Honey Yeast Bread

The aroma of honey yeast bread wafts through the house. I’ve just taken it from the oven. Yes, it’s pretty early in the morning to bake bread but, you see, it all came about this way:

Yesterday, I pulled out the recipe for honey yeast bread that my friend Norma gave me. I was in the mood for baking. So, I heated milk, honey, butter, added salt. And I put an envelope of yeast into some warm milk so that it could froth and bubble. It didn’t. Froth and bubble, that is. Looking at the expiration date on the yeast envelope, I saw that it should have a few good months left. But the yeast was having none of that. It settled into small gray clumps in the milk and I knew it was “dead”.

The milk, honey, everything else was ready to go and I couldn’t bear the thought of wasting it, so I trekked to the store for more yeast. By bedtime, the bread had risen once, as it was supposed to do. Making it into rolls and a nice loaf, I popped it into the refrig. Through no fault of my own, my eyes opened at 2:30 this morning. I thought of the bread. So, I slid it from the refrigerator, set it on the cabinet, covered it with a clean dish towel and let it rise. At 6:30, into the oven it went.

It looks pretty good, all brown and crusty with butter melted across the top, don’t you think? I wish you could smell it and have a bit with me, with more butter and a dab of jelly.

I thought about the yeast. I had counted on it. And it failed!! Sometimes people are like that; sometimes, even you or I. We have many opportunities for doing good and influencing people. That influence spreads farther than we could ever imagine. But, if we’ve lost our old zing, if we fail to do what only we can do, someone or something somewhere suffers. Yeast is essential for bread. There’s no substitute. And, there’s no substitute for you. Or me. I believe that failed package of yeast taught me something.

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?” Matthew 5:13. NLT Study Bible

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Darcy and Flora are at these places: http://pen-l.com/Mystery.html

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