Sunday 27 July 2014

Have you smelt fresh bread?

Seeing a picture of freshly baked bread on my friend's page, my first thought was about the smell of fresh bread. It is magic, I say and if you haven't known that smell, then my friend, you haven't been initiated into the fine art of smell and fragrances.

I have always been a sense person with smell dominating the senses. Freshly baked bread is not freshly baked bread alone - It is freshly baked bread and much more if you care to allow the smell to carry you into far away lands where there are dozens of bread episodes which are time-specific. And, no matter how much you have eaten store bought fresh bread, you cannot savour the smell until you have baked a bread and waited till the smell filled the tiny kitchen and then the adjacent room before filling the entire room and finally forces itself into your head through your nose. It lives there for years to come and will come out when you least expect it to raise its head - while having tea with a close friend who remarks on your fine bread or a child who speaks of the bread in passing or a silly song that was playing while baking the bread and is now playing on the radio.

Ah, you will say, the smell still lingers but not time. Those were the days I had time and interest to bake and bask in bread and then you stop. You stop because you have smelt that smell from your memory and you yearn . . . you yearn to smell real fresh bread and you search for dough (the eating kind) and salt and yeast and you work to smell that smell and savour that smell for years to come. Time can never be trusted but memories can sure coerce you to knead and sing along.


Post-script: This post is dedicated to the same friend on whose page I saw the picture of fresh bread. She loves cooking, baking, a hearty conversation and books (smell, feel and everything about books).

8 comments:

  1. Ah my friend, we need knead some dough together, of the literal and figurative kind :D
    I am so thankful, this must be the first time someone has dedicated a post to me

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    1. A small gesture to let you know that your presence in my life and Facebook newsfeed is indeed a source of joy and gratitude. Hoping to meet you for real some day. Until then . . . hugs and smiles.

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  2. Have you had the Pav/Poli/Oono in Goa? I miss the Poder and the Pao/Poli we get in Goa... dearly miss it here... whenever I am home, I ensure I have it fresh either for dinner or breakfast :)

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    Replies
    1. Oh yes, Seeta. A staple lunch/dinner for us. I just looove the smell of fresh and hot pao/poli.

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  3. Not so much bread, but the smell of vanilla and cake baking has the same effect on me!!

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    Replies
    1. Vanilla and cake baking! Sounds yummmm Doktor! Do you bake a lot of cakes?

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  4. Ah! Nothing like the smell of bread baking, I agree, Susan. You make me want to bake some soon. :)
    Love and blessings!

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  5. My grandmother used to bake fresh bread -- it's been a VERY LONG TIME since I've smelled such a thing. I wonder where my baking pans are....

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