You are what you eat

Ending the juice fast

To make a long story short (or shorter, in any case), I ended the juice fast early. I did it for 7 days instead of 10.

(My reasons for discontinuing the daily blogging of the fast had nothing to do with becoming disenchanted with the fast or fearing that I wouldn't finish the ten days. Let's just say that sometimes life hands you a rough patch.)

The morning of Day Eight, I realized that I didn't want to continue, so . . .  I didn't.  I'd read, and heard, that the first few days were the hardest, but that wasn't true for me. The first few days were really easy, and at the halfway mark, I was confident that it would be a breeze to finish the 10 days.

What happened was that I craved protein and carbs. My first foods off the fast were a boiled egg and a bunch of peanut butter-spread saltines. My daughter laughed when I told her what I'd eaten after deciding to ditch the fast. "It figures" was what she said (more or less).

I have no regrets about starting the fast or about quitting early. I will do a juice fast again, because it really was good for me. I felt good while fasting, and I looked good. In the meanwhile, I'll be juicing regularly as part of my usual eating habits. And I do think that making an extreme departure from one's usual eating habits can kick-start a healthier way of eating--for some people, anyway. 

What I learned on the fast:

1. It's really important to put the pitcher at the end of the spout where the juice comes out of the machine. If you forget (say early in the morning when you're a little groggy), it's messy.
2. If you're going to go off caffeine, do it before you start the fast itself. I had to do it gradually because of vicious caffeine-withdrawal headaches. Take that possibility into consideration.
3. Mean Green is not only palatable, it grows on you, especially if you tamper a little with the ingredient  amounts and add a pinch of salt. Who knew liquefied kale could be so tasty?
4. In fact, vegetable juices overall are really underrated. They don't get the respect they deserve. I know that I used to be revolted by the very idea of carrot juice. I was an idiot. Raw juices are delicious and you can practically feel the vitality pouring into your body.
5. But overcoming the strangeness of smelling beets or spinach in your glass might take a little time. Stay with it, because you'll get over it.
6. A juice fast will not leave you weak, tired, and hungry. At least it didn't leave me that way.
7. A juice fast will have you trying fruits and veggies you may never have tried before.  And that's a good thing.
8. I started to crave protein around the end of Day Six. Not sure I can overcome that in future fasts. This is just my experience; I'm sure every experience with a juice fast is different. And I don't think omitting protein for the length of a brief fast has any ill effects. I'm talking about cravings only, not malnutrition.
9. I'm definitely not consigning the juicer to the basement or the closet. I love the raw juices and will continue to use the juicer. I've got a great track record when it comes to actually using the kitchen gadgets I buy, and this will be no exception.
10. A macerating juicer (the kind my daughter has) really is better than a centrifugal one (mine). However, for the money, I'm not sorry about my choice of juicer. Previously, the price of juicers only added to my reluctance to try the whole juicing thing. I may trade up in the future, though.
11. Having a compost pile is a great idea if you're going to juice regularly. Lots of trimmings, plus lots of pulp. Why let it go to waste?

So, if you've got the means, I'd really recommend juicing and a juice fast of whatever length. If you can afford it, juicing will ensure that you get the veggies your body needs (and probably craves, if you're eating the SAD [standard American diet] way). Vitamin supplements are all very well, and I take them myself, but they can't replace actual plants with all their micronutrients.

If you decide to take the plunge, I'd love to hear about your own experience. You can also join the Reboot Your Life community and see what others have to say, as well as check out what it's all about.

Bon appetit! 

 [cross-posted to View from the Loft]

Day Six: Halfway there

Five days down, five (including this one) to go.

Cynical thoughts. Dark thoughts.

If you're wondering whether I've considered that Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead--the film that started me juicing--is a marketing ploy, wonder no longer. Of course I've considered it. I mean, what a great way to sell juicers! Breville, the manufacturer of the juicer I eventually bought, is partnered with the film on film's website. For all I know, they may have helped fund the making of the movie.

It's almost impossible not to be interested in the phenomenon of juicing after you see the film and the incredible progress toward health on the part of Phil, a truck driver Joe stumbles upon at a truck stop. I really didn't know until a few days ago that cleansing and juicing are rather trendy. Well, I had heard from friends about "cleansing," but I was skeptical about it, and still am. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, juicing has also been big. I hadn't really thought much about it until I saw the documentary. I knew the raw-food people were into it, and alternative health gurus like Dr. Mercola and Mike Adams, but I didn't know it had gone beyond fringe status. If juicing hadn't found a larger foothold before Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, that film surely does the trick.

And Joe Cross, the filmmaker--what about him? He was a day trader, and he's now an investor. He makes a lot of money. Did he make a trustworthy film, or is it some kind of scam?

That's how I usually think when a wealthy individual is at the center of something. But it's kind of hard to maintain the attitude when you read Joe's own words, for example here and here. I urge you to follow those links to understand what the film is about and, perhaps, to understand a little about Joe himself.  

So, yeah, there's probably a marketing angle. I'd still recommend the film.

My other dark thoughts have to do with self-indulgence. It seems self-indulgent, buying a juicer, buying produce to juice. In the United States we have whole food deserts--residential areas where people have no access to fresh food--and here I am throwing good food into a juicer and, instead of eating the whole food, drinking the juice. Realistically speaking, this is a luxury that many Americans simply cannot afford. They can't afford the juicer itself, and they can't afford the fresh food that I cavalierly throw into the juicer. And if they do buy these foods, they would certainly use the whole vegetable or fruit. It would be wasteful not to.  

And yet. We know that people who can afford good food often don't choose to purchase it. The constant marketing of processed food, the advertising by fast-food chains, and the very ubiquity of that marketing and those chains have led Americans to some very poor food choices. Not only that, our palates have been trained to prefer junk food over real food.

I think that's why Joe Cross's drastic method works for people like Phil. Sometimes we're just not able to free ourselves of bad habits by doing what the medical establishment invariably recommends: eat a sensible diet, lose weight slowly, cut down on calories, eliminate junk food. Sometimes it's easier to do something so extreme that you don't even have to make the choices. I find that to be true, anyway. I'm on a juice fast, so solid food isn't even tempting because I've made that commitment. (Wine, on the other hand ...) Not only that, but this way, if you're not a vegetable eater, you're going to get your veggies regardless of how you feel about them. Most people know they should eat more plants, but what they want is a Big Mac and fries. Well, if you commit to a juice fast, the Big Mac isn't an option, and you are going to get your veggies in concentrated form. I wonder if doing the "reboot" helps to re-orient the palate toward the natural and away from the processed. Interesting question.

And then, variety. In my case, boredom alone with the few recipes that come from the film has made me experiment. I don't know if I've ever eaten fennel, but I juiced some yesterday, and it was good. Getting people to try vegetables and fruits they've never eaten can only be a good thing.

So, although I do feel uncomfortable with being part of something that feels so faddish, and I do feel uncomfortable with what smacks of self-indulgence, I'm going to finish out my fast and keep juicing afterward. It's such a great way to eat more vegetables, with their abundance of vitamins, antioxidants, and micronutrients whose significance we don't even yet know.

Dark thoughts, begone!

Yesterday's juices:

• orange, beet, carrot
• tomato, carrot, red bell pepper, parsley
• spinach, fennel, cucumber, celery

Over the hump. It's downhill from here!

[cross posted at View from the Loft]

Day Five

At the end of the day, I'll be halfway through my juice fast.

But I have a confession to make. Last night I gave into temptation and had not one but two glasses of wine with James. He'd opened a nice bottle, it was Friday night, and, well ...

I regret it. Alcohol is quite a toxin and certainly should never be imbibed while on a fast, especially one that purports to be detoxifying. It makes no sense.

But I learned something from this. Namely, I'm really feeling the toxicity thing. For the first time in I don't know when (not counting the cold I just had), I woke up in a fog, mind clouded and head not quite aching, but feeling like it might go there. I won't fall off the wagon again during this fast, I guarantee. I was feeling so good yesterday, all cold symptoms gone but an occasional dry cough, and then I did something stupid. Sigh. I'm really good at undermining myself.

At least I didn't make the all-caffeinated coffee I really, really wanted this morning. I stuck with the mostly-decaf. Next time I fast--if I do--I'll wean myself off the caffeine before the fast.

Anyway, before my tragic fall, it was off to the supermarket to replenish my supply of produce. This time I knew to get two bags of Granny Smiths, not one, and to buy lots of beets, not just a few. It turns out that I just love beets in a juice combo. Who knew? And lots of tomatoes. James wants to see how close we can get to V8 juice. I tell him it won't be the same, because the juice will be raw, not cooked, but he is undeterred and says he realizes that, but still. I'm hoping to get to the farmer's market today and see what I might get, including tomatoes. You can't have too many tomatoes.

I had a thought the other day about juice combinations: the Flavor Bible is my friend.  In this book, you can look up any ingredient and see what other ingredients taste good with it. Some of the combinations are rather surprising (cherries and garlic?). I've used the book to put salads together and to be sure that in my zest for experimentation I don't blunder into terrible flavor combinations. And now I've thought of using this book for juicing. It might suggest to me combinations I would otherwise not think of. And prevent me from wasting produce on disastrous concoctions.

We were talking yesterday about how strange it is to be drinking, say, kale juice, and how in the past the idea of going to a juice bar seemed laughably health-nuttish and extremely unappealing. See what a closed mind gets you? It makes you miss out on things.

Here are yesterday's juices:

• orange, carrot, and beet
• Green Lemonade (see Day Four)
• Mean Green (see Day Two)

If you're thinking that a juice fast would make you feel tired and weak, think again. I had lots of energy yesterday and was in great spirits, and I'm looking forward to accomplishing a lot this weekend.

And the beat goes on . , ,

[cross-posted to View from the Loft]

Day Four

And the experiment continues ...

I've been trying to find solid information about this whole business of cleansing and detoxing (particularly through fasting), and I can't find much that's useful. The usual suspects tell their usual stories: conventional medicine finds fasting dangerous and counterproductive and insists that our bodies regularly do all the detoxifying that's necessary, while alternative medicine lauds the idea of giving our bodies a good flushing out of all the toxins that supposedly build up.

As someone who's extremely skeptical of conventional medical voices, I'm not really scared by their dire warnings. Yes, on a fast one will not get proper nutrition insofar as there's not much protein, fat, or calcium intake, but for 10 days, I doubt that this matters much. No, fasting isn't for everyone. No, it's not something I think one should undertake for a long period of time (as in Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead) without supervision. The trouble is, where is this supervision to come from? Most conventional doctors will be against the whole idea and won't lend any support to such an undertaking.

It's true, too, that much of the weight loss with fasting is due to water loss. This is probably one reason for the advice to drink lots of water on the fast. (I know I've been losing water like crazy.) Conventional medicine warns also that on a fast, it's not fat that's lost, but "precious muscle." Really? On just a 10-day fast? I'm skeptical. Yes, for longer periods, that would be a concern, but for a short period? I've got quite a bit of fat for my body to draw on before it starts taking muscle.

I also understand that juice fasting isn't a good way to lose weight, especially for those who really need a long-term change in diet and in attitudes toward food. For me, doing a fast was a way to break out of a bad pattern of drinking alcohol nearly every day and occasionally bingeing on food. I never used to binge, but over the past couple of years have found myself doing so from time to time due to stress. I think that sometimes an interruption in one's usual routine is useful just to disrupt those patterns.

On the other hand, alternative medicine comes up short regarding scientific evidence for its claims. It's easy for people to believe they need to detoxify, given all the crap most of us ingest on a daily basis, not to mention pollutants and so on. But where's the scientific evidence? I will continue to Google but so far I've had no success finding evidence. Still, while it's true that the liver, kidneys, etc. are made for detoxifying the body, maybe if the body is overloaded these organs could use a little help. But again, where's the evidence?

One thing's for sure: a juice fast gets lots of veggies and fruit into a person. And that can make you aware of just what you've been missing, as well as the variety of produce out there. For me, the juicer means I'll be drinking fresh, not packaged (and pasteurized) juices. I can also see my having a green drink for lunch after I'm off the fast. These are things I'd not considered before my experiment, and they will be unquestionably healthy changes.

So I'm continuing, regardless of the argument over the usefulness of a juice fast.

Right now I'm sipping a glass of orange-carrot-beet juice. What a great way to get your veggies! Sure, I know we need the fiber, too, but it's nice to get the vitamins and phytonutrients so easily and with so little bulk. It can be a challenge to get as many veggies as we should, and this sure is an easy way to do it. And there is some soluble fiber even in the juices.

Yesterday James mentioned that it was strange not to have our usual routine around meals--his coming home to see me at the stove preparing dinner and so on. And I told him I missed cooking, too. He's been eating leftovers (the first couple of days) and simple things like salads with boiled egg and, last night, a quesadilla and refried beans that I made for him. I keep asking him what he'd like me to cook for the rest of the fast, and he keeps telling me he'll think about it. Sigh.

All in all, I haven't been suffering (I'm terrible at suffering. I avoid it). I'm sleeping okay (for me), I'm not having cravings, and I'm having fun trying out different combinations in the juicer. James tastes any I make if he's around, and even if they taste a bit out of the ordinary, says, "None of these has been bad."

Yesterday's juices:

• apple, pear, cherry, and a handful of leftover blueberries
• Green Lemonade (apple, spinach, kale, cucumber, celery, lemon)
• Salsa in a Glass (see Day Two) 
• All Green (lettuce, kale, spinach, parsley, celery, lemon, ginger)

Next time I'll add fresh mint to the Green Lemonade. I added half a green bell pepper to the "lemonade" and also to the Salsa in a Glass. Nice addition to both, although I should have increased the amount of tomato in the Salsa.

Time to go shopping for produce. This time I'm planning on some fruits I never buy, like mangos and papayas, to try out for breakfast juices. And I'll need two bags of Granny Smiths, not just one.

Till tomorrow ...

[cross posted on View from the Loft}

Day Three

So here I am, beginning Day Three of my experiment.

Except for a lingering lassitude, I seem to be just about over the cold I had yesterday. I don't credit the veggies and fruit for that--it's pretty much the way my immune system works. Of course, I'm sure the vitamin C I took in helped a bit.

Along with drinking orange juice, I made hibiscus tea yesterday and drank it over ice. Hibiscus, the main ingredient in Red Zinger tea, is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants and has been shown to lower blood pressure. It's very tart, so I added some stevia to it. No caffeine, no calories, and beneficial to boot. My blood pressure is on the high side and I would really like to avoid blood pressure medication. Yeah, I know: get some exercise!

I'm going to need to buy some more produce shortly. I'm going to try hard to stick with organic, although that's not always possible. If buying all-organic isn't possible for your budget, allocating your dollars to the organic variety of the "dirtiest" veggies and fruits--those that tend to be loaded with pesticides--is a good alternative. Especially on a juice fast, where the object is to detoxify your body, avoiding pesticides is a priority.

Here are the "dirty dozen" according to the USDA, Consumer Reports, and The Environmental Working Group:

• celery
• peaches
• strawberries
• apples
• blueberries
• nectarines
• bell peppers
• spinach
• cherries
• kale/collard greens
• potatoes
• grapes (imported)

Produce with the lowest levels of pesticide (the "clean fifteen") are these:

• onions
• avocados
• sweet corn
• pineapples
• mangoes
• sweet peas
• asparagus
• kiwis
• cabbage
• eggplant
• cantaloupes
• watermelons
• grapefruit
• sweet potatoes
• honeydew melons

Whether you're juicing or just trying to choose the best fruits and vegetables for your meals, being aware of what most needs to be purchased organic can help you avoid toxins without totally wrecking your budget. 

Of course, buying locally from organic gardeners and farmers, and buying in season, is always your best bet.

I didn't have any hunger pangs yesterday, possibly because my appetite was down due to the cold. I had only two juice drinks yesterday:

• orange, beet, and carrot
• orange, lemon, celery, tomato, red onion, and radish

I know--the second one looks weird. But it was actually very good. The onion really made the drink! I was just what I needed, feeling all clogged up with the darn cold. I didn't have any appetite around dinnertime so I just drank water.

I've now lost a bit over two pounds. I know that high-speed weight loss is not the answer to keeping the weight off. Usually keeping the weight off isn't a big deal for me, but a series of stressful events and situations pushed me (or I let myself fall) into some binge eating that really added the pounds (about ten) over the last couple of years. I also wanted to try "cleansing," which I've never done before and, frankly, have always been skeptical of. After seeing Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, though, I thought I'd give it a try.

Phil, from the documentary, advises people to stick with juicing for the first four days because around day four, any detox effects are gone and feeling good starts. I haven't really had any problems and at this point am feeling fairly confident that I can do this for ten days. I'm really enjoying experimenting with juice combinations and I'm loving the juices.

On with day three!

[cross-posted to View from the Loft]

Day Two

I'm beginning Day Two of the juice fast. Alas, I realized last night that I was coming down with a cold. I had that bodily fatigue that comes with a cold, plus a scratchy throat. I don't feel well this morning, but I hope my immune system does its usual thing and I'll be pretty much over it by tonight.

You might be thinking, "See what happens when you stop eating and go off on some cockamamie fad?" But I tend to think I'm ill because I was recently exposed to the cold virus.

There can be side effects to a juice fast, or even a reboot that follows a five-days-eating-veggies/fruit, five-days-fasting, five-days-eating-veggies/fruit pattern (seems to be the "standard" reboot). These side effects, to quote the Reboot FAQ, can include "fatigue, headache, low blood sugar, constipation or diarrhea, increased body odor or bad breath." Some people complain of light-headedness and even nausea. I've had none of these symptoms and don't expect any.

Some of those possible side effects are said to come from the body releasing toxins from where they are stored. I am not familiar enough with the science to know how true this is, but if it's true, I'm pretty confident I won't have any problems. I believe the side effects would be worse for people who eat the SAD way (standard American diet). At chez D'Arcy, we mostly avoid processed foods, don't eat fast food, buy organic when we can, and eat only grass-fed beef and the most humanely raised chicken we can find along with copious amounts of veggies. So I'm not starting out with a load of toxins in my system compared to a lot of Americans.  Well, except for groundwater pollution, ugly chemicals in the environment, etc.

On the other hand ... coffee and alcohol. I'm not supposed to have either on the fast, but the caffeine withdrawal headaches are so bad that I'm cutting down gradually. Today's pot of coffee was half regular, half decaf. I just can't face those severe headaches. As for alcohol, James opened a bottle of wine last night and I had a hard time staying on the wagon--I do love my wine. But I didn't have any, so score one for self-control. (A shout-out to friend Cindy, who promised to abstain along with me. Thinking of the promise we'd made to do this together really helped me say no!)

I admit I had hunger pangs yesterday. I made a glass of juice when that happened, and I drank a LOT of ice water as well to fill up the hollow spaces.

My juices yesterday were

• apple, pear, cherry, lime
• apple, spinach, kale, carrots, ginger root
• Salsa in a Glass (tomato, cucumber, lime, cilantro, with a dash of hot sauce added to the glass)
• Mean Green (30 oz. of juice from kale, celery, cucumber, apples, lemon, and ginger root)

I had intended to add another juice right before bed, but because of the onset of the cold, wasn't really hungry.

I think some of the juice ingredients must be diuretic because I had to get up three times during the night!

This morning I had an orange-beet-carrot combination. Delicious. James said it was weird to smell beets in your glass, and I agreed that it takes some getting used to--the raw taste as well as the aroma. Once past that, though, the flavors are so fresh and, in the case of this combination, naturally sweet.

I wasn't going to weigh myself every day but couldn't resist this morning. I lost 0.6 pounds since yesterday's pre-fast weigh-in. I won't lose weight as quickly as people who start out with more to lose, but a few pounds would be welcome.

Onward and upward!

[cross-posted to View from the Loft]

Me on a juice fast??

Yes, me on a juice fast.

It all started when my daughter told me about a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. (You can read her take on the film and juicing here, here, and here). I watched it on Netflix's instant play.

The documentary was inspiring and even, at times, moving. To see Phil--morbidly obese, dependent on medications, lethargic, and depressed and despairing because of his poor overall health--transformed into an energetic, healthy person who no longer needs medication is quite compelling.  No, I don't have his health problems or his weight problem, but most of us could use a little boost from time to time, and if a side benefit is to shave off a few pounds, so much the better.

I've often thought of buying a juicer, but the expense put me off, as well as the worry that if I did spend the money, I wouldn't actually use the machine. But at the website connected to the film I found a juicer that's actually quite affordable, and I thought to myself that I could do a juice fast every so often throughout the year just to drop some pounds and some toxins and perhaps revitalize myself. That's called a "reboot" by the filmmaker. And it appealed to me. Making fresh fruit and vegetable juices part of my regular diet also appealed to me.

The juicer I went with isn't the best kind of juicer, but it didn't cost hundreds of dollars and it's going to suit me just fine. I'm not even going to get into the types of juicers available; you can Google that yourself if you're interested.

My Breville juicer arrived yesterday, so the spouse and I made a trip to the supermarket for produce. We bought a slew of it: oranges, limes, apples, pears, cherries, carrots, spinach, kale, ginger, parsley, cilantro, carrots, tomatoes, radishes, beets, celery, cucumbers, bell peppers, and a watermelon (I'm probably forgetting something). My husband is not joining me on the juice fast, but I have a feeling he will benefit considerably just from having so many veggies around. I told him I'd cook for him but it would be mostly vegetables accompanied by simply prepared protein of some sort. He's cool with that.

I started off this morning with fruit juice. (There's a juice constantly in evidence in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead known as "Mean Green," but I'm working my way up to that one.) Breakfast  was juice made from an apple, a pear, haf a lime, and about a dozen cherries. It was delicious. Midmorning I had a carrot-kale-spinach-apple-ginger concoction and it too was tasty. It's something of a jolt to put all that bulk into the machine and end up with only two cups of juice. Makes you understand that the only way to get lots of phytonutrients and significant protein is by juicing, as no one could eat enough of the raw, fiber-filled veggies to ingest the amounts concentrated in the juice.

I'll be writing about my experience--the first time I've tried any kind of fast--here and cross-posting to View from the Loft. If you're at all interested, at least you can see how one person's juice fast goes.  

Easiest bread ever

[Short version: Basically, what you do is mix up the bread dough--which, by the way, is a much wetter dough than in conventional bread recipes--and let it sit on your kitchen counter for 12 to 18 hours. Then you fold it a couple of times, using enough flour to be able to handle the dough, and let it sit for 15 minutes. After that, you let it rise for two hours, and then you bake it for about an hour in a pre-heated covered pot. I mix it up in the afternoon or before I go to bed and bake it the next morning. Very convenient.]

I admit it: I'm late to the party when it comes to no-knead (or no-work) bread. The technique was developed by Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery and made famous in 2006 by Mark Bittman, who wrote about it in the New York Times and included it in his How to Cook Everything. And that's where I found it, so that's the recipe that follows.

There are lots of sites on the Internet about no-knead bread--just Google--but I wanted to put this up on my blog because I figured my friends might be more likely to run into the concept here than elsewhere. Also, I wanted to include photos of the various stages of the process so readers would realize that what they're making in the kitchen looks exactly as it should look.

Making bread this way is almost as easy and foolproof as making bread in a machine, but the result is many times better. The finished loaf is like artisan bread, with a very holey crumb (the part of the bread that's not crust) and a crisp yet chewy crust. I was amazed the first time I made this bread. The recipe is pretty nigh failure proof.

I've tried both bread flour and all-purpose flour, and I prefer the all-purpose flour. I use King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour and get excellent results. I have yet to try replacing some of the flour with whole wheat flour, but will do so the next time I bake a loaf.

You will need a lint-free kitchen towel (not terrycloth, obviously) and a covered 3- or 4-quart pot. I use a cast iron dutch oven, but you can use enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic, as long as you have a nicely fitting cover. At first I was worried that my pot might not be adequately seasoned, in which case the bread might stick, so I cut out a circle of parchment paper for the bottom. The other day I completely forgot the parchment paper and the bread didn't stick at all, so I've dispensed with that. I read on the Internet somewhere that letting the bread dough rise in a bowl would make for a higher loaf; if the dough rises on the counter, it will spread out, while the bowl will keep it from doing that. I'm not sure it really makes a difference, but i've been letting my dough rise in a towel-lined bowl-shaped basket. I find it easier to dump the dough into the pot using the bowl.

These are the ingredients:

4 cups flour
scant 1/2 tsp. instant yeast (bread machine yeast)
2 tsp. salt
2 cups water
cornmeal or whole wheat flour

Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and stir until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky.

 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough just rest for 12 to 18 hours. The longer it sits, the more the flavor develops, but you can even shorten the time to 8 hours.

When you're ready to deal with it, this will be what it looks like:

 

See how it's risen? See all the bubbles? That yeast has been working all night long.

Now flour your work surface. I use a silicone pastry sheet for all my bread adventures, because the stickiness factor is minimized. But with this dough, it's still sticky. For a cutting board or countertop, use a lot of flour. Flour your hands and even sprinkle some over the dough. I use a spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the surface. Don't be dismayed by the softness and stickiness. This is what makes the bread good. At this point you want to fold the dough over a couple of times, sprinkle with flour, and then cover loosely with plastic wrap. The flour is so the plastic doesn't stick.

 

Doesn't look like much, does it?

Let it sit for 15 minutes.

Now, using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, shape the dough into a ball. It's not much of a ball, really, as it's so soft, but do your best. Sprinkle the cotton, lint-free towel with cornmeal or whole wheat flour (some people use plain white flour, but I haven't had as good luck with that). Put the ball of dough, seam-side down (if you can detect a seam, which I usually can't, really), on the towel on your work surface. Dust with more cornmeal or flour and cover with another cotton towel or some more plastic wrap. Let rise for two hours.

Someone on the Internet recommended using a bowl for the two-hour rise, and I've adopted this method.

 

If my basket were completely non-stick, I'd dispense with the towel, but it isn't. The above photo shows the dough nearly finished with the rising time.

One hour into the rise time, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place your pot, with cover, in the oven.

When the two hours are up, it's time to carefully remove the hot pot from the oven, remove the lid, and dump the dough into the pot. This is one reason I like the bowl: I just hang onto the towel at the sides of the bowl and hold it upside down over the pot. If you are picking up the bread in a towel and dumping it, topside down, into the pot, it's a bit messier, but it really doesn't matter. Everything evens out in the baking.

Here's the dough, covered with flour, in the pot:

 

Now cover your pot and place it the oven. Bake it covered for 30 minutes, then uncover the pot and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes. You can pretty much count on it taking the whole 60 minutes, and 
even then some. Don't be afraid of the crust darkening in places.

This loaf really should have baked a bit longer. I find that 65 minutes is often just fine. I run a thin spatula (heat-proof rubber or a narrow metal spatula) around the outside of the loaf before turning it upside down onto a wire cooling rack.

 

Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before you slice the bread. i recommend longer, as it's a bit tricky to slice when it's under a couple of hours old.

Here's what the bread looks like when you cut it open:

 

The crust retains its texture if you simply place the cut side of the bread down on a cutting board or other flat surface. It will keep for a couple of days this way.

This is so easy to make that I've been doing it a couple of times a week. My book group seemed to like it, and I hope they'll try it at home. People are always impressed by homemade bread, and this seems like some kind of hard-to-create artisan bread. I'm going to start adding ingredients, too, like Parmesan and herbs and other flours.

Bon appetit!

 

 

 

This sounds appetizing: meat glue

Meat glue: it's what's for dinner!

It may well be, as meat glue--transglutaminase--is used to make fake steak, sausage and hot dogs, imitation crab, fish balls, and, I suspect (but don't know for sure) chicken nuggets.

What is transglutaminase?

TG is an enzyme that catalyzes covalent bonds between free amine groups in a protein, like lysine, and gamma-caroxminid groups, like glutamine. These bonds are pretty durable and resist degradation once the food has been formed.

In other words, it's a very strong glue. The enzyme comes from pig or cow blood, but if it's in your food, you probably won't know it, as there is no labeling requirement. If it's on the label at all, it will be as "composite meat product," so you might want to read those labels.

Watch the video to get an idea of how it works. For a "steak," say, you sprinkle the meat glue over chunks of meat, roll them up tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, you've got a roll of meat that can be sliced into filet mignon-type "steaks." Notice, in the video, that the butcher and the reporter wear masks as the TG is sprinkled onto the meat. That's because they don't want to risk thrombosis.

Meat glue has recently been approved by the EU. Plenty of consumers are outraged by the decision, which reverses the EU's previous stance.

Many people, however, not only have no problem with TG, but wholeheartedly embrace it. Nils Noren and Dave Arnold, who author the high-tech food blog Cooking Issues, are enthusiastic about it. Innovative, avant-garde chefs experiment with it, producing such things as pasta made almost entirely out of shrimp. With meat glue, you can take different types of fish and meld them together for a new kind of fillet, or different kinds of meat for a "mixed grill."

Over at BoingBoing, Maggie Koerth-Baker and her commenters wax enthusiastic about the stuff. Commenters have used it to make turkey confit and to glue bacon and scallops together. Also coming in for praise on the blog is the idea of not wasting any meat--making what was previously un-sellable attractive and sellable.

After all, humans have long used meat scraps and the less aesthetically appealing parts of the animal in head cheese, blood sausage (black pudding), and the like. Someone on BoingBoing mentioned how native Americans used every part of the buffalo.

I can see the point, but unless I have a guarantee that the meat comes from grass-fed beef without antibiotics or hormones, I myself would rather not eat certain scraps. Organ meats in CAFO animals are notorious for their concentrated toxins.

Also, there is a much higher risk of food poisoning with "steaks" made with meat glue. As microbiologist Glenn Pener points out in the video linked above, “The amount of bacteria on a steak that’s been put together with meat glue is hundreds of time higher.” Why? Because scraps of meat put together feature bits that were on the outside--where bacteria can gather--but now have surfaces on the inside, where it's hard to get rid of them through cooking. Think about grilling a real steak. Bacteria on the outside will be killed by cooking, but if you're eating your steak somewhat on the rare side, that inner meat doesn't cook as much. Which is fine, because (especially after dry-aging) the inside of the meat is a lot safer. But a patched-together "steak" has lots of exterior (think beef stew meat) that becomes interior. Those previously exterior pieces are hard to cook thoroughly. For this reason, restructured steak should, according to the Wiki entry, always be cooked well-done. I doubt that it always is, though.

And finally, consumers should feel insulted by the deception going on. Inferior meats can be sold as if they were premium cuts: good for profits. Along with such things as surimi and restructured steak, one of the uses for meat glue listed in the Wiki entry is

Improving the texture of low-grade meat such as so-called "PSE meat" (pale, soft, and exudative meat, whose characteristics are attributed to stress and a rapid postmortem pH decline).

(Before leaving the uses for transglutaminase, I should point out that "meat glue" is something of a misnomer, as TG is also sometimes used in noodles and in milk and yogurt.)

I really resent the deception employed by the meat industry. There's no end to it: gas-injected packaging to keep meat red; water injection to make it plumper, heavier (pay by the pound, remember?), and better looking; pink slime in ground beef; and now I learn about meat glue.

I also tend toward plain cooking (Mark Bittman is my hero) with natural ingredients, and meat glue doesn't fit into my food philosophy at all. But hey, if meat glue sounds like something you'd like to try in your own kitchen, you can buy some through Amazon!

Maple syrup: all sweeteners are not created equal

As I've written elsewhere, we're lucky enough to have three maple syrup producers within a five-mile radius of our home. We've been buying the local syrup since we moved here, and we will never again insult our tongues with the likes of Log Cabin, Aunt Jemima, or Mrs. Butterworth. Nothing can compare to real maple syrup, and it's a joy to support the local producers.

So I was happy to learn that researchers at the University of Rhode Island have discovered 54 different beneficial compounds in maple syrup. 

"I continue to say that nature is the best chemist, and that maple syrup is becoming a champion food when it comes to the number and variety of beneficial compounds found in it," Seeram said. "It's important to note that in our laboratory research we found that several of these compounds possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which have been shown to fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses."

Inflammation has been implicated in many chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, some types of cancer, and Alzheimier's. Maple syrup phenolics, which are anti-oxidant compounds, inhibit certain enzymes that contribute to diabetes. Ironic, isn't it? A sweetener that contains anti-diabetes compounds.

The researchers also found five compounds in the syrup that do not occur in nature. This sounds somewhat ominous, but again, the compounds are beneficial to humans. They are produced in the process of boiling down the sap.

The only fly in the ointment is that the research was financially supported by the Canadian maple syrup industry. I don't know about you, but I get suspicious when those who would benefit from positive findings underwrite scientific research that results in positive findings.

Still, I find a parallel between maple syrup and honey. Honey contains anti-oxidants and several nutrients (sugar has none). These two natural sweeteners seem far preferable to refined sugar.

No one, least of all the researchers, is proposing that we all consume gallons of syrup. Too much sugar, in whatever form, is bad for your health. But if you're going to eat pancakes, eat them with maple syrup.