February 2, 2011

The miracle of the loaves

As a half-Italian guy who believes he is 100% Italian, I always have a few loaves of Italian bread in the freezer.

I used to take a loaf out and cut a shallow line into the frozen bread, all around in a ring. And then I'd crack the loaf on the edge of a formica counter. One day I noticed that the severed halves had a smooth cut all the way through. How could that be? I'd only cut a millimeter or two into the bread. Yet the entire cut was perfectly smooth.

I realized what this meant. So the next time I took out a frozen loaf, I didn't cut it at all. I just smashed it on the edge of the counter and it split in half with a perfectly smooth cut as if I'd done it with a knife.

I don't understand how this happens. Stay tuned for more weird things in future posts. And if any reader can explain why this isn't weird at all, but quite normal -- chime in with a comment. (Something about the crystalline structure that occurs in freezing?)

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