Something About Bread

Nice Buns

There is something so pure, primal and nourishing about baking bread. Yet, most of us don’t know how. I was thoroughly intimidated by the notion of baking anything until about a year ago when a documentary put a bun in my oven. I’ve since figured some things out…not in pursuit of baking skills, but in pursuit of an ancient experience and simple sustenance that I feel I am entitled to.

How many generations back would we have to go to have our foremothers engage us in the experience of grinding wheat, nurturing an inherited sourdough culture, kneading with our palms and knuckles, smelling the comfort of bread baking, and consuming the earth and air through a chunk of warm bread smeared with fresh butter? There’s a reason its been called our daily bread.

When bread is prepared old-style, our bodies are easily able to digest and extract its valuable nutrients. I’m no expert, but I suffered years of gluten intolerance before discovering that our modern-day commercial yeast, which shortcuts the original (slower) sourdough fermentation process, is to blame. This was an experiential discovery; I felt the difference.  Furthermore, I continue to feel healthy and vibrant eating the bread I bake as a matter of routine each day. And about the elephant-in-the-room question…

One of the most common questions that I get asked about the wonderful foods I encourage people to enjoy, is whether it will make them gain weight. No, I did not gain weight by reintroducing bread as a daily food staple in it is not likely to have that effect on you either. Like with all real, whole, natural foods – unprocessed or minimally processed honoring the most natural methods (sourdough), fresh baked sourdough bread is fulfilling! I’m not left hungry because my body is able to absorb the nutrients effectively from this real food. I believe the sage teachers of our day who propose that it’s very difficult to overeat real, whole foods because they actually fulfill us. The wise ones also remind us that when we prepare our own food from whole ingredients we can relax our overly strict and fear-of-fat based “food rules” knowing that our meal production will naturally align our quantity of food intake. In other words, if you want to eat cookies and French fries every day for 9 days straight, go right on ahead my friend, but bake those cookies from scratch using whole grain organic flour and unprocessed evaporated cane sugar and rich dark chocolate and whole milk butter churned on a local farm, etc. Oh, and hand cut your potatoes (bonus if you grew them) and fry them in organic peanut oil and salt them with fresh ground sea salt full of its source minerals.

The point is that when we prepare our foods the old-style, simple ways, we benefit in every way and our modern “health problems” self-correct! The World Health Organization has for years been clear with us that over 80% of our widespread chronic health problems can be prevented by doing three simple things: eating better, moving more, and not using tobacco. Google it. What’s to figure out!? Are the solutions too simple to catch our eye?

There is a difference between simplicity and convenience. Simplicity is elegant and effective. Convenience is lazy and greedy. Simplicity is slow and savory. Convenience is fast and cheap. Simplicity was celebrated by the late, great Albert Einstein. I’m with him. Well, actually I’m with her. But if Albert was alive…

I want my life simple; I want my bread simple. I want others to physically feel the ease and pleasure of feeding our bodies simply.

This morning before work and while getting my kid off to school, I mixed extra sourdough starter, grated zucchini, evaporated cane sugar (unprocessed), an egg, dark chocolate chips, baking soda, vanilla extract, cashew milk, and buckwheat flour in a big bowl – no measurements, just by sight until it looked like a pourable batter and tasted good – and baked in a muffin tin on 350 until golden brown. Bam. Yum. Score. Simple. Healthy.

Why was it simple? Because those ingredients are my staple foods; everything was handy when I had a whim. Because I was detached from whether the outcome would be “just right” according to some recipe. Because I have learned that I am entitled to eat things that taste and feel good and that my choices are driven by a primal force to nurture myself, having nothing to do with “will-power.” Because most I have accepted that dis-ease in the body is preventable so I’ve taken responsibility for my health back from the massively profit-driven processed food and pharmaceutical industries.

• If you are interested in baking bread, read Baking Old-world Style.
• If you are baffled by how to start and care for a sourdough culture read My PetSourdough Starter, Claudia.
• If you want to learn how to cook and eat simply, with ease and pleasure – check out my group classes under services at www.heatherdiamondhealth.com.
• If you want positive and useful resources, updates, insights and information, find me on social media (Instagram @heatherdiamondhealth and FB @hdhtallahassee and Heather Diamond).

HDH…specializing in the change process, helping busy women make healthy changes, and bringing ease and pleasure to the kitchen.