The Lima Peru LDS Temple Mission: Making Bread in Peru

A hot loaf of home made bread just cooled enough to slice

So far in our travels and experience in Lima we have not found a source for good bread. Even the whole wheat bread RA bought at Albertsons we cannot find the equivalent here in our favorite grocery store. The three traditional staples of Peruvian cuisine are corn, potatoes, and beans. Rice is a major component of any Peruvian meal though it is imported from elsewhere and was brought to South America by the Spanish along with wheat, chickens, and beef. Since good bread is a delicacy and hard to find RuthAnn set the alarm early and started making the dough in order to have hot bread out of the oven before we leave for our afternoon shift at the temple. All of our daughters make bread and had lessons watching Grandma Fisher. My mother told me that she first started when she was 12 years old and was taught by her Grandmother Ford. RuthAnn also said her mom started baking bread at a very early age also. Others in the family make wonderful bread too.

The kneading process

Watching RuthAnn make the bread and capture a few photos of the process was quite informative and interesting. I had no idea of the amount a CO2 that a little bit of yeast or leavening could do to a mass of dough. Whole wheat flour is not found easily here either though we have been told it exists at somewhere. She adds wheat germ and bran which she can buy. The process of making bread is physically rigorous and requires both effort and coordination. She has a very practiced and choreographed method for kneading as she works the dough.

Loaves just about ready to put into the oven

My role in all of this is to insure that a process called retrogradation does not occur. This can be detected visually as small water droplets or condensation form onto plastic bags within or without the refrigerator around a loaf. In simpler terms this process of retrogradation is known as "going stale." I insure its freshness by limiting its time on the kitchen counter. It is also retrogradation that makes pastries and bread temporarily moist as they come out of the microwave after not too long an exposure to microwave radiation. Water is a byproduct of the process of molecular re-crystallization incorporated in retrogradation.

I have a new and greater appreciation for bread making today. This batch, maybe because it was recorded on camera, has been her best to date. She also left out the oatmeal which might have been interfering with the gluten formation. No worry about retrogradation here, a half loaf is gone already.