On the weekend while I was trying for the umpteenth time to find comprehensible words to express the power and versatility of biestmilch, and while I was struggling to find these words, I took a break and listened to this talk of Peter Reinhart and was thrilled. A vague feeling crept into me that this had something to do with our beloved biestmilch. Bread is stapel food for people all over the world, it belongs to the essentials of human life, it is full of myths and it is science, it is nature and it is man made… the art of making bread reveals traditions, beliefs and science.
Reinhard’s talk made me happy because it shows in a wonderful way presented by a brilliant brain how the process of baking bread can be seen, if one pays attention to it, analyzes it and doesn’t take it for granted, if the scientific knowledge we have is applied to it without forgetting the metaphoric power of bread. Reinhart’s presentation for me is a proof for the fact that our view on food is changing. Food can be medicine, or better it is the medicine that keeps us alive and healthy, it can protect us from illnesses, and it can also make us healthy again (if we don’t spoil its phenomenal power, if we don’t kill it). Reinhart would say, that we have to know to keep our foods alive, even if they have to pass intermediate stages of death.
The like applies to biestmilch. Biestmilch is an extremely lively and thus powerful food and because it is so much alive, it has got such a tremendous medical power. It is pure nature, it stands at the beginning of all mammals’ lives, and it is essential for the survival of many a species. Biestmilch is as much connected with strong emotions and myths as it is with sober science. It is a food that has to be kept alive through processing not to loose its versatile functions. As it is true for all good foods Biestmilch influences our whole body by modulating the cell milieu and the cell metabolism. Only think about vitamins or oxygen free radicals, they too do their jobs on cell level.
Master breadmaker Peter Reinhart is also a teacher, author and theologian. Through his lectures and numerous cookbooks, he channels the science of baking into deep, spiritual lessons — and dispels stale myths about the nature (and flavor) of good, wholesome bread.
