Lately, I’ve become completely absorbed in baking bread. Fermented breads like ciabatta and pain de campagne turn out quite well—as long as the dough ferments properly. One day, pressed for time, I mixed the dough with yeast and put it straight into the refrigerator before leaving for work, hoping it would ferment well while I was away. When I came home from work and took the dough out of the refrigerator, it had not fermented at all. I hurriedly tried to get it fermented by placing it in warm water, but it was no use. The bread I baked looked fine on the outside, but inside it was dense and chewy like rice cake. The problem was that I had put the dough into the refrigerator immediately after mixing it. When the dough is exposed to cold air too soon, fermentation begins to stop from the outside in. To make delicious bread, the dough first needs enough time to rise in a warm place. Only then should it be refrigerated for a slow fermentation, allowing beneficial bacteria to multiply and rich flavors to develop. That made me pause and ask myself a question. I want to become someone whose whole being, inside and out, is deeply permeated with the warm love of our Heavenly Father and Mother. With that in mind, today I will offer a few words of warmth. I will speak the “Words of Mother’s Love,” which brings warmth to both the speaker and the listener.
