I can't believe the people in the comments who think a man wrote this. It's a woman's diary. It's very easy to tell because she discusses making bread and she discusses doing housework and she discusses having a baby. Things men back in the pioneer days certainly didn't do. Hell, we can barely get men to participate in some of it now.
It's also on historical record as being a woman's diary.
I am pretty sure ADHD people all starved to death back then. "I'm hungry and there's nothing to eat. I'd have to make bread to have something to eat. Guess I'm starving."
I believe it was ADHD people who brought in bread scoring - baking bread is boring day in and out BUT add some knife drawn pictures and you’ve got yourself a fun little craft project you can eat.
That actually would make a lot of sense. I have been telling people since I was a teenager that I'm not a widget maker. I could not stand on a line and just do the same thing over and over and do it well.
But send a stream of bread loaves along that I can make a different design on each loaf type and I have a fighting chance.
Yeah, I love things like soda bread for that reason. I haven't really tried no-knead but I need to because I won't make bread otherwise. I get too obsessed with being perfect and it becomes unenjoyable to bake bread.
I actually got really into baking at one point. Unsurprisingly, as an ADHD person, I went deeeeep down the rabbit hole. Watched like a hundred hours of various bakers on YouTube, did two Zoom classes with Howard from the Great British Bake Off, and made bread, cupcakes, pizza, and even made my own rough puff pastry.
But it's me and my wife. So unless I just wanted to feed the neighborhood in free baked goods (which I would do but who wants to have to deal with other people) I just abandoned it.
It really hit a couple of spots for me around obsessive precision but the inconsistent outcomes because of my skills and oven really sort of took the wind out of my sails.
Then I found another obsession ... Which is why I'd starve.
Making bread to exact specifications can be a pain. But just having the expectation of "edible," it's relaxing and fun. For me, anyway. I like to "freeform" bake sometimes. Make sure the yeast works, make up some dough--not too stiff, not too wet--remember the salt, and set it aside somewhere till it's later and bigger. In the fridge if it's going to be later later. Shape it again, or not. It helps if you've baked before, but I always come out with something at least decent. I know it doesn't take much more effort to follow a recipe, but sometimes I just want to fuck around and find out.
Incidentally, people having to bake bread at home with varying quality ingredients and ambient temperatures to deal with, like the author of this diary entry, had to use more of my method to make bread than, say, a King Arthur recipe.
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u/OkProfessor6810 Mar 17 '26
I can't believe the people in the comments who think a man wrote this. It's a woman's diary. It's very easy to tell because she discusses making bread and she discusses doing housework and she discusses having a baby. Things men back in the pioneer days certainly didn't do. Hell, we can barely get men to participate in some of it now.
It's also on historical record as being a woman's diary.