The Bread Revival
25th May 2020
No sooner had the comically ridiculous but nonetheless troubling national loo roll shortage abated, there began the national flour shortage as thousands of us with the need for distraction from our screens, combined with hunger (mostly of the stressed and bored kind) turned to breadmaking…..and thus began a revival.
For those of you who don’t live on instagram or breakfast on avocado, the holy grail of sourdough is a crusty loaf with a hole-y open structure…..soft, moist and chewy on the inside and satisfyingly crunchy and toasted on the outside.
It is a simple and complex creature. Made from flour, water and salt. Yes that’s it – so simple!
But the magical, time consuming and both inadvertent triumphant yelp of joy inducing and sometimes nosewrinklingly frustrating thing about sourdough is the art of cultivation.
You see, sourdough contains no shop bought, commercially produced yeast – the beautiful open light and holy texture begins with the ambient yeast and organisms that already reside in your home – captured, nurtured and cultivated in a flour and water starter – you know it’s working when there are bubbles! This jar of bubbling mysterious life is then worked through your flour of choice and with a bit of practice and patience ….voila!
What a powerful picture of the latent potential that lies within, the promise that resides alongside, the invisible but ever present life that is waiting to be paid attention to, invested in, worked through.
And oh what delights and joy await for those who dare to trust in the unseen but very much alive culture that takes only obedience (hearing and doing) to nurture.
Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like this yeast, this ‘starter’. Unseen but very much alive, and a complete game changer. If only we will mix it through the substance of our whole lives.
We have become so accustomed to buying our daily bread from bakeries and supermarkets – expert and well organised mass producers of loaves. But could it be that we have settled for less when there is more?
The taste of sourdough is beyond compare (think back to those irresistible slices in baskets at French eating establishments), more nutritious and kinder to your body than your standard shop bought loaf.…and that’s without mentioning the intoxicating aroma of expectation with the power to draw teenagers out of their bedrooms, away from their screens and into the hub of family.
I’m convinced that this is God’s playful snapshot of the real life that he has in mind for us.
The full and fillingness – not only in the tasting and eating, but in the process of having a go with what you’ve got, the pleasure and pride in creating, and the delight of sharing.
That’s food that satisfies your hunger, and brings health to your whole being.
We are not made to be consumers of replicated goods; they are no match for the joy of cultivating.
And here’s the thing. That yeast, that life, is in your home, in your kitchen. It’s not you have it or you don’t have it, or you might have it. But will you feed it and nurture it, pay attention to it.
It takes courage to capture and hope to nurture the unseen and small beginnings. To trust and invest in the bubbles that you see but don’t really understand, the evidence of life unseen and yet life-alteringly real.
The (breadmaking) revival is a restoring of ancient and yet enduring practices, the context has changed but the truths haven’t. Revival and renewal starts with us– the ambient life in our homes – nurtured and cultivated, fed and mixed through…..that produces bread to feed on and feast on, to satisfy our hunger and food to share.
Anyone hungry?
