"Mit Laib und Seele" is a pun. Laib means loaf in German but if you write Leib (the pronunciation is the same) it means body. And Seele means soul in German. 

M

My Thoughts On Joy of Baking (Bread)

Last Friday there was an entire magazine, which one gets as a supplement of a daily newspaper * every Friday, dedicated to bread.
I think this is was one of the best issues that were published of this newspaper as far as I can remember. I started reading the newspaper at the age of ten or eleven; I guess I perceived the news different than today. What I remember of my newspaper experience very well was that my younger brother (yes, he already read the newspaper when he was in elementary school) and I had a little sibling rivalry. Who - my brother or I - was the first one to read the newspaper in the morning. I remember that I got up before 6 am sometimes, so I was able to read the newspaper before my brother. Looking back at this scenario makes me laugh but I am getting of topic here. So back to the magazine that was dedicated to bread. When I discovered the "bread issue" I had to grasp for air because I was so excited and I had to flip through the magazine as soon as I was out of the bookstore and could not wait to read the entire issue. You can probably imagine that I read every single page of the magazine. There were articles, such as about the owner of the Poilâne bakery in Paris (I wrote about this bakery here), about the differences of flours, a portrait of the baker Chad Robertson and his Tartine Bakery in San Francisco (now I want to travel San Francisco and visit this bakery and try the bread there).

 In the picture you can see the young owner Apollolina Poilâne who manages one of the most famous bakeries in Paris.



I cannot tell how much joy it was to read through this magazine and even though I am by no means a professional baker I could totally relate to the passion that the people who were portrayed or interviewed in the magazine. Making bread is such an incredible experience and it is hard to describe this into words. Once I got addicted to baking, I got interested in every aspect of baking such as the differences in flours, different kinds of ovens, equipments, etc. Every time I try out a new recipe or have a new baking dish, I get so excited. Every time it is a special moment for me when I open the oven and take my home-baked goods out of the oven. Every time it is a pure magic moment and every time I am puzzled when I see that combining flour, water, yeast and salt makes a loaf of bread. Even though I made different kinds of bread hundreds of times and I am not exaggerating here, it brings so much happiness to me. I see this blog as a kind of a diary for myself because who knows, maybe I do not like baking in a decade, and so it is a nice way to look back what I enjoyed in the past. But I also want to share my passion of baking with you and maybe there is anyone out there that I can inspire to start baking or find the joy of baking. It is truly a joy. 
*Süddeutsche Zeitung, Freitag, 30.November 2012, Nr.277, SZ Magazin Nummer 48.