The Simplicity of Sourdough

February has not seen a day without a new loaf of bread.

I got to wondering the other day when I started baking sourdough at home, and looking back it has been almost a year. It took a lot of time, trial and error, and patience to get to the beautiful loaves of bread that I am able to create today, and every time I pull one from the oven, I stand in awe. Awe that all it takes to create this is flour, water, salt, wild yeast (she shows up all on her own), and time. It's just so simple.

I often find that I get the answers to lives riddles in the mundane moments of everyday. The simplicity of sourdough is the magic of it for me. It is such a humble food, and yet, it provides so much to my family and I. It is a food that has stood the test of time, in some cases being handed down for generations. For me, this wasn't the case; my lineage of sourdough is being restarted with my children and I, but it feels equally ancient.

Simplicity seems to be the theme in my life right now. I used to believe that in order to feel satisfied I needed all the things. But I am finding that this simple life is much more satisfying. Simple food, simple house, simple joy, and i'm not alone in this. More and more people are waking up and seeing that simple lives are joyful lives.

Lives lived in touch with what is real, right here, right now. Be it nurturing yeast cultures, nurturing animals, or nurturing children these things are real. They can be touched, felt, held, and they give back to us; physically, emotionally, and spiritually. They are the recipe for a happy and fulfilling life.

With that I would like to invite you to do something real today. Something simple, and magical, and real. Maybe it's baking bread, maybe its cooking a meal for someone you love (yes, you count), or maybe its creating something from your heart. It doesn't matter, just do something real today, and then remember how amazing that feels. Because I believe that the magic of all of life is found in the simplicity. Just look at that loaf of bread; made with flour, water, salt, yeast, and most of all, love.