Great in Theory

Not sure about immediate practicality, but I'm slowly trying to ease into this kind of eating. My only problem is that it's not very "busy person"-friendly...

Some day I'll have more time.

Michael Pollan's Twelve Commandments for Serious Eaters

From his new book:In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto:

1. Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce.

3. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot.

4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.

5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.

6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmers' market or CSA.

7. Pay more, eat less.

8. Eat a wide variety of species.

9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.

10. Cook, and if you can, grow some of your own food.

11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.

12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

Enjoy! Hope this sparks some ideas for healthier, more enjoyable eating!

As promised... Muffins!

Since I'm sure you are all losing sleep with the anticipation of finding out about how my muffins went...

They went ok. I used Spelt flour, because it is apparently lighter than hard red wheat. You begin with soaking the flour for 12-24 hours in buttermilk, which I talked about in a previous post. The next day, I added some maple syrup, melted butter, spices, baking soda and peaches.

This resulted in dense, somewhat dry muffins. The peaches (they were 'fruit spice' muffins...) did not have quite enough flavor to make a presence in these muffins. I believe that next time, I'd partner the denser than normal dough with a stronger flavored fruit, such as dates, raisins, or currants. Blueberries would work too I think. The peach was simply too light to add much to an otherwise bland dough. Also, they were very wet, which made for soft mushy spot in the finished mufifns, and since I have a strong aversion to soggy bread, that was a no go.

All in all, not something I'd make again, and not a recipe I'd post here, but with some tweaking, maybe some more butter, a stronger fruit, and more spices, I think it'd be just fine. If I figure it out, I'll put it here!

Adventures Continued...

So yesterday was my day to finally make my sourdough bread, and the verdict is in... It's awesome! I really wanted to take pictures as I made it so I could show you each step, but I can't find my camera yet- it's still hidden somewhere in the boxes. SO- maybe next week. However, I'll still tell you how it worked...

You use:
two quarts of the starter, which over the course of the week had turned into about a gallon (so it's about half of your total amount of starter).
In a LARGE bowl, mix your starter, which consists solely of water and wheat flour, with
1 1/2 Cups of water,
2 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt, and
13 Cups of flour. (More on the flour later)

Mix it together until it forms into a dough. Turn the dough out and gently knead it, using more of a pulling and folding over motion than a punching and turning.

This type of kneading is something I neglected to do. I saw 'knead for 15 minutes' and I had at that dough. Really, the air that is in the starter from the fermentation process is more delicate than with bakers yeast. You don't want to punch out all the air, or your bread will be really dense. Kneading is an important step, though, because that's how your dough becomes elasticky (sp?) and more able to rise. In my BYU cooking class, my teacher mentioned something about how it stretches out the gluten into strands instead of them being crammed together in a tight bunch. Since I can't remember it exactly, here's what came up when I googled this...

"One of the most important things that takes place during the knead process is the development of gluten. As the flour that makes up the dough is moistened and stirred, the gluten begins to form and also gains in strength as the dough is subjecting to the kneading process. Gluten can be thought of as the binding agent within the dough, allowing the loaf to take on a cohesive texture that will allow the substance to not fall apart during baking. The presence of the gluten also sets the stage for another good reason to knead bread dough when making fresh bread at home.

As the gluten is acting as a binding agent, it is also helping to create small air pockets of bubbles in the dough. This is very important, as these bubbles are necessary to allow for the formation of small pockets of carbon dioxide as the dough is rising. The carbon dioxide is created by the interaction of the yeast with the other ingredients in the recipe. By filling the small air pockets in the structure of the dough, the bread has a chance to rise and become supple enough to result in a loaf of bread that is light, flavorful, and airy."

So, since this bread isn't made with yeast, it uses fermentation and natural bacteria to produce the carbon dioxide that makes the dough rise. It's more delicate because it's completely natural, and not as strong. Neato.

Long story made short, it's important to knead the dough for a full 15 minutes, but be gentle with it. Try the pulling and folding over. I will next time, and I think it will definately impact the density of my finished product.

Now, about the flour... My starter, as afore mentioned, was made with rye flour. It has a lower phytate content which encourages more bubbliness and faster, better fermentation. (Can't you use rye to make some kind of beer? Maybe I'm wrong, but this is a similar idea, just not so fermented.) I'm not a huge fan of rye. Actually, that's saying it nicely- I hate it. It's too strong of a taste for me. However, I used the rye flour all week for the starter. Pleasantly, I couldn't taste the rye at all in the finished product! yay!

For the actual dough, I planned on using spelt, but I didn't entirely have enough. So I ended up using about 10 cups of spelt flour and 3 cups of wheat flour. (FYI: I used white wheat, which isn't the best for bread. It makes a nice wheat loaf the normal way, but as far as nutrition goes, you really want hard red wheat. It's heavier, but really is good for you.) For those who are wondering about spelt, it's just another grain. I bought it at the local Good Earth in the bulk section, and ground it up in my wheat grinder (oh, lovely grinder!).

Spelt is heavier that white wheat, but not as heavy as hard red. It works nicely for bread. If anyone remembers my muffins, I used it for that as well. Those turned out ok. I'm going to work on the recipe a bit and see if I can't make them a bit more tasty. I'll be back with more on that later.

We had some friends over for dinner last night, which I used as a chance to test the success of my bread on an unbiased audience. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much since this was not your traditional bread, and it was sourdough, which might not be everyone's cup of tea. I set it out on the table with butter and honey, and what do you know? By the end of the night, there were 3 pieces left from the whole loaf! There were only 5 of us, but somehow, we managed to eat almost all the the bread, which was from the largest loaf I baked! I was really excited that everyone liked it, and hopefully I can make it even better next week.

As a side note, I tried to bake it on a cookie sheet, just in a loaf, like italian bread. Don't do that unless you want to make biscotti or something, because that was pretty much how tall it was. (small exaggeration). It rose, but mainly it went out, not up. I'd use a loaf pan next time.

Whew. Hope this isn't all too confusing! I'm not the most eloquent of speakers, especially when I get excited, I tend to leave out pertinent things. If for nothing else, this is a fun thing to do, just as an experiment! Or a science fair project? Hahaha.. And you get some really healthy bread in the meantime. I'll post the entire recipe later on, when I'm at home, and maybe talk a litte about my muffins! Also, I need to post this great risotto recipe I've found and made a few times... Check back soon!

Kitchen Adventures

I'm working on my first sourdough started this week so that I can start baking some of my own bread. We don't eat a ton of bread right now, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep up. In case anyone wonders how that works, let me tell you:

I found a recipe for a starter. It's really simple- 2 cups of rye flour and 2 cups of water. I bought whole rye at a local health food store, ground it up in my beautiful wheat grinder, and mixed it with the water. Then, you just let it sit in a warm place. Everyday, you go back, transfer the mixture into a clean bowl, and add 1 more cup of rye flour and enough water to make it soupy. After 7 days, you have your starter!

Sourdough starters replace yeast in bread. It takes longer, and makes a bit more dense of a loaf than with bakers yeast, but it's much better for you, and who doesn't love the bite of a good sourdough bread? I won't be able to make my bread until Sunday, but I'll write about how it goes. I'm not a huge fan of rye bread, so I'm only using rye for the starter because it has lower phytate content than wheat, which I guess makes it easier to ferment and helps it get more light and bubbly (in layman's terms...).

I just find it fascinating every day when I pull my bowl down from the fridge and it's bubbling all over the place. How does it work? And how did anyone ever figure this out... Our ancestors were so much smarter than we give them credit for.

I'm also making some fruit spice muffins with spelt flour, which soaks in buttermilk for 24 hours before you actually mix up the muffin batter. To quote the book:

"Because they are acidic, buttermilk... activate(s) the enzyme phytase, which works to break down phytic acid in the bran of grains... Soaking increases the vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in the grains more available. This method has the further advantage of so softening the whole meal flour that the final product is often indistinguishable from one made with white flour."

FASCINATING. To me at least. More to come!

We love long weekends! (And it might take you all weekend to read this!)

Tomorrow is labor day! I am really glad to have the day off, not because I've been particularly overworked lately, but because I get to spend the whole day with Justin! Since he's been in the academy, he's had to put in long days, even staying until 10 or 11 at night on some occassions, and it feels like we don't get to see each other as much. I'm always glad to get to have a whole day with him, especially when we don't really have anything to do! Those days don't come too often.

So for anyone who was paying attention, I'm doing really well with my goal to eliminate aritifically flavored/colored, caffeinated, and carbonated drinks. So far, it's been two weeks, and water and milk are the only things I've had to drink! It's not really had because I liked drinking soda, it's more because I like having something flavorful to drink. However, I get plenty of flavor in all the food I eat, and don't need the additional bad things in my drinks! I wish I could say I feel like a new person, or that I've lost 5 pounds, but really, I think the benefits are long term with overall better health, and sparing my body from unneccessary toxins.

Last Saturday, I decided to get rid of white flour. Not entirely, because there are some occassions where white flour has no substitute. However, I used my awesome wheat grinder to make some whole wheat flour, and started off the week with Brother Keay's famous Whole Wheat Waffles. All of the boys that spent so much time at their house (justin, mike, chris, ben, etc.) talk about these waffles all the time, and how good they were. Mike made them for us last April when we went to their house for General Conference, and they really are fantastic!

When I made them, I didn't have buttermilk, so I made my own, which I think was detrimental to the recipe. I would use real buttermilk, and decrease the oil next time. I want to do a little more tweaking to the recipe, but I'll put it here in original form in honor of the Keay family, and the legacy of this recipe! :)
(I don't think it's a secret recipe, because Mike had no qualms with giving it to me. However, maybe keep it to yourself?

Brother Keay's Whole Wheat Waffles:

2 C Buttermilk
1 C Wesson Oil
4 Eggs
2 C Whole Wheat Flour
3 t. Baking Powder
1 t. Soda

Beat until thick and creamy. You can't overbeat. This batter will keep in fridge or you can make waffles and freeze them.

Originally, this was made with white flour. You can try that too if you want.

If I end up creating a slightly less oily version of this (although it's sooo good... I have a hard time explaining it to my heart) I'll put it up here. Until then, here's a delicious way to start using whole wheat!

On a bit of a different note, I've been doing a bit of reasearch lately about food, and ways I can establish a healthier lifestyle in what we eat. We are pretty active, and we eat healthily, but I still feel like there's something wrong with the way we approach food, and the things we eat.

Just a quick note, my cousin Megan has an excellent blog where she talks about her struggles with her son Seth's autism, and her family's efforts to be all natural in an attempt to reverse his autism. I explain it terribly, but she is really doing an excellent job with her adorable kids, and it seems that her efforts are paying off with great improvements in Seth. If this rambling that I'm doing sounds interesting to you at all, you should definitely check out her blog (link is on the left- "Megan and Rhett") and see the neat things she's doing. The ideas she has compiled there have really gotten me thinking more, and have steered me a bit in this mini-quest.

Anyway, I found this book at Borders yesterday called Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. The idea behind the cook book, and way of eating that it encourages, is this:
We have had wonderful advances in technology that we have experienced over the last century, or even two centuries. However, the "improvements" we have made to the foods we eat by stuffing them full of refined sugar and grains, preservatives, and chemicals, really have not helped us at all, but instead hurt us. The author calls for a return to the traditional foods that our ancestors ate, and says that when we can again eat this way, we can help our bodies to be beautiful, strong, and healthy, and naturally prevent the many diseases that plague our country and world.

Personally, it makes sense to me. I am not one to make radical changes to anything, but this is the kind of thing I have been thinking in the back of my mind over the last few months. Why do I need to take vitamins for all the nutrients I don't get in my food? I eat plenty to be able to get all the right nutrients through my diet. Pioneers didn't have vitamins, or protein shakes, or fortified cereals. They had real food, and they were healthy.

Of course, I am definitely not advocating a complete abandonment of traditional medicine, because there are some great improvements to our health and many treatments of disease that most people cannot control with just food. But I do think that a traditional diet deserves a second, or even third look, and I am doing just that.

I really think that there's so much to learn about the world and how things work, and the best way to do that is to research it out with reputable sources, and see what makes sense to you. Maybe this is just a kick I'm on right now, but I think that there really is something to a diet that sustained mankind for thousands of years before we invented boxed meals and fat free ice cream. I just want to check it out more.

The book I'm reading is:


Check it out, if your interested in this at all. Also, if you have any insight or opinions about this, leave me a comment!