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