Three thousand words on homemade bread, and I’m almost in tears. Bread and pie crusts were the first two foods my grandmother taught me to make. I really, really loved making homemade bread and pies, but had to give it up about ten years ago because my gut decided to suddenly no longer love it as much as my tastebuds. I’m told by numerous internal medicine doctors it was causing leaky gut, wreaking my immune system and is more powerful than sugar for bringing on pre-diabetes. I still don’t know for sure if all that’s true, but I reluctantly gave up all grains anyway. It’s crazy, but I still have over five pounds of homemade dehydrated sourdough yeast in my pantry, though I’m not sure if it’s still capable of activating. I don’t throw it out because, well, I’m not really sure. I just can’t. It probably has something to do with missing my late grandmother, which some Zoloft-prescribing shrink would tell me. If only I could find a way to enjoy sourdough bread again. It’s truly the simplest luxuries like making homemade bread and sharing it with people you love that makes life so wonderful, which makes me start thinking of all the intentionally-starved peoples of the world, like the millions suffering so much in Palestine, and the ultra-wealthy war profiteers responsible and how bloody soulless, selfish-terrible they really are. Great thought-provoking article.
Add 1.5 cups + 1 tablespoon of cold or tepid water.
Use a flexible spatula to make a "shaggy" dough.
Cover with plastic wrap and put a tea towel over the bowl.
Leave for 8 hours or more, or overnight.
To bake:
Pre heat oven to 500F.
Line the dutch oven with parchment paper.
Remove the parchment paper and put the empty dutch oven in the heated oven for at least 30 minutes.
Use 2 tablespoons of flour in conjunction with the spatula to release the risen dough from the stainless bowl.....I give the bowl a bit of a swirl so a nice ball of dough.
Tip the dough into the patchment paper......I use a colander to hold the paper.
Clean the stainless bowl and put the parchment paper containing dough into the bowl, cover it and wait at least 30 minutes before putting it carefully into the now very hot dutch oven, which goes back in the oven for 35 minutes or so.
After 35 minutes remove the dutch oven lid and bake for 5 or 10 minutes.
Remove dutch oven from oven,
Remove loaf by carefully picking up the edges of the parchment paper.....I put it it in the previously mentioned colander to cool.
Really appreciate your curation of current events and to know that you are a baker as well as a music connoisseur.
I look forward to the day when baking and music are more prominent on your Substack than reports on religious mania inspired genocide.
I personally think that while Gaza real estate..... "Beach villas for rich Israelis" may be a factor in this catastrophe, the huge oil and gas reserves beneath Gaza and the Eastern Mediterranean are the real motive. A Palestinian state with such potential wealth would be anathema to Israel.
BTW, I'm experimenting with vegan biscotti recipes if you are interested.
Three thousand words on homemade bread, and I’m almost in tears. Bread and pie crusts were the first two foods my grandmother taught me to make. I really, really loved making homemade bread and pies, but had to give it up about ten years ago because my gut decided to suddenly no longer love it as much as my tastebuds. I’m told by numerous internal medicine doctors it was causing leaky gut, wreaking my immune system and is more powerful than sugar for bringing on pre-diabetes. I still don’t know for sure if all that’s true, but I reluctantly gave up all grains anyway. It’s crazy, but I still have over five pounds of homemade dehydrated sourdough yeast in my pantry, though I’m not sure if it’s still capable of activating. I don’t throw it out because, well, I’m not really sure. I just can’t. It probably has something to do with missing my late grandmother, which some Zoloft-prescribing shrink would tell me. If only I could find a way to enjoy sourdough bread again. It’s truly the simplest luxuries like making homemade bread and sharing it with people you love that makes life so wonderful, which makes me start thinking of all the intentionally-starved peoples of the world, like the millions suffering so much in Palestine, and the ultra-wealthy war profiteers responsible and how bloody soulless, selfish-terrible they really are. Great thought-provoking article.
What a refreshing article contrasting with the doom and gloom pieces of an empire in decline, using satraps and proxies, as it crashes in flames.
I make a cob loaf every 2 or 3 days.
It nourishes the body and spirit and is easy on the wallet.
Allow me to share my recipe, adapted
2.5 cups flour
O.5 cup ground flax seed
Sorry 'bout that....
I'll start again.
In a largish stainless steel bowl put:
1 scant teaspoon of instant yeast.
1 scant teaspoon of salt
2.5 cups of flour
0.5 cup of ground flax seed
Mix well and make a well in the centre
CT
Add 1.5 cups + 1 tablespoon of cold or tepid water.
Use a flexible spatula to make a "shaggy" dough.
Cover with plastic wrap and put a tea towel over the bowl.
Leave for 8 hours or more, or overnight.
To bake:
Pre heat oven to 500F.
Line the dutch oven with parchment paper.
Remove the parchment paper and put the empty dutch oven in the heated oven for at least 30 minutes.
Use 2 tablespoons of flour in conjunction with the spatula to release the risen dough from the stainless bowl.....I give the bowl a bit of a swirl so a nice ball of dough.
Tip the dough into the patchment paper......I use a colander to hold the paper.
Clean the stainless bowl and put the parchment paper containing dough into the bowl, cover it and wait at least 30 minutes before putting it carefully into the now very hot dutch oven, which goes back in the oven for 35 minutes or so.
After 35 minutes remove the dutch oven lid and bake for 5 or 10 minutes.
Remove dutch oven from oven,
Remove loaf by carefully picking up the edges of the parchment paper.....I put it it in the previously mentioned colander to cool.
Great with peanut butter and jam.
https://www.amazon.ca/photos/share/GaALhFbJP0PCeV2RBvvu7I1PPTI6J1Q4e4XdTgUkQNB
Thank you.
Your bread looks delicious.
I hope you do not mind that I added the picture to the end of the article.
Not at all!
Really appreciate your curation of current events and to know that you are a baker as well as a music connoisseur.
I look forward to the day when baking and music are more prominent on your Substack than reports on religious mania inspired genocide.
I personally think that while Gaza real estate..... "Beach villas for rich Israelis" may be a factor in this catastrophe, the huge oil and gas reserves beneath Gaza and the Eastern Mediterranean are the real motive. A Palestinian state with such potential wealth would be anathema to Israel.
BTW, I'm experimenting with vegan biscotti recipes if you are interested.
recipes,
https://drillingcontractor.org/noble-energy-makes-discoveries-in-deepwater-gulf-of-mexico-eastern-mediterranean-27090
Thanks very much for this enriching post.
Here is a recipe for a type of bread I love to make with our garden harvests:
https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/popped-amaranth-triple-berry-banana?