If you listen closely, you can almost hear the soft rattle of a bicycle coasting over cobblestones, weaving past tractors and farm fields on its way toward a small German village kitchen.

A little girl, Heidrun, is on that bike and, as her hair streams behind her in the wind, she can hardly hear anything herself. Her head is full of questions about what she’ll gather or forage with her Oma today - and what they’ll bake when they return to her kitchen - and hoping that, earlier this morning, while the moon was still high, Oma made her perfect yeast cake with soft streusel crumbles.

When she walks into the kitchen, Heidrun is delighted to see that - yes! Oma’s yeast cake has already risen, baked, and is now cooling in the window. And she’s comforted by the familiar sight of fresh quark wrapped in a muslin cloth, dripping its healthy whey slowly into a bowl below, where it will be saved and later added to bread.

Heidrun’s Oma was steady, disciplined, neat, tidy, and hardworking. She wasn’t talkative and she never used a scale. Nevertheless, she managed to teach generations, Heidrun included, the precise art of German Baking, an art which Heidrun has now put into book form with images, explanations, careful instructions.

And at the center of today’s story - and so many recipes in this book - is a cornerstone of German baking. Quark is a soft, rich, creamy, protein and calcium-rich, slightly tangy cheese essential to both sweet and savory German dishes.

To be honest, when I started the process of creating this episode, I thought quark was too technical, difficult, or time-consuming for me and thought, “Well, quark will be fun to talk about, but I’ll just use the substitutions that Heidrun mentions.”

However!

Much like her Oma did for her, Heidrun drew me out of my comfort zone through her quiet enthusiasm, empowering knowledge, and gentle insistence that it's always worth learning a new skill and making a recipe the right way.