As Goes The Loaf

Day 81: You have only one chance to get this right: "As goes the loaf, so goes the year." Although I was unable to document the saying, I believe it is of Scottish or British origin, and asserts that the first loaf of bread baked after New Year's Day predicts the course the year will follow. Will it be lumpy? Crusty and hard? Will it fail to rise entirely? I wasn't willing to take any chances, and fell back on my tried-and-true sourdough, changed up a bit with half a cup of whole-wheat flour to replace an equivalent measure of white, along with an appreciable handful of golden flaxseed to add character. I don't want 2021 to be plain or boring, and neither do I want it to be ponderously heavy or tasteless. The whole wheat offers a mild piquancy, gives it a hint of down-home, neighbourly goodness and the seeds provide small and tasty surprises. No one wants peppercorns and pea gravel in their breakfast toast, and that was certainly the fare offered up by 2020. I was pleased when the loaf emerged from the oven without cracks, rifts or fissures, perfectly golden-brown and raised to a perfect crown.