They found Joy in Cooking and Joy in Life.

These are the words on the cover "The Lynn Family Recipes," a beautiful addition to my collection of cookbooks I received this weekend.  I was pleased to have the opportunity to apprentice one of the finest bakers north of Salt Lake I have ever met.  A kind Jerry Lynn invited me into his home, into his baking delights, and into his joyful world. The Lynn cookbook was just one small token of the visit, the knowledge and experience however far surpassing the recipes. I learned on Friday, that simple Jerry Lynn is a master in his own right. He can make more cinnamon rolls and fresh bread than probably all of our efforts combined. The most impressive part, it's all by hand. The only modern devices he uses is a mixer and an oven, the rest is from the palm of his hand.  As I watched his hands and feet shuffle around the kitchen, I observed Jerry in 'his flow'. It was clear the kitchen is 'his' domain. He has a familiarity and efficiency that surpasses our everyday use of the kitchen. He told me that during busy seasons he produced up to 80 dozen cinnamon rolls and 140 dozen muffins. Jerry owned a bakery for many years in South Bountiful area. If you are familiar you may remember his incredible cinnamon roles or fresh pies. 

How did I encounter such a mentor of baked goods? The meeting of Jerry Lynn has been magical from the start. He is my neighbor at the Bountiful Farmers Market and a backyard Beekeeper of 20-60,000 bees. He sell his honey that he bottles in his own home, and friends there simply is no better honey out there.  At first meeting I may have thought that his skills stopped at Beekeeping alone, but little did I know the baking genius that lied beneath.  Jerry was kind and inquisitive of my small cookie business and eager to help teach me cinnamon roles. I mentioned to him that I felt good with cookies and Gluten Free, but the thought of Gluten Full flours and yeast made me as nervous as a little girl. In fact, we can blame this on my mother but she never cared to make fresh bread other than a bread machine and her first experience as a child baking bread it turned out like a brick. I had assumed it simply wasn't worth learning. Well, I was wrong. 

Baking bread is a science, an art, and gets better with experience. Jerry doesn't have to analyze or read recipes, baking bread is a part of who he is, it's second nature. I feel this way with cookies, but not with bread, and not with golf. Perhaps someday I will, but I realized that while we take these skills and dilute them with modern appliances, technology, and quickie solutions, there is simply no substitute for the hand made process of making and shaping bread.  Yeast is living, so we treat is kindly and let it multiply in it's element. It isn't as temperamental as I once thought after understanding the properties in which it likes to grow. 

Life has turned around for me, for years I spent time trying to climb the corporate ladder, find more money, bigger homes, faster ways of doing things. Now I find solace in the simple beauty of life, in a small garden, in a simple pose, in working with my hands, and leaving a labor of love in my path. 

Jerry left me with a new found knowledge that I certainly couldn't place a price tag. His knowledge come from generations of finding joy in cooking and joy in life.  I am certainly not convinced that I will own a bakery with yeast breads, but I do know see the love and dedication it takes produce a legacy.