Flour; the paper of the baking world.

As I stood in the shower this morning contemplating the process of freezing quiche crust * and what kinds of crusts/doughs I could get away with freezing, it dawned on me what  fascinates me about baking; all bread is made with, for the most part, the same handful of ingredients. These limited ingredients - flour, yeast, salt, sugar - combined in different quantities, cooked under different conditions, temperatures, elevations, create an unending variety of items. Ultimately, it is the skill and imagination of the baker that are the main variants.

The artist, like the baker, takes a very limited set of materials (e.g., pencil, paper, eraser, pen) and combines them infinitely - the only limitation being the imagination (and a bit of skillz).

The idea of baker as artist and artist as baker certainly is not earth shattering…but it made me smile to feel that connection to something greater than myself.

* And yes, I often contemplate very important items like this in the shower - many times I have these ephiphanies that, when recounted later to a half interested spouse, seem pretty lame.