Little Sis

 RUNNINGMUSIC: Homage New Orleans

 

Little Sis

“Let me first introduce myself.

My real name is Debbie LeGrande but here at

Rivers End, I'm known as Little Sis.

My parents are of french Creole and cajun decent.

Most people think that I'm Native American because of

my dark skin and jet black hair.

I'm only twelve years old but I've been baking bread for

three years now.

When I was eight years old, my mother fell off a tractor

when it hit a bump.

The tractor started going in circles and my mom tried

to get out of the way but the plows cut off her legs.

She was in the hospital for three months and I had to take

over the bread baking for our family.

I have three older brothers who do all the kneading for me.

I bake six loaves a day. (Basic white bread)

My dad made a special bread board that my mom can

hook on to her wheel chair.

We sit together at night and knead some dough for the

next days bread.

last month we all loaded up in both our pickups and took

a drive to New Orleans.

This was not a pleasant drive because it's mostly a hundred

miles over dirt roads.

The food in New Orleans was so good it almost brought

tears to my eyes. (Almost)

The bread was so good that it did bring tears to my mamas eyes.

It was the first time that any of us had ever tasted Sourdough.

We wanted desperately to make this bread at home so we went

to a health food store and bought 50lb. bags of whole wheat, rye

and Cajun, unbleached white flour.

We also got a few packets of "Mojo Sourdough Starter"

As soon as we got home we started a starter right away.

We used one cup of whole wheat and one cup of well water.

And the "Mojo Starter" of course.

After 12 hours, we saw little bubbles and noticed a fruity smell.

It smelled like peaches and apples.

We added another cup of whole wheat and well water and waited.

On day two, there were a lot more bubbles and the same fruity smell.

Day three the starter was climbing out the gallon jar and still had a

fruity smell to it.

We used a cup of the starter to make some bread and put the rest

in the fridg.

The bread came out really good …”

 from Bread Earth and Fire (soon to be published)