Tag Archives: Cooking

Food and Cooking, Health, Health and Diet, Lifestyle

Cookbooks for Bread and Comfort Foods to Enjoy During Winter Holidays

Enjoy the season and learn to bake around the hearth and home

As follows some wonderful books for baking bread and other delights from scratch in our own kitchen to savor and enjoy. 

Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza

There are few things more satisfying than biting into a freshly made, crispy-on-the-outside, soft-and-supple-on-the-inside slice of perfectly baked bread. For Portland-based baker Ken Forkish, well-made bread is more than just a pleasure–it is a passion that has led him to create some of the best and most critically lauded breads and pizzas in the country. 

In Flour Water Salt Yeast, Forkish translates his obsessively honed craft into scores of recipes for rustic boules and Neapolitan-style pizzas, all suited for the home baker. Forkish developed and tested all of the recipes in his home oven, and his impeccable formulas and clear instructions result in top-quality artisan breads and pizzas that stand up against those sold in the best bakeries anywhere. Click here to see “Flour Water Salt Yeast” and help Independent Bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

Tartine Bread

 It comes from Chad Robertson, a man many consider to be the best bread baker in the United States, and co-owner with Elizabeth Prueitt of San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery. At 5 P.M., Chad Robertson’s rugged, magnificent Tartine loaves are drawn from the oven. The bread at San Francisco’s legendary Tartine Bakery sells out within an hour almost every day. 

Only a handful of bakers have learned the bread science techniques Chad Robertson has developed: To Chad Robertson, bread is the foundation of a meal, the center of daily life, and each loaf tells the story of the baker who shaped it. Chad Robertson developed his unique bread over two decades of apprenticeship with the finest artisan bakers in France and the United States, as well as experimentation in his own ovens. Readers will be astonished at how elemental it is. Click here to see “Tartine Bread” and help Independent Bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, 15th Anniversary Edition: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

Co-founder of the legendary Brother Juniper’s Bakery, author of ten landmark bread books, and distinguished instructor at the world’s largest culinary academy, Peter Reinhart has been a leader in America’s artisanal bread movement for more than thirty years. Never one to be content with yesterday’s baking triumph, however, Peter continues to refine his recipes and techniques in his never-ending quest for extraordinary bread. 

In this updated edition of the bestselling The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Peter shares bread breakthroughs arising from his study in France’s famed boulangeries and the always-enlightening time spent in the culinary college kitchen with his students. Peer over Peter’s shoulder as he learns from Paris’s most esteemed bakers, like Lionel Poilâne and Phillippe Gosselin, whose pain à l’ancienne has revolutionized the art of baguette making. Then stand alongside his students in the kitchen as Peter teaches the classic twelve stages of building bread, his clear instructions accompanied by more than 100 step-by-step photographs. Click here to see “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” and help Independent Bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

Bread on the Table: Recipes for Making and Enjoying Europe’s Most Beloved Breads 

In this highly anticipated cookbook, culinary instructor and baker David Norman explores the European breadmaking traditions that inspire him most–from the rye breads of France to the saltless ciabattas of Italy to the traditional Christmas loaves of Scandinavia.

Norman also offers recipes for traditional foods to accompany these regional specialties, so home bakers can showcase their freshly made breads alongside a traditional Swedish breakfast spread, oysters with mignonette, or country pâté, to name a few examples. With rigorous, detailed instructions plus showstopping photography, this book will surprise and delight bakers of all stripes.

The debut cookbook from cult favorite Austin bakery and beer garden Easy Tiger, featuring recipes from author David Norman’s time spent exploring bread traditions throughout Europe and North America, plus menu ideas for incorporating homemade bread into everyday meals. Click here to see “Bread on the Table” and help Independent Bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

Bread Illustrated: A Step-By-Step Guide to Achieving Bakery-Quality Results at Home

Many home cooks find bread baking rewarding but intimidating. In Bread Illustrated, America’s Test Kitchen shows bakers of all levels how to make foolproof breads, rolls, flatbreads, and more at home. Each master recipe is presented as a hands-on and reassuring tutorial illustrated with six to 16 full-color step-by-step photos.

Organized by level of difficulty to make bread baking less daunting, the book progresses from the simplest recipes for the novice baker to artisan-style loaves, breads that use starters, and more complex project recipes. The recipes cover a wide and exciting range of breads from basics and classics like Easy Sandwich Bread and Fluffy Dinner Rolls to interesting breads from around the world including Lahmacun, Panettone, and Fig and Fennel Bread. Click here to see “Bread Illustrated” and help Independent Bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery

To food lovers the world over, a trip to Paris is not complete without a visit to Poil ne. Ina Garten raves about the bread’s “extraordinary quality.” Martha Stewart says the P in Poil ne stands for “perfect.” For the first time, Poil ne provides detailed instructions so bakers can reproduce its unique “hug-sized” sourdough loaves at home, as well as the bakery’s other much-loved breads and pastries. 

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It tells the story of how Apollonia Poil ne, the third-generation baker and owner, took over the global business at age eighteen and steered it into the future as a Harvard University freshman after her parents were killed in a helicopter crash.  Beyond bread, Apollonia includes recipes for pastries such as the bakery’s exquisite but unfussy tarts and butter cookies. In recipes that use bread as an ingredient, she shows how to make the most from a loaf, from crust to crumb. Click here to see “Poilâne” and help Independent Bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

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Books, Food and Cooking, Health, Health and Diet, Lifestyle

Dukan Diet Attack Phase food list and the various Keto Alternatives

Above: Photo / Unsplash

Deconstructing “Ketogenic”, “Keto” and “Ketosis”…

The Ketogenic Diet, popularly referred to as simply “Keto”, is on top of the list of many well-known ways in which people have lost weight by eating food low in carbs. The ketogenic diet isn’t actually anything new and has been utilized for centuries, most commonly used to help diabetes. The diet was also introduced in the 1920’s as treatment for epilepsy in children, as well as tested with people who have cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome (POS) and Alzheimer’s. 

Yet, as a popular way to lose weight, Keto can’t take all the credit, since the rise in stature can be largely attributed to The Atkins Diet, which started around the 1970’s and commercialized the low-carb/high protein diet structure. Due to the initial success of The Atkins Diet, many other low carb diets and variations have been put on the map – such as Keto, Paleo, South Beach and The Dukan Diet to name just a few.

The four phases of the Dukan diet:

  1. Attack Phase (1–7 days): You start the diet by eating unlimited lean protein plus 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran per day.
  2. Cruise Phase (1–12 months): Alternate lean protein one day with lean protein and non-starchy veggies the next, plus 2 tablespoons of oat bran every day.
  3. Consolidation Phase (5 days for every pound lost in phases 1 and 2): Unlimited lean protein and veggies, some carbs and fats, one day of lean protein weekly, 2.5 tablespoons of oat bran daily.
  4. Stabilization Phase (indefinite): Follow the Consolidation Phase guidelines but loosen the rules as long as your weight remains stable. Oat bran is increased to 3 tablespoons per day.

The Attack Phase is primarily based on high-protein foods, as well as a few extras that provide low calorie options:

  • Lean beef, veal, venison, bison, and other game
  • Lean pork
  • Poultry without skin
  • Liver, kidney, and tongue
  • Fish and shellfish (all types)
  • Eggs
  • Non-fat dairy products (restricted to 32 ounces or 1 kg per day), such as milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, and ricotta
  • Tofu and tempeh
  • Seitan, a meat substitute made from wheat gluten
  • At least 6.3 cups (1.5 liters) of water per day (mandatory)
  • 1.5 tablespoons (9 grams) of oat bran daily (mandatory)
  • Unlimited artificial sweeteners, shirataki noodles, and diet gelatin
  • Small amounts of lemon juice and pickles
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of oil daily for greasing pans

So what makes Keto different? The Keto diet stands out from the other low-carb diets because you eat a much higher fat content, which accounts for as much as 70-80% of your food intake and usually, in contrast to other low carb diets, involves also eating only a moderate amount of protein.

The general idea is for your eating plan to include more calories derived from proteins and fat and less from carbohydrates.  With a low-carb diet, your body will eventually run out of fuel, usually taken from blood sugar (glucose), which will result in your body starting to break down proteins and fat for energy instead and that will result in weight loss.  This metabolic process, described here in a nut-shell, is called ketosis.  

Whether you want to just dip your feet in the pooland try out some Keto recipes, or go full hog (pun intended), we have provided some book titles on the most popular books relating to Keto.

What to Eat

  • Meat (Fish, Beef, Poultry)
  • Leafy Green Vegetables (Spinach, Kale)
  • Eggs and Diary (Cheese, Cream, Butter)
  • Oils
  • Nuts and Seeds
  • Avocados
  • Broccoli and Cauliflower
  • Berries
  • Water

What NOT to Eat

  • Bread (Flour, Wheat, Rice, Cereal)
  • Pasta
  • Starches (like Potatoes and Yams)
  • Sugar
  • high Fructose Corn Syrup
  • Corn
  • Legumes and Beans
  • Fruit (exception is Berries)
  • Soda
  • Milk (has milk sugar)

Being on a ketogenic diet is meant for the short term, rather than permanent, with the main focus being on losing weight and should not be done as a long-term lifestyle diet. This is because there have been some noted and potentially unhealthy takeaways from the diet; one that the diet heavily relies on red meat and other fat-rich processed, high-salt foods that are not optimum for daily consumption.  In addition, there have not been enough long term studies to conclude if the the short-term results of weight loss will last or if, after resuming carb intake, the pound will be put right back on again. 

As always, whenever choosing a specific elating plan, diet, or weight loss approach, keep in mind that everyone’s body is different and results will vary.  Consulting an expert on the matter, like a registered dietitian or general practitioner, is highly recommended for the best guidance on what is best for you. 

Keto-Evolution: Non Meat Options

Since The Keto Diet has been around for a long time, there’s no shortage of books and cookbooks on the topic. However there are now many new and different ways to incorporate Keto, with an offshoot of systems for non-meat eaters, including vegan and vegetarian options.

This is surprising, since when Keto comes to mind, it is normal first to picture high-protein animal products like meat, eggs and cheese at the forefront of what can be eaten on the diet. Knowing that you can have plant-based alternatives to choose from and incorporate for Keto is refreshing, and just might remove some of the biggest potential drawbacks mentioned above.

Ketotarian includes more than 75 recipes that are vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian, offering a range of delicious and healthy choices for achieving weight loss, renewed health, robust energy, and better brain function. Dr. Will Cole comes to the rescue with Ketotarian, which has all the fat-burning benefits without the antibiotics and hormones that are packed into most keto diets.

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Apps, D.I.Y., Lifestyle, Observation, Social Media, TikTok

The Whole “be real” thing is Hard if you spent years learning to be Professional First

Video

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Who am I? I’m the person writing this.

But is it really necessary for you to know that I am female, love only cats (no dogs) and just got engaged?

No? Good, cause none of that is true. (Except the female part) That’s only one example of the odd twists that can come with the current trend of people going viral when they show “realness” and vulnerability.

Heard of acting? That’s what Meryl Streep does when she plays a person that never went to Yale and is not a rich famous actor, wink wink.

I suppose, as with so many online phenomena these days, it’s TikTok leading the way. No longer a place for young girls to dominate using only dancing, beauty and feminine wiles, it’s now a place where less objectively attractive people can blow up by showing, ostensibly, who they are.

Or by wearing a bear head as a hat.

https://www.tiktok.com/@madelin._.crochets/video/6983841654092352773

This trend towards realness has, based on informal research, also spilled over into places like LinkedIn, Medium and even Twitter.

On the whole, I think it’s a great thing. If Meryl Streep was only able to play herself, movies would be much less interesting, no doubt!

And maybe at least half of all the realness really is real. Just take it with a grain of salt if you see posts of someone getting engaged 3 times. In the same week.

All kidding aside this trend is part of a bigger, important evolution in digital communication

The evolution from journalistic norms, such as never referring to yourself directly but only as “your scribe”, “the writer”, “your correspondent” or just “one”, as in “one can only wonder…” to today’s norm of writing like the whole world wants to read your diary….

These journalistic conventions seem archaic and even ridiculous when the formerly forbidden “I” is commonplace and the authenticity of direct TikTok style casual presentation is already dominant and growing as a trend.

But the overall shift has more than just a style preference behind it, if you ask this writer (me).

It’s also far more than just the outgrowth of armies of non-journalists communicating spontaneously in every format and on every platform.

It’s really the early beginnings of what has become a common topic of late: the transition to the so-called Metaverse.

Not the Zuckerbergian Metaverse where people run around without legs and have joyless celebrations of themselves.

But rather, the real life cyber world where billions are on their phones communicating in various ways basically all the time. Even while jaywalking.

And as we do this more in every imaginable format, the desire to see “beautiful” landscape photos that have been photoshopped to death, instagram style, is eventually diminished to zero.

And what follows in a new hunger for the “real” or at least the honest seeming portrayal of the real (hi there Meryl!) and content that pushes an entirely different layer of psychological buttons.

As I mentioned above, dear reader, I love this! In spite of the fact that it leads to really scary TikToks (just check out the posts of some of the people that follow you on Tiktok (to see what I mean, the ones that follow 8753 people and get followed by like, 23 have nice videos…) where the frightening reality that’s out there (the banality of empirical unattractiveness you might call it) is already on full display, and how.

But that’s just the price to pay for a deeper and more authentic experience. And for the benefit of the real and valuable advice and knowledge you can get directly from “non-professional” actors who are not acting (presumably). We are reaping the profits of real life experiences, in exchange for nothing more than our attention, and clicks, likes and follows. And I say, Amen to that, bro.

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Food and Cooking, Health, Health and Diet, Lifestyle

German Bread History, Culture and Traditions

Video

There is a natural human tendency to crave comfort food during a time of stress, the feelings of baking and having the ability to feed and care for oneself was probably a very strong motivator. And what is more comforting than freshly baked, nay, home baked bread with a little butter and jam to beautify an afternoon spent at home. Even if the reason for being inside is not an ideal one.

Oddly, in the US and some other nations, bread and wheat products have been cast in the role of villain due to gluten intolerance and related illnesses. In the UK alone, in 2017, there were a reported 10% of the population suffering from some form of intolerance. Such a percentage would translate into tens of millions in the US.

Above: Photo / Adobe Stock

Is bread really the culprit or is there something else going on?

As a disclaimer, let it be stated up-front that there are certainly many people who suffer from conditions such as Celiac Disease who have a very real, hereditary response to gluten which is very serious. Many of the rest of us, however, who are not in that category, may have a situation brought on by a completely different set of circumstances.

Regardless of exact statistics, intolerance to gluten is clearly a “thing”, particularly in the US. Many theories are out there as to the cause, including industrial bread manufacturing methods, suspect ingredients such as emulsifiers used in baking and pesticides on wheat farms. Some have even reported that when intolerant individuals travel to Europe, symptoms disappear, although they eat bread and other gluten containing foods.

An entirely different culture producing a drastically different result: German baking tradition

While American Style bread is also available in Germany, it is rare and not commonly sold in Bakeries but rather only in SuperMarkets. They call it “Toast-Bread” as it’s primary advantage is being square and machine cut, therefore a better fit for a common toaster than the various shapes and sizes of slices cut from what they consider “normal” loaves.

What is considered normal bread is, for example, never sold more than eight hours after baking (except at “day old” scavenger prices). The number of real bakeries, ones that take very seriously the task of making “the daily bread”, per capita is large compared to any US city. This can be dug up in statistics, but is easier to realize by just walking down any street in a German city. Literally every other shop is a small bakery with a dozen different types of bread that was baked that same morning.

Bakers up at 4am all across every town and city

Another factor is the wide range of fresh ingredients included. A short list of the types of bread and various ingredients is vast, and varies from region to region. Six hundred main bread types are well known and this does not include many specialty breads and rolls.

In addition to wheat, bread is often made with rye, barley, potato, oat, spelt, soy and other lesser known grains. Added seeds, nuts and fruit often include one or more of the following (partial list):

  • sunflower seeds
  • pumpkin seeds
  • poppy seeds
  • fled seeds
  • walnuts
  • raisins
  • currants
  • sesame seeds
  • olives
  • linseed
  • hazelnuts
  • almonds
  • oat flakes
  • whole gain groats
  • whey

In Germany, at any common bakery on the street, most, if not all of the items described above would be available on any given day. No need to go to a special, overpriced “organic” or “gourmet” bakery in some high end neighborhood. Just any average bakery will do.

Oddly, these same ingredients are often touted in online health advice articles – implying that there are health benefits to adding these “special” ingredients to one’s diet, all while other countries have had them as daily menu items for centuries if not thousands of years.

Taking all of the above into account, it should come as little surprise that, in the US, obscure health issues due to the lack or misuse of heretofore standard food items would be on the rise. In the case of gluten intolerance, it rises to practically epidemic proportions. Fixing this for any individual, short of taking residence outside the US, would require extra efforts and involve a possible increase in the cost of nourishment. However, considering the alternatives (suffering with a condition without a cure), it might be well worth it.

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