sour dough, spirituality and satisfaction

"I at last realized that eating was a spiritual function and that meat, bread and wine were the raw materials from which the mind is made."  Nikos Kazantzakis author of Zorba the Greek

I have been reading a very interesting cookbook called bread matters by Andrew Whitley.  He has owned a bakery in Melmerby, England since 1976 and has made some frightening observations about how bread has been made commercially in the last few decades (when machine made yeast was introduced and certain baking procedures to make bread faster and cheaper) and the rise in gluten sensitivity and coeliac disease (extreme allergy to gluten).

Bread has always been defined by it's ingredients; flour, water, salt and some form of leavening such as yeast (which can occur naturally if flour is left to ferment over time which is what sour dough is).  When you look at the ingredients that go into commercial bread, including enzymes to speed up the entire process and ensure a longer shelf life,  they are present only for the sake of commerce.

When flour is allowed to ferment, certain bacteria develops that is good for the digestion.  If time is missing, and the bread is made according to a tight schedule, the flour looses out on developing its potential.  It is rushed.  To add insult to injury, additives are introduced to do the job that the flour would do, if permitted.  Over 80% of bread made in the UK is now made in this method adopting a modern process called 'activated dough development' (ADD!)

I have too many friends, neighbours and students who increasingly tell me about gluten sensitivities.  For some it affects their children and some are developing it later in life.

It became a commitment of mine this year to teach the importance of eating whole grains.  With this resolve I have been teaching myself how to bake sourdough bread.  I love fluffy, cake-like, sparkling white challa as much as the next person (especially slathered with Nate's avocado spread), but I have heard too many complaints about stomachache and indigestion associated with the Shabbat and yomtov table.  It's enough.  I am not a reactionary person, but I remember as a child that I used to suffer from severe stomachache.  My devoted mother took me to the doctor who diagnosed me a perfectionist and gave her placebo pills to give to me when I complained.  (I still have a hard time trusting doctors.)  I know better now.

"And they were filled", the Bible says.  No simpler words can be written to describe happiness, satisfaction and gratitude."  H.E. Jacob, Six Thousand Years of Bread