A liturgy for bread baking

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This liturgy is designed for any time you step into the kitchen to make bread. You will notice the sections marked for a breath prayer and a collect — these are the places you can insert prayers specific to the season or the occasion you are baking for, or you can insert prayers of your own.

Mise en place

Begin by gathering your supplies: 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour and 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour; 1½ teaspoons kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast; 1½ cups room-temperature water; a three-quart mixing bowl; measuring cups and spoons; a bowl scraper; plastic wrap or a tea towel; a baking sheet, loaf pan, or Dutch oven; and, if you’d like, your Bible.

As you prepare your workspace, also prepare your heart and mind. Ask God to join you in this process of baking bread. Slowly breathe and meditate on these words:

Inhale: My soul finds rest

Exhale: in God alone.

Psalm 62:1

Mix

As you measure your ingredients, continue this meditative breathing. Feel the texture and temperature of each element between your fingers as you combine the dry ingredients together. Give thanks for the community of farmers, millers, and grocers who have brought these ingredients to your kitchen today. Give thanks for the bakers across generations who have passed down these traditions. And give thanks for the Christians who have clung to the closeness of Jesus in the baking and breaking of bread.

When the time comes to mix your dough, inhale and exhale with each line of the breath prayer of your choosing.Pour the water into the center of the well. With your fingers, slowly pull the flour bit by bit into the watery center. Thicken the water slowly, rubbing out dry clumps of flour that form. Contemplate how the substances transform within your hands. Continue mixing until all the flour has been hydrated.

Cover your mixture with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and step away to a silent place for half an hour to read, pray, or be still in God’s presence. As you do, pray:

God, may I trust that transformation takes place, even when my hands and heart are at rest.

Stretch and fold

Uncover your mixture once again and grip one side firmly in your hand. Stretch and fold and contemplate the change that has occurred: water flooding and softening the grain, bursting open its tightly wound but untapped strength. Stretch the side and fold it over the dough; rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat.

As you build both elasticity and strength, pray in this way:

Inhale: Oh God (stretch) who comes (fold)

Exhale: to us (stretch) in bread (fold),

Inhale: do not (stretch) let us (fold)

Exhale: go (stretch and fold).

Repeat four or more times, as needed, then cover your dough and let it rest for its long fermentation (8-18 hours). If you need to wait 24 hours or more before shaping, let the dough rest for four hours, then place it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake the loaf.

Shape

When your dough is ready for shaping, turn it onto the counter. Marvel at the beauty and strength of your dough, at the bubbles that signal new and growing life. Smell the scent of fermentation, tangy and a little bit sweet. As you divide, stretch, round, or fold, pray the words of the collect of your choosing.

When the dough enters its final 30-60 minute proof, relaxing into its newfound strength, repeat these words:

God just as I step away from this dough, asking the proteins to rest and the yeast to prove that it is still alive, I ask you to prove your continual steadfast love for me.

Bake

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425° (450° if using a sandwich pan or baking tray).

When your loaf is ready for baking, slide it into the preheated oven. If your oven door allows you to see inside, watch the dough rise, burp, then fall into shape. Pay attention to the smell that fills your kitchen in the minutes ahead. Find joy in the creativity of God, who made ingredients with the ability to change in this way and who gave humans the idea to combine them.

While the dough bakes, ask the Lord:

Creative God, where are you leading me in the minutes, days, and months ahead? Equip me for whatever changes are to come.

Eat

After your bread has cooled enough for you to eat, pick it up, breathe in its scent, and take in its beauty and nourishment. Let a smile form as you thank God for the ability to make something so delicious.

Let your eating be a prayer of its own, a sign of your gratitude to God as well as God’s good gift to you.