5K High Altitude Apothecary

Some bread asks us to wait.

Yeast bread begins with remarkably simple things—flour, water, yeast, salt—and then asks for something that cannot be pulled from the pantry.

Time.

The dough has its own work to do.

We mix it.

We knead it.

We cover it and walk away.

And while we are doing something else, something alive is happening beneath the cloth.

Yeast feeds.

Bubbles form.

The dough stretches and rises.

Eventually we learn that bread cannot be hurried simply because we are ready for it.

At altitude, that lesson becomes even clearer.

Dough can rise faster in the thinner mountain air, while our dry climate can quietly take moisture away.

A recipe written somewhere else may need a little adjustment here.

So these are breads made with attention to life at 5,000 feet—watching the dough rather than simply watching the clock.

There may be sandwich loaves here.

Crusty breads for tearing beside soup.

Soft rolls passed around the table.

Flatbreads, braided breads, and perhaps a loaf made simply because the house needed to smell like bread that day.

The shapes will change.

The lesson remains remarkably similar.

Give it what it needs.

Give it somewhere warm.

And give it time to become.

Coming soon

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