Bread - Shaping The Loaf

So, now you know my recipe for Bread of Biblical Proportions.  But what about some of the finer points of working that dough.  I'm talking about shaping the loaf.  My loaf shaping skills are a work in progress, but here's a pictorial overview of the basic steps mentioned in the recipe above.

Under wraps.

Unwrapped.

Dump.

Dough.

Stretch out...

...and fold in.  Round 1.

Round 2.

Round 3.

Round 4.

Round 5.

Round 6.

Round 7.

The home stretch...

...and round 8.

Scrunch.

The flip.

Dust & rub.

Onto the slider/peel.

Time to make a mark.

Criss-

Cross.

Score!

The flop.  Yeah, still working on that one.

Lid on.

Bake: the first 20 minutes.

Bake: lid off for the next 60 minutes.

Done!

Rustique.

Tasty.

Bread of Biblical Proportions

If you're gonna eat bread, why not eat healthy bread?  And if you're looking for a healthy recipe, you can't go wrong with the one found in the old testament.

"...take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself..."  Ezekiel 4:9 (NAS)

Many iterations of this recipe have been developed over time, both commercially and by home bakers around the world.  Some folks have shown interest in the way I make my bread.  Here you go.  The only thing I don't have in this recipe is millet, but only because I haven't made the effort to buy some to play with.

Note that this recipe makes a big loaf of bread.  Over 5 lbs when finished.  If you prefer a smaller loaf, you may want to experiment with reduced quantities to make less dough, or divide this dough produced by this recipe into multiple loaves.

Equipment

• Flour mill, electric or otherwise.  We use an old-school Whisper Mill.  I'm sure there are others that will do the job.  If you don't have access to a flour mill, you may be able to find most or all of the ingredients pre-ground from boutique millers like Bob's Red Mill.
• Kitchen mixer, electric.  Of course, you can always knead your dough by hand.  My mother made bread this way throughout my childhood, and it always looked like a terrific workout (read, a lot of work).  In our kitchen today, we use a Bosch Universal - also old-school - but I'm sure your Kitchenaid will work just fine.
• Measuring cups & spoons.  I use a big 4-cup Pyrex cup to mix the water/honey solution, but you can probably do it in a mixing bowl.
• An electronic food scale.  Why do I use an electronic food scale to measure ingredients instead of cup measures?  Because Alton Brown said so.
• A big, non-porous bowl for the rise.  My mom used plastic.  I use stainless steel.  Either works.
• A big, cast iron Dutch or French oven (i.e. pot), enameled or otherwise, with matching lid.
• A big oven peel/slider.

Dry Stuff

• Measure 3 tbsp iodized salt and set it aside.  Why iodized?  Meh, why not.
• Measure 3 tbsp active dry yeast and set it aside.
• Measure 500g of unbleached white bread flour and set it aside.  Now, you may wonder how on earth they can derive white flour without the use of bleach.  I have no clue.  The mysteries of modern milling.
• Measure out the Ezekiel blend, which consists of 500g hard white wheat berries (others will probably work, but this is what they have at the local Costco); 250g farro; 150g pearled barley; 100g spelt; 50g lentils; 25g pinto beans; and 25g great northern beans.  1100g total.  Grind in the flour mill medium fine and set aside.
• Keep a couple tablespoons of cornmeal handy, and a bit of extra flour, for the loaf shaping stage.

Regarding salt:  don't forget it.  Why?  Because life is fleeting, and if you forget the salt, you will waste your hours producing a brick of roughage so tasteless you wouldn't offer it to a tiresome houseguest.

Regarding flour:  experiment!  The Ezekiel & flour blend above is the result of my own experimentation in the kitchen, where I've played mainly with the proportions of wheat to non-wheat grains.  You may want to try all processed bread flour, or all ground wheat flour.  Try changing the proportions of the non-wheat grains, or excluding them altogether.  Try adding the millet to the mix, or some other grain you have access to.  Try changing the proportions of dry-to-wet ingredients.  Make it your own!  Have fun!

Just don't forget the salt.

Wet Stuff

• Measure 100g (1/2 cup) olive oil and set it aside.  Don't be cheap.  Use the good stuff.
• Measure 960g (4 cups) of warm water, approximately 120 deg F (50 deg C).
• Measure 120g (1/2 cup) honey; stir it into the warm water and let it dissolve.

It may be possible to omit the honey and oil, and make up the difference with water.  I've never tried it so I don't know what would result.  In theory, one can bake bread with flour, leaven, water, and salt, so it should be possible.  Maybe someday when I'm feeling particularly lucky I'll give it a try.

Mixing Stuff

• Dump the water/honey solution into the mixing bowl; stir in the yeast and let it sit for a couple minutes.
• Add the white flour, whisk to incorporate, cover and let sponge for 10 minutes.  If it doesn't look "alive", add 1 tbsp more yeast into a cup of lukewarm water, incorporate into the sponge mix, and let sit for 10 more minutes.
• Once the sponge has sponged, turn on the mixer (use a dough hook) and add the salt (!), the oil, and the Ezekiel flour.  Mix for 8-10 minutes.  Voila:  bread dough.

Rising Stuff

• Lightly oil the big bowl, and dump the dough into it.  Turn it over once or twice, making sure the whole surface of the dough is oiled.  This is important, for reasons that will become clear the first time you forget to do it.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it somewhere cozy.  Let it rise for an hour.
• Turn the dough gently in the bowl, deflating it and turning it in on itself before flipping it in the bowl.  Let rise a second time for 45 minutes.  Around this time, turn on the oven (with the cook-pot & lid inside) to 500 degrees F.
• After the second rise, dust the counter with some flour, turn out the dough onto the floured surface, and shape the loaf: pretend the blob of dough is a stop sign, and take each of the 8 'corners' (use your imagination) one at a time, gently stretch them outward, and fold them back into the center of the blob.  Once you've got all eight, squeeze 'em all together.  You've effectively 'tightened' the bottom surface of the dough, which, after you turn it over, will become the top of the loaf, but not until you...
• Sprinkle some cornmeal onto a flat peel/slider, and place the shaped loaf onto the peel, 'tight' side up.  Rub the top of the loaf with some flour, cover with a towel, and let rise for 15-20 minutes.

Baking Stuff

• Once the oven and cook-pot are hot and the loaf has risen, slide the loaf off the peel and into the pot (easier said than done), score the top of the loaf, put the lid on the pot, and slide the whole thing back into the oven.  Turn the heat down to 450 degrees F and set timer for 20 minutes.
  CAUTION: the pot & lid are HOT, and will burn you without remorse or empathy if given the chance.
• When the timer rings, remove the lid and set the timer for 60 minutes.
• When the timer rings again, turn the loaf (hot!) onto a cooling rack, and give the bottom a knock.  If it doesn't sound done, pop it back into the oven for a bit.  Once it sounds done, hey way to go - you made bread!

Enjoy.

Regarding the whole pot & lid thing: Tartine Bread.  I got this idea from a book thus named, wherein the author describes this process of using a heavy pot & lid in lieu of traditional open loaf pans.  The lid serves to trap moisture in with the loaf for the first few minutes of the bake, which allows the surface of the loaf to remain elastic while the loaf finishes rising and takes its final shape in the loaf pan.  I'm not exactly sure why this is so important, but I love the results (crust!), so I keep doing it.

Stay tuned, and I'll post some pictures of the loaf shaping and baking stages.

Live Dangerously

"All men dream, but not equally.  Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was all vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible."  T.E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

People are dreamers, but too often we kid ourselves about our dreams.  We tell ourselves "If only" and "It's too big" and "I could never."  "Life is what it is," we say.  "Too late to change things now."

"It's Impossible."  With a capital "I".

But every day we don't take the path less traveled is a lost opportunity.  See, the "Impossible" is seldom actually impossible.  Usually it means "improbable" and is accompanied by the discomfort of the unknown, and the suspicion that it's going to be a lot of work to make it happen.  Challenging?  Yes.  Impossible?  No.

Take my friend Jon.  Early on, he knew he wanted to be a missionary.  He went to school, got the training, married a like-minded woman, and together they equipped themselves to follow this calling.  Then he took a pastoral position in a church, they settled in, had four kids, and began to think that the dream was over.  I mean, is it really responsible to take your kids overseas like that?  Then, while on a short-term mission trip to Bolivia, Jon met a missionary.  This man had a wife and five kids.  In Bolivia.  Jon had a heart-to-heart with his wife, and together they did some serious soul searching.  Today they're missionaries in Prague.  Czech Republic, baby!

Or my friend Luke.  He and his wife were born and raised in the USA, yet somehow they seem to have English souls.  They just spent the holidays in London.  Why?  They love the UK!  So much so that they're considering the prospect of moving there, if only temporarily.  It's too early to tell if their plans will pan out, as they still have some petty logistics to work out - things like visas and money and food and shelter.  Time will tell.  I hope they make it.

"I get a lot of email from people who say that this is their dream, but that their situation prevents them from doing it themselves.  These people are fooling themselves and wasting their opportunity.  Imagine you're 90 years old with terminal cancer.  Now would you have done it?  Because in a blink of an eye you're going to be 90 years wondering where your whole life went."  - Brad van Orden, author of Drive Nacho Drive, in an interview with Overland Journal

For some, "Impossible" might involve vast landscapes with names like Everest, or Patagonia, or heck, the moon.  For most of us, "Impossible" is likely to be a little closer to home.  Lose weight.  Run a seven-minute mile.  Travel more.  Move to a different country.  Write a book.  Go back to school.  Start a new career.  Create a new life.

For my wife and I, our "Impossible" began the day I gave my two weeks notice back in August, 2012.  Today, my lovely wife Stacy brings home the bacon while she trains for a marathon, and I homeschool our son, and get to ride my bike pretty much whenever I want.

"This row across the Atlantic Ocean will create memories that you will take to your grave.  The dolphins, the sharks, the storms, the struggles - it's all priceless.  Your years of work will all blur into one another.  But this year won't.  Believe me, forty years down the road, you're not going to kick yourself for having rowed across an ocean."  - Julie Angus, author of Rowboat In A Hurricane

As our life unfolds, what used to appear to be "impossible" has become our "normal."  Then a funny thing starts to happen.  New dreams arise, new goals appear on the horizon.  Ultra-marathon?  Tour Divide?

Impossible?  Time will tell.

In the mean time, we live a life with no regrets.

What's your "Impossible" dream?  Live dangerously.

Breaking Bad [Habits]

I read a fascinating book recently.  It's called "The Power Of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.  Duhigg posits that our lives are effectively run by a bunch of habits.  Then he breaks down how a habit works and examines its components:

• the cue, 
• the routine, and 
• the reward.  

A person gets stressed (cue), smokes a cigarette (routine), and gets a hit of nicotine (reward).
A person gets bored (cue), gambles at the casino (routine), and gets the thrill of almost winning someone else's money (reward).
A person gets hungry (cue), raids the cookie jar (routine), and gets a sugar rush (reward).

Any of this sound familiar?  Never mind that these habits don't necessarily work in our best interest: smoking begets lung cancer; gambling begets poverty; cookie jars beget obesity.  Further, many of our habits were established outside of our conscious control.  We just, well, kinda end up with these habits, and they end up running our life.  Or ruining our life.  Depends on the habit.

Duhigg suggests that it's possible to take control of our habits, and even though we can't eradicate old habits, we can overwrite the old routines with new ones.  To do this, he suggests we look at each element in turn:

1. First look at the routine.  Easy enough right?  The routine is usually the part you want to change.  Ever had the thought run through your head "Why do I always..." fill in the blank.  There you go.  For this guy I know, the routine was that he always got the munchies in mid-afternoon.  He'd rise from whatever he was sitting on at the moment, glide on auto-pilot to the kitchen, procure whatever was handy, and eat more than he actually needed to sustain his sedentary metabolism.  After stuffing himself, he'd lumber back to his place, plop down in his chair, and wonder how it was that this happened again.  Hadn't he resolved to never do this again?  Didn't he know that such behavior was not in the best interest of his health?  He'd fight back the guilt, strengthen his resolve, and promise never to do it again.  Then the next day the same thing would happen.  Doh!  Why?!
2. Next we need to examine the reward: why are you actually doing whatever it is you're doing?  For the thrill?  To satisfy an appetite?  To combat stress or boredom?  The reward is not always what you think it might be - it might be something as simple as a feeling of peace or escape or control (real or imagined), even if only for a moment.  In the case of our Munchies Man, after some soul-searching, he determined that by mid-afternoon he needed a little pick-me-up (who doesn't, right?), so off he'd go in search of metabolic fuel.
3. Finally you need to look at the cue.  This is sometimes difficult to identify.  The author identifies five things (see below) that most often cue a habit routine.  Once you recognize you've been cued, stop and identify all five of these things, right then and there, and write them down.  Next time you're cued, do it again.  And again.  And again.  Chances are you'll start to see a pattern emerge.  Those five things are:
• location, 
• time, 
• emotional state, 
• other people, 
• immediately preceding action.  

For Munchies Man, by mid-afternoon, his energy was low, and I'm pretty sure the cue had something to do with that feeling you get when your eyes glaze over but you forget to blink because you're already half asleep.  Know that feeling?  You know, after staring at a computer monitor most of the day, just sitting there, staring, your life slowly draining out through your eyeballs, an hour at a time?  That feeling?  That was my cue!  I mean, Munchies Man, that was his cue!  That would trigger the routine!

Okay fine, it was me.  You figured it out, aren't you clever.

Once the routine, the reward, and the cue are identified, you can a) be on guard, and b) experiment with different routines to satisfy the reward.  If you can come up with alternate routines that satisfy the reward while supporting your health goals, and you do it often enough, partner, you may just be able to establish a new habit.

In my case, what I've learned from Dr. A's Habits Of Health is that low energy + perceived hunger actually means I'm thirsty - not hungry.  I need water, not food.  I've carried a Nalgene water bottle with me for years, but I'd never put any real thought into when I drink my water.  These days I try to make sure I'm ahead on my water consumption throughout the day, and pay particular attention to my feelings in mid-afternoon.  If I feel my energy ebbing and the munchies creeping up on me, I chug some water, wait a few minutes, and all is well with the world.  

Same cue, same reward, different routine.

None of this guarantees that the habit will change right away, but knowledge is power.  And any ounce of advantage I can squeeze out of my psyche - hey, I'm gonna take it.

David Phillips

Does This BMI Chart Make Me Look Fat?

I was checking out the BMI tables on the National Institute of Health website recently (nerd alert).  For a lot of years, I thought the whole BMI thing was bunk, mainly because it kept telling me I was overweight.   These days when I talk to folks about the connection between health and weight, I often encounter a familiar resistance.  "It doesn't apply to me because I have a muscular build" or "I have big bones" or "I'm husky" or "those charts are crap."

Hey, I've been there.

Now that I have a 'normal' BMI (per the NIH), I've come to realize that the BMI tables are not crap.  But first let's look at how the NIH defines "overweight," and "obese."  The NIH website says "Overweight is having extra body weight from muscle, bone, fat, or water.  Obesity is having a high amount of extra body fat."  Interesting, but what does this mean?  It means that the NIH has already accounted for muscular builds and big bones.

Certainly there are exceptions: the BMI chart doesn't apply to Arnold Schwarzenegger or Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.  Indeed, the NIH states that the BMI chart "... may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build."  Conversely, "It may underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost muscle."  But I'm not Arnold, and chances are, if you're using performance enhancing substances to shed & shred, you're probably not reading this blog anyway.

But how athletic can someone be before he trips into the obese column?  To find out, I toodled on over to the CrossFit Games website, and had a look at the leaderboard.  Have you seen these people?  Lean.  Cut.  Probably the fittest humans on the planet.  How do they stack up on the BMI chart?  Of the top ten men on the leaderboard, most had a BMI in the 25-30 range; only one had a BMI over 30.  Women trended even lower.

So what does that mean for you and me?  It means that if you have a BMI of 30 or more, you're carrying too much fat, period.  And if you have a BMI of 25 - 29.9, you're probably still carrying too much fat.  Unless of course you're competing in the CrossFit Games.  Then you're probably okay.

Big deal, you think.  What difference does a little extra fat really make anyway?  I'm healthy, right?

For now, maybe you're right.  But what about later on?  What quality of life to you want to have later in life?  How do you want to live in ten years?  In twenty?  In fifty?

The NIH answers the question Why Is A Healthy Weight Important?  "Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is important for overall health and can help you prevent and control many diseases and conditions.  If you are overweight or obese, you are at higher rise of developing serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems, and certain cancers.  That is why maintaining a healthy weight is so important: It helps you lower your risk for developing these problems, helps you feel good about yourself, and gives you more energy to enjoy life."

Why should you pay attention to the BMI tables?  Your future depends on it.  Your doctor and your insurance underwriter use it when they assess you.  You should too.

Be honest with yourself.

Use the BMI calculator.  Find out where you are.  Figure out where you want to be.

Now do something about it.

You are the dominant force in your own life when it comes to creating health.  No one is going to do it for you.  "My doctor will save me" you think.  But your doctor can't do any more than manage symptoms as they appear.  There is no magic bullet.  The little daily choices you make today will do more for your health, now and in the future, than anything your doctor can prescribe.  Ever.

Not sure where to turn?  Join me!  My wife and I are FREE Certified Health Coaches with Take Shape For Life.  We can help you quickly and safely attain a healthy weight, and learn the habits necessary to maintain it for the rest of your life.  Contact us and let's create health in your life too!

DavidJamesPhillips@Gmail.com

Moving Mountains

I watched a TED talk this morning by Philippe Petit, the high-wire walker featured in the 2008 documentary Man On Wire.  Petit is an expert story teller, and in less than twenty minutes gives a riveting synopsis of a life of beating the impossible.  My favorite line comes right at the end, when he says -

"When you see mountains, remember - they can be moved."

How often does losing weight and "getting healthy" seem impossible?  I can't remember how many times I tried and failed to make lasting changes in my life with regard to health and weight.  That is until I discovered Take Shape For Life.

Take Shape For Life is not a diet.  It is a way of overhauling your way of life.  See, I knew that my way of life had created a problem that needed fixing, and that another diet was not the solution.  By forging new habits, I've been able to reorient my way of life toward optimal health and longevity.

In other words, mountains have been moved.

Has your way of life created a weight problem you need to address?  Have you tried and failed to lose weight and keep it off?  Is your weight causing other problems with your health?  Do you have mountains you'd like to move?

I am a FREE Health Coach with Take Shape For Life, and if you're coachable, I can help.  Contact me, and let's reorient your way of life toward optimal health and longevity.

Be inspired, and never forget that mountains can be moved.

DavidJamesPhillips@Gmail.com

Corrections Of Course

Continuing with the whole explorer/navigator theme, consider what may have become of Cortez or Columbus if they had been off by a few degrees when they embarked on their voyages?  When sailing, one is constantly checking and re-checking the ship's heading, making course corrections all along the way.  Where might they have ended up if they had gotten lazy or sloppy?  What would the world map look like today if Columbus landed in Newfoundland or Brazil instead of the Bahamas?  Our world might be a different place.

Sometimes it's difficult to tell what kind of progress we're making with regard to weight loss and health.  I know in my own life there have been many times where I've hit a plateau, or even gone up a pound or two (or five), and I start to ask questions: "So what?  Is it really that important?  I don't feel all that different - it's not like I'm sick or anything.  Does it really matter how much I weigh?"

At moments like these, I need to make a mental course correction and reorient myself toward health.  Because YES, it matters!

Dr. A says:

"In a state of non-sickness, time is against you.  It may go unnoticed until one day you're so fatigued that you finally go to your doctor and find out you have diabetes.  Your health path has led you from non-sick to sick...  The good news is that the non-sick can usually reach optimal health in a relatively short amount of time." -Dr. A's Habits of Health, p. 12

Mental course corrections, made repeatedly over time, result in physical course corrections: every pound lost, every inch of body measurement, every dress size - each of these is a degree of physical course correction that may seem trivial now, but is going to pay off big time later on in life (even now, your body is thanking you as inflammation subsides, blood pressure reduces, insulin stabilizes, and pressure on joints starts to lift).

Sometimes you're just a degree off your heading, and the course correction is a minor one; sometimes you've let yourself drift, and have to do a 180.  In any case, these course corrections - made daily if necessary - are what will ensure you maintain your heading toward optimal health.

What's your bearing?  Where's your head at?  How's your body?  Are you healthy, sick, or somewhere in between?  Are you pointed in the right direction?  That all depends on your goals I suppose, but if your goals include things like health and longevity, then the direction you're headed today makes all the difference in the world.

The journey is long, and is bound to pass through troubled waters, unexpected storms, and for many, uncharted territory.  Check your heading, and correct your course.  Someday soon, you'll discover a new world of optimal health.

Want to orient yourself toward optimal health but not sure where to turn?  I am a FREE Certified Health Coach with Take Shape For Life, and I can help you find your way!  Contact me, and let's get you headed in the right direction.

DavidJamesPhillips@Gmail.com