Real-world Tradition is Part VII of a seven-part sourdough bread class at Abigail’s Oven taught by Martha Levie. This course is centered on the seven real things you need to make wholesome, nutritious sourdough bread at home.
The last of the “Real 7” is a real-world tradition. Making sourdough bread helps us to slow down and do things together as a family and as a community to build lasting traditions.
My grandma grew up in the Mormon colonies and was a pioneer woman who always made homemade bread. When I was little, my mom made bread, and though I liked it, I was also a typical child who wanted things I didn’t have. Watching TV, I would see commercials for bread that I dreamily thought of as “American bread.” I always wanted “American bread,” but my dad would never let us buy it.
Finally, as a teenager, I went to an event where they served the bread I had longed for. I was so excited. It was like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where Toula goes to school and all the other girls eat white bread sandwiches and she’s got her Greek food (which must have tasted way better).
Well, I made my American bread sandwich and I took a bite. I remember the bread flattening out paper-thin and sticking to the roof of my mouth. There was really no flavor. I thought, “My mom’s bread is way better than this. Why do people eat this garbage?”
But that flavorless, sticky bread has sadly become part of our American culture. We have created a “white bread” culture of wanting things fast and easy. Don’t get me wrong; fast and easy can be great for some things. We technically have all kinds of extra time to do what we want because we don’t need to do everything ourselves. Everything we do is outsourced—homes, clothes, even walking our dogs—we outsource all of it. But there are some things that we’ve lost in our traditions and culture. Baking sourdough bread helps us gets rid of that white bread syndrome and create real-world tradition.
I have amazing memories of making bread with my family growing up. Our real-world tradition of bread-making also helped me gain an amazing skill and mindset of taking care of myself. When I went to college, I took a big metal bowl and I made my own bread and all my roommates loved it, and me.
There’s something about doing things together as a family that nourishes us. Teach your children the value of doing things for themselves, and doing them right, and doing them well, even if it takes extra time. These values can help heal a lot of the problems we see in our culture.
At Abigail’s Oven, we really want to bring back that real-world tradition of doing things together that nourish and build and are sustainable, like preparing and enjoying real food. With today’s increasing diversity, we should also mention that this real-world tradition can bring us all together.
What we need is a bread revolution, where bakers and consumers come together to create foods that are delicious and nourishing.
This concept is something that needs to not only be learned by individuals, but also shared with our family, friends, and community. This creates a real-world tradition of taking time to make and eat quality nutritious food. You will see and feel and taste the difference.
This is maybe one of the most powerful things you can learn from the “Real 7.” Life isn’t just about the numbers—how inexpensive, how profitable, how fast, etc. We need to look at our quality of life.
Yes, a meal may have low calories, but what is the quality of those calories? Is the food real? How was it made?
We hope we gave you some of these real answers today regarding your bread. There are all kinds of real foods that connect us to our past. But bread really is one of those staples that impacts our health.
We’re excited you can now connect with Real Yeast, Real Wheat, Real Nutrition, Real Water, Real Salt, Real Flavor, and finally a real-world tradition of quality and connection to real food. We invite you to be a part of this bread revolution. Take back what used to be woven into everyday life, what we took for granted but will never take for granted again because of what we have been through.
That’s the Real 7 of Bread Making at Abigail’s Oven. We hope we passed on those traditions by teaching you how to make real bread. You can come back to our site anytime for more help, attend a live class at our bakery in Spanish Fork, Utah, or take an online course from our catalog.
Join us in this peaceful, delicious bread revolution using the “Real-7 Approach.”
Have a good day!
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