To understand why The Baker`s daughter means so much to me we need to go a little back in time.
My parents opened their bakery about 37years ago. I was still a baby back then and when I wasn’t with "nonna", I would be at my mum`s side or sleeping in the store room, surrounded by sacks and sacks of flour and with my mum keep coming and checking I was all right.
They worked day and nights, and the bakery always felt like my second home. Well, a bit tastier than an conventional second home.
That fragrance of fresh baked bread will have accompanied me for all those years ahead.
At school, like anywhere else around in town, everyone would pin me down as “the bakers daughter". For those ones that have never been in Sicily, it is a custom, and part of our cultural identity, to be identified as “the person you belong to”. Even before asking your name, they would ask you “whom do you belong to?”. I found that quite iconic as there was only one well known baker in town and that was my father.
As I grew up, I would have always been the first in trying everything to the point where I was officially (not really) invested as the “Prime Tester” . I would speak my mind out if the pizza needed a more flavourful mozzarella or if the crust of the new sesame bread was simply perfect. I loved doing it as it has always been my second nature.
However, believe me or not, I never really made bread myself. In my heart, that was my parent`s realm and it never crossed my mind to “compete” with such experience.
On the other hand, I loved the way you could use the oven to make such magical and tasty creations and I felt that love was part of my DNA but I didn`t realise it till 8 years ago. WOW! That took time.
We are in 2018 when I realised my true mission was to make the perfect apple cake! But for that you need to wait the next post (Yeah, there is another story behind that choice too!).
Going back to the mission… realising that I wanted to be a “baker” was a call I never listened to until my father sold the bakery! I was happy for him but at the same time I could not let that gift and knowledge go away from me and perhaps transform it into something different and totally mine.
The day I invented my Instagram profile, there was only one nickname I could think of and that could reflect my inner soul.
“The bakers daughter” represents who I was, who I am and who I will always be.
With love
Katia
Very nice interesting read, not only in the warmth of the oven but in the way you have shared this story. This is your life and I am honored you are sharing your heritage with us, Thank you BakersDaughter !!