Photo of Houston woman baking bread in mailbox is half-true
A screenshot of a now-viral Facebook post featuring Roberta Wright taking out a loaf of bread from her mailbox during a hot Houston day. Wright says the picture only tells half the story. Roberta Wright via Facebook
Roberta Wright's now-famous photo of "mailbox bread" is a story of hot weather, a little curiosity and some stretching of the truth.
Wright, a retired educator and admin with HISD, came up with the idea amid the scorching temperatures baking her Montgomery County home.
"I'm a children's book author, and people know me as a curious person, so I said why not?" she said.
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
Wright had her husband take photographs of her pulling the loaf of bread out of the mailbox at their home. When she posted them on Facebook, it caught the wind of her church's pastor Howard E. Caesar. Caesar, the former minister of Unity Church, reposted the pair of photos on his page and watched it take off. As of Friday, it has been shared more than 11,000 times.
"She has apparently even been contacted by people in France where her book has done fairly well," Caesar said.
And now for the less magical side of all of this: Can you even cook bread in a mailbox when the outside temperature is 100+ degrees? For those of us with a flair for the theatric, the answer is, unfortunately, no. In fact, Wright said her daughter was hesitant about the whole thing popping off.
"So technically, I proofed it in the mailbox and then I finished baking it inside," she said. "My daughter was telling me to be careful how I was saying this because I didn't technically bake it inside a mailbox, but I just loved the illusion."
Advertisement Article continues below this ad
The term "proofing" in breadmaking refers to the point at which you allow yeast to ferment the dough, causing it to rise. Once risen, a baker then pops it in the oven. There's a big range of temperatures for proofing bread, from 50 degrees Fahrenheit all the way to 110.
Source: Chron
