So, I enjoy working with my sourdough starter AND it’s just an extra dose of delight when a nugget drops into my heart from the Lord while doing so. That happened today…
This morning, after my prayer time, I happily headed to the kitchen to prepare fresh, from scratch, sourdough dinner rolls for Bible study tonight. The girls love to eat them, and I enjoy spoiling the girls every bit as much…and I suppose I enjoy eating the deliciousness too.
I turned out my dough (which had been proofing overnight) onto the counter and began the process of making what have become my famous dinner rolls. The dough felt soft and smooth as I formed it. Next, I began to separate forty grams of dough at a time and shape it into a ball about the size of a golf ball.
To shape, I’d take the needed amount of dough, place it on the countertop under my cupped hand. Then, I made circular motions over and over again until there was a perfectly shaped, smooth ball of dough ready to go into a lightly greased baking dish for another round of proofing.
I thought back over the process, which had begun a couple days ago. I had taken my starter out of the fridge and fed it on Monday. Since I haven’t used it in over a month, I fed it twice on consecutive days, allowing it to double in size and become active and bubbly. Can’t make nice, fluffy rolls without an active starter!
Then, yesterday afternoon, I combined all the needed ingredients in my roll recipe and mixed it for ten to fifteen minutes until it was ready to go through what is called a bulk fermentation process. This happens overnight as it expands until it’s almost double in size.
Today, after I shaped them, I placed them in the baking dish and covered them. They needed to sit until they doubled in size once again before baking them this evening.
If you’re not into cooking or baking, I might have lost you somewhere along the way. I hope not though! I only tried to give a detailed explanation so I could share with you this thought.
You see, I didn’t pop the rolls out of a Sister Schubert’s bag of frozen rolls! It took time, patience, weighing, shaping, proofing, and then baking before the girls can enjoy the soft, warm, sourdough goodness.
I don’t get the perfect dinner roll without going through the entire process. I don’t get the right consistency and texture without including the correct ingredients and mixing properly. There also needs to be those moments of separating, weighing, and shaping each individual roll. The process is necessary!
What I’m saying is, don’t look at where you are today and doubt the process God has you in. We are all going through some stage which requires us to wait, sometimes separation from certain things in our lives is required, and the ingredients of life - both the good and bad - are necessary for us to “rise” properly. God is shaping us with perfect pressure - under His gentle hand - even in this moment. Let’s be assured God is in control of every process and knows, even now, the outcome of this process on our lives.
Let Him have His way.
Respond to His touch.
Grow under His careful watch.
Come out of this testifying of the goodness of God.
Those rolls are undeniably a hit at every meal. I just wonder what deliciousness we bring to the table when God is allowed to complete the process in us! It’s something to think about and consider, my friend. He’s not done with us yet, He’s not finished putting the final touches on our situations. Have faith, He has us in His hands and that’s a place we can rest confidently as the process continues.
Dinner rolls vs. how we should roll…the parallel is a bit crazy, and GOD-SIZED, but oh, so true.
How will we roll?
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