Day 34 - Pa Baker

 

Lockdown Day 34 - Baker, Baker, here I present the result of my mother's simple bread recipe. This bread baking skills has been one of our success stories from the lockdown. Every couple of days, 2 loaves get baked in our oven. Ahhh fresh hot bread, food for the soul.

Day 5 - Fruit and Vegatables Galore

 

Lockdown Day 5 and already people are getting frustrated. There are long queues for pension, as the more vulnerable older people of our communities queue for their meager government payout. Surely in our digital age, that the government would have a better system. FAIL.

Second FAIL is that many of the poorer communities only got paid today and there was a rush in the township malls for provisions while the rich have already horded all they can and are safely behind huge walls. Last night we had our first death in Gauteng which happen in Krugersdorp which is next door to us although the word in the street is that the epicenter in Gauteng is a cluster in Bedfordview which is some ways away from us, but that has not been confirmed by government so has to taken with a pinch of salt.

Taking about provisions, I ventured out to a local store, and there was fruit and vegetables galore but they were rationing the meat, pastas, and other staple foods. But fruit and vegetables, plenty. Matthew continued on his baking skills by whipping up a banana loaf for us. Yummy.

 

Day 4 - Bread of Life

 

Lockdown Day 4 - I had no deliveries for today and rain is seen to be on its way. I am still making sure everything is ready. Yesterday I made my first attempt at making home made bread using my mom's recipe. It was a huge success, so today I got Matthew to try his hand at making bread, you know for life experience. And this is his results.

Here is my mom's recipe...

6 cups of cake flour (12 cups of flour for more bread)

1,5 teaspoons of salt

1,5 teaspoons of sugar

10g of yeast (20g for doubling)

2 tablespoons of oil (4 tablespoons for doubling)

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl

Add warm water. Not sure how much but enough to make a stiff dough

Knead dough for a while getting air into the dough. The more air the lighter the bread

Place bowl in warm place and cover with blanket for an hour.

It should have doubled in size. Knead some more.

Cover again in warm place until doubled again

Preheat oven to 200°C
Place dough in bread trays and bake for about 30mins until nice and brown on outside.

Enjoy

Breaking Good

Thanksgiving Sunday and as a family at Centre Church we broke bread together. Breaking bread means a whole lot to me and is very close to my heart knowing that the Jews throughout their history did this very act during Passover and the time came when all God's pieces were in place, Jesus sat with his followers and broke bread over the Passover seder. There are 3 pieces of unleavened bread on the table which a daughter of an very important Rabbi in Israel once told me that she was taught by her father that they represent Abraham (the father of the Jewish nation), Isaac (his son), and Jacob (his son who is also known as the Spiritual leader of Israel. 

Now Jesus took the middle bread representing Isaac and said while breaking the bread, “take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24) Wow! The middle bread gets broken, not in half but a third and the small piece gets hidden somewhere in the house. The small piece of bread wrapped in a cloth is called the afikomen and it is the only Greek word in the whole sedar. Later the children go and look for the afikomen which means in Greek "the coming one" and in the Jewish sedar is a clear reference to the Messiah.

With so many things explained during the Haggadah, the afikomen gets glanced over just like Isaiah 53 gets missed in Jewish homes.

The best thing today, is that I got to break bread with my spiritual family.

Breaking Bread

Today marks the beginning of the holiest weekend in the Christian calendar, Easter. This period actually started last week with Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey and ends with the resurrection. In between is the Last Supper, Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. Today is the day when Jesus was crucified. This happened during the time of the Passover, where the Jews celebrate Pasig, the telling of the story of how God took the Israelites out of Egypt.

We started today as a family to break bread and to remember that Jesus died in place of us for our sins so that we may have eternal life.

During Pasig, 3 unleavened breads are placed on the table that for the Jews represents Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Interesting for us Christians is that Abraham is also known as the father of the Jewish people, Isaac his son, and Jacob the spiritual head of the Israeli nation. There you have the father, son, and spirit being represented at the table. Now this is where it gets interesting, the middle bread which represents the son is taken and broken. One piece is then hidden in the house to returned later by the children. So when Jesus took the middle bread representing the son, he said this is my body and broke it, indicating that the bread actually represents himself that was to be broken on the cross and to later return.

Goosebumps moments every time I break bread and think of Jesus doing the same.