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Collected Item: “Food Storage Sourdough Bread”

Give your story a title.

Food Storage Sourdough Bread

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Photograph of homemade sourdough whole wheat bread

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

The pandemic caught me unprepared in many ways. I did not expect to run out of flour or yeast. I regularly bake rolls, muffins, cookies, and other treats several times a week. Just a day before New York shut down, I was at my local wholesale club stocking up on freezer items and canned goods, but could not find yeast or flour. The flour and yeast shortage was real and lasted for months in New York. Sourdough bread recipes started to circulate and I realized it was time to break out our food storage. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have approximately a year's worth of dry canned whole wheat in my basement. My husband started the sourdough starter. As a the scientist in our family, I figured he would be up to the challenge of experimenting with a starter. After two weeks of tending his starter, he pulled out the wheat grinder. The grinder loudly screamed through the house as a fine flour sifted through the blades. A warm, homey smell settled in the kitchen. Then, he set about making the bread--a twenty-four hour affair. The tang of the starter smelled promising. The last hour of baking we smelled the rich smell of the bread baking in the hot oven. When he pulled it out, we could hardly wait to taste it. The jagged dark crust had the hallmarks of an artisanal loaf of bread. It smelled so good, earthy and hearty. After it cooled, he sliced the bread, cracking through the rough crust into the perfectly textured inside. The flavor was perfectly tangy, with a gorgeous whole wheat texture. Before the pandemic, my husband worked long hours at his lab and would never have had the time to make a loaf of bread that required so many steps and 24 hours. And before, we never had the need to make a starter or to use our food storage wheat.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#flourshortage, #yeastshortage, #sourdough, #wholewheat, #foodshortage, #tangysourdough, #churchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints, #homemadebread, #lockdown, #newyork, #arizonastateuniversity, #sensoryhistory, #hst643,

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Tiffany Wacaser

Give this story a date.

2020-04-09
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