Bake & Pray - by Kendall Vanderslice (Hardcover)

Bake and Pray is the perfect reminder that bread symbolizes God’s promise and love for us. Throughout scripture, God uses bread as a means of revealing God’s character and desire to know us. Kendall’s theology of relating the act of baking into a liturgy or rhythm of worship to connect more deeply with God. Bake and Pray is also a reminder that God is at work at the center of the table and that we are part of God’s family beyond ourselves and the bread who unites us. Bake and Pray pinpoints 6 Steps in developing the perfect loaf of bread as well as perfecting our relationship with God by recognizing the many factors that may affect our desired outcome. Through understanding bread basics, temperature, stretching, resting, shape and new life, Kendall relates the process of making bread to mirror God’s work in our own lives. Her book also prompts us to remember that sometimes we just need to dwell in his presence. Whether you’re looking to master the perfect loaf of bread or practice more liturgical living, this book is a must have for anyone who loves the art of homemaking and creating a dwelling place where God resides.

I have been experimenting with bread making, so I thought this book would give me some insight into the chemistry of bread making and improve upon my practical knowledge. Bake & Pray went well beyond my questions and answered many more. Subsequent to baking, the author suggests an unusual premise for bringing prayer into everyday tasks, such as bread making. I’m sure that some readers will find the idea intriguing and some will not understand it. To me, it is suggestive of Brother Lawrence, who sought the Lord all day in his menial kitchen tasks as a monk. Surely, God is there, waiting to commune with us at any time, in any task. To some, this way of baking with the addition of prayer will be foreign and seem outlandish; however, the practice of acknowledging and communing with God all through the day, and especially during our tasks, builds a much more intimate relationship with Him. The baker/reader is led by way of recipes and prompted to pray certain scriptures while completing the steps within a start-to-finish liturgy model with attention to temperature, timing and rest, strength, and shaping…asking God to raise us up, give us rest and strength, and mold us, much like the Biblical analogy of potter and clay. These lessons can be applied to our lives as we pray through “baking as a spiritual practice throughout the year”. Throughout the book, the author continues building upon what has already been taught so there is no need to go back to previous chapters. It’s all there right in front of you with additional thoughts and purposes for making bread along with seasonal bread recipes and prayers for every occasion. Chapters include the equipment needed, basics of bread making, liturgy on bread making, specialty bread recipes for the church year, prayers for every occasion, journaling pages and a glossary of baking terms. I love that the coloring for the book is an off-white paired with bread crust colored light brown. This coloring carries over to the illustrations by Rosanna Tasker. I received this book from the author/publisher free of charge, with no expectation of a positive review.