A crucial stage in the baking process of bread is called proofing. After all of the ingredients have been mixed and the dough has been kneaded, it is covered up and set aside and given as much time as is needed for it to double in size. When the dough has risen, it is considered properly proofed. I tried to dig into why they call this proofing and couldn't find a definitive answer, but there are two likely reasons. One, just as bread dough can be proofed, the yeast or leavening agent is also often proofed. This involves putting some yeast in warm water with sugar and if it starts to bubble and foam then you know the yeast is still good. The other explanation is that a few hundred years ago it was common when it came to livestock that had begun to fatten up or crops or trees that had begun to flourish and bear fruit that such things were said to be “in proof”. Likely this was because the fattening up of the cattle or the growth of the crops was proof that these were good cattle and crops. So, by analogy, when the bread dough began to grow and swell and fatten up, then it could be similarly described as being “in proof.” We can follow the same line of reasoning to test the word of God and our faith in it to discover if it too is “in proof.” “Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.” (Alma 32:28).This proofing or rising or swelling process can't be rushed. If we try to bake underproofed bread we're going to end up with biscuits. A lot of us want to keep working and kneading the problem until it makes sense. But we have to have the humility and the patience to step back and cover up our dough and just let it sit there and proof all on its own. It is interesting because in the Savior's Parable of the Talents, the first two servants went to work and through their effort and their diligence they doubled their initial amounts. But the slothful servant hid his talent under a napkin and did nothing. Now, in the context of that parable, this was the wrong thing to do. But if he had dough instead of talents, then leaving it under a napkin and doing nothing would have been the right thing to do for him to have doubled his initial amount. The heat and pressure that turns a lump of coal into a diamond would only serve to transform a batch of dough into a lump of coal. As much as we would just like to power through our doubts and the impossible questions of the soul, sometimes the best thing we could possibly do is to just set it aside and be still and wait. Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, had to go through His own proofing period where He was covered up and left to rise in His own due time. And Christ has risen. This is the proof upon which every true disciple of Christ builds their faith. If we will put our trust in the Lord and stop rushing back and beating back down the dough out of frustration when the proofing process takes longer than needed, then we will eventually be rewarded for our patience when we get to eat the Bread of Life and be filled. It's no fun being left alone and in the dark with no idea when the proofing process will be over, but sometimes that is the only way. I know that Christ has risen and that His work and His glory is to see each of us through our proofing process so that we too may rise with Him.
