia Child french bread" and found these videos on pbs.org. And I learned that I had not gotten nearly enough kneading in before I set it to rise. I'm looking at the lady's french bread dough and thinking that it looks like it's a lot of fun to work with, and thinking that I may want to try this again sometime! That, and her kneading technique is fabulous; I want to whip my bread around like that! The technique they suggest is slightly different from this month's recipe's instructions, so I'm sticking to the instructions.

No pictures of the second rise, it looks remarkably like the first.

I divide my dough in to three sections, even using my scale. I'm trying so hard to do it all right, but by this point in the process, having looked at those videos, I'm a bit disheartened by all the things that I've already done wrong. But I finish it out to see how it turns out.



My dough has not been kneaded nearly enough. And it wasn't moist enough to begin with, and at this point in baking, that's starting to be a problem. I get 2 baguettes and one of the round loaves (I forget the fancy name). And I cook them, dousing them with my spray bottle every 3 minutes for the first little bit, just like the recipe says to do. And they come out of the oven Hard.Like.Rocks. There's no fluffy-ness here. No nice air pockets like some of the other bakers have. They're dense and tough and chewy. Not exactly what I had in mind. They also taste a bit salty. It's some of the worst bread I've ever made.




A few days later, I try again. I use more water. I knead about 850 times. It takes more like 30 minutes than the 5-10 that the recipe says that I should be taking for this. At the end, not only are my wrists and arms completely worn out, but I have some great bread dough. Rise, flatten, rise again, shape, it's looking pretty good. I go out to vote in the Primaries while my bread rises. And I lock my keys in the car. And I have no spare on me. (I carry one in my wallet now.) And my good friend Jenny comes to rescue me. And my bread rises for an extra 2-3 hours in its final rise, because I can't get into my house to finish baking it. Oops. By the time my husband comes home from work with his nice set of house keys it's looking a bit flat. Not a good sign I bake it up anyway: there's a lot of WORK in that there dough! This batch of bread is better than the first, even with the super long rise. And it's got places where there used to be air pockets. But the extra time was too much for the bread and it remains flat flat flat.




The plan is to try again. Today, the day that we post, is the first opportunity I've had to try this very long recipe again, so I'll have to make another post if it turns out. Third time's the charm, right?

Fast Sunday

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness...

-Joel 2:12-13