Substance Over Form

For the past 2 weeks, I have not been buying my usual loaf of whole wheat Italian bread from my local grocery store. That's $3.99 that I've been saving. But it's not because I'm trying to save money. It's because I watched a docuseries on Netflix called "Cooked", and it inspired me to bake my own bread.

Check out the trailer here:

There are so many positives to baking my own bread. I know exactly what's going into it. There are no artificial ingredients. It's as simple as flour, salt, water, and yeast. The process is not labor intensive nor does it take too much time. And it's fresh.

For me, bread is life. It's sustenance in the very simplest form. It's science at work in the processing and in the consumption. I love bread so much that it's the one thing that I try no matter where in the world I am. I must try the local baker's bread.

And I've tried it everywhere, in different ways. They've had different textures, moisture levels, shapes, sizes, flavors, colors, consistency, and even accompaniments. The forms are literally endless. It only matters where you are that determines what you get. And what one considers bread, another may not. But here, like in accounting, it's the substance over the form that matters.

This week's loaf didn't turn out as great as the first week, but I learned from it. I learned that it matters how much effort you put into it. You can't just half-ass the baking process. It's a science, and like all scientific processes, it's exact. And the slightest deviation will change the outcome.

Baking my own bread is something that I will continue to do going forward. I think it will give me discipline, grow my patience, and allow me to reap the benefits of my work. I know that I'll appreciate it more than just going out to the store and paying the nominal $3.99 for ease.

Other things I've been watching: 

Something I'm looking forward to watching: