A-Z Challenge is
Aging into Longevity
In spite of the fact
that I am a nutcase
in the belief that proper
food heals the body, I've
been guilty of periodically
following the hedonistic
life-style.
During WW2, when women hung up their aprons and said,
"Good -by" to the kitchen, family health took a downward
plunge. Enter allopathic medicine with it's chemicals and
drugs, trying to make up for the loss of medicinal
benefits that the stay at home mom had previously provided.
Let's take one food item....sourdough bread."
Baking sourdough bread takes time, often several days. One
medium slice of homemade sourdough bread will provide a
high % of daily requirements for selenium, thiamine, folate
and manganese.
This daily bread relates directy to avoiding age-related ills
as eye, hearing and heart problems. Further breaking it
down, it aids in resistence to arthritis, osteoporosis, heart
disease and cancer. I was a stay at home mom and bread
making was my spiritual ritual, as was my grandmothers.
Kids leaving home, I dropped the sourdough habit. Big
mistake. Now a sourdough starter happily bubbles away
in my kitchen again and I think of how much more healthy
I would be if I had never ever stopped it.
I didn't know it was good for you. I feel guilty almost eating it because it's so GOOD!
ReplyDeleteRosey
DeleteGood for you? It's terrific, it fermented bread. That should be everyone's main goal in life, to eat naturally fermented food. I'm afraid I've been a great bore throughout this whole A-Z because I nag on and on about fermented food. When I was young, all food was naturally grown with natural fertilizer and there was always a pan of clabbered raw milk on the back of the stove and most families kept a cellar full of fermented veggies. The most important reason that I'm yapping on and on about food is that I had never heard the word cancer, not until after ww2 when the chemicals, vaccines and drugs took over homeopathic medicine and everyone began to eat de-vitilized food. Even when I went through nursing I never heard of cancer. We were still on old time when a doctor would recomment an enema. LOL Have you ever gone to a doctor and heard him say, "go home and take an enema?" Hahahaha
I like to read what you say and I know others do too. You don't hear about these things much, or at least, I don't.
DeleteI didn't realize sourdough was the healthy choice either. But honestly, anything that requires a starter eventually becomes a nuisance for me.
ReplyDelete~Visiting from AtoZ
Wendy
DeleteRest well because commercial sourdough isn't always the healthy choice. The public is often eating the same ingredients as are in any other breat, with just the sour taste added.
My mother kept sourdough starter in a little brown crock with a lid. She made it regularly. Still remember the aroma of her bread wafting through the house...
ReplyDeleteBish
DeleteWhat a marvelous memory. Fresh bread and the aroma of fresh coffee..... but I don't drink the coffee anymore. That isn't saying I wouldn't like to, though. Hahahaha
Is the sourdough bread you buy in the store as good as the kind made at home? Or just more of the same old "bad stuff" that we all eat way too much of?
ReplyDeleteRobin
DeleteGreat question. It depends on where you buy it. Some of the small bread shops really do make the real sourdough starter and take great pride in their work. Baking the wonderful sourdough bread is truly an art. Now I'm baking, baking, baking bread..... trying to get that perfect loaf and so far I haven't but I also eat my flops.
But yes, most or a lot of the so called sourdough commercial bread is the same old crap as in the other bread with the sour taste added. Some even have the bromides added..... the stuff they put in mattresses and yoga mats and that rubbery stuff in the soles of some shoes. Look that one up some time because it's an amazing eye-opener. And so many of the poison stuff that is approved to add to our food is banned in many countries.
All right! Sourdough is my favorite bread. It makes sense now why I prefer it. I may even pick some up today. Thank you kindly, Manzi, for writing about sourdough today. One of these days, I'll even get me a starter going. I enjoy baking bread. See ya tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteSusie
DeleteI know you are so wise about food and will buy the sourdough only at a small bread shop that really uses starter. I just ask but they can also lie. It is such a thrill to bake bread and also also a thrill to be the keeper of the starter. You will love it as much as I do.
I mean to answer in depth your meaningful post of the other
day but I've been running back and forth to Bozeman and I have to go again today..... in a few min.
joeh
ReplyDeleteI know you jest but I really do believe the statement you just made.
I've enjoyed my life of never working, sooooo much, that I can't possibly understand why women would actually CHOOSE to work outside the home. I could never get it. Is it a power trip that they get from a job??? I always had plenty of power right in my own home. Of course I know I'll have rotten tomatoes pelted at me for saying this but I'm pretty fast on the duck.
My niece tried he hand making it a while back using wild yeast. I do miss real bread and do wonder if I could do sourdough. I have read articles that gluten is broken down and doesn't cause damage. But, I have also read that spelt is easier to digest and I can't do spelt either. Someday I may try it.
ReplyDeleteRuth
DeleteI believe it is absolutely true and I do hope you may get into the bread baking habit. I am not a cook and I'm a true klutz in the kitchen (always have been) but baking bread gives me an epiphany.
Wow, never knew it could do all of that. Although with me and my issues it may do a whole lot more haha
ReplyDeletePat
DeleteHahaha And it's just a loaf of bread.
Gosh,l haven't seen sour dough starter in ages. It was amazing how alive it was. Makes sense it would help keep us the same way.
ReplyDeletePatti
DeleteAnd......when you have the starter handy and some organic strawberries and pure maple syrup, think of the great pancakes you can make.
Sourdough pancakes??
DeleteIt sure tastes some good
ReplyDeleteHoly Ghost
DeleteIf I were a condemned bad person and could choose my last meal..... it would be sourdough bread and goat milk butter. LOL
I don't bake it but do eat it often.
ReplyDeleteMerle...........
Merle
DeleteBaking sourdough is an uplifting spiritual experience. I don't understand why but it just is. :) You are wise to eat it often.
I don't know anyone who makes their own sourdough bread and I just don't have the space to try it for myself.
ReplyDeleteI've tried commercially produced sourdough and it is always dry and too hard for my teeth.
I think if I had been raised on home made sourdough, my teeth and nails might be in better condition.
When I was very small, we ate rye bread quite a lot, even pumpernickel occasionally when mum came down to the continental stores here in Adelaide. once we were at school though, we ate white bread like all the other kids.
River
DeleteRye bread is what I'm shooting for. I have an all-rye starter and I'd like to have an all rye bread but it's a little too compact for me. So now I'm working on how much white or WW flour to add. It needs a little it seems. I love that dark pumpernickel too. I recall during the depression, we ate that doughy Wonder bread. You probably didn't have that brand. It was like peanut butter and stuck to the roof of your mouth. Then my dad got a little work and brought home some staples. Although I was really young, I can recall the joy when we saw flour, beans, lard, bacon and soup bones. That meant good-by to the VanCamp's beans and Wonder bread for awhile. Odd how memories like that stick in one's mind. LOL
Not then, but we have the Wonder Bread now, it's awful stuff, soft and tasteless, but they do "add vitamins and fibre" to it. (*~*)
DeleteFor some it's the power trip, for others it's the need for adult companionship away from playgroups where the talk is all babies, babies, babies.
ReplyDeleteFor many others, like me, it was and still is, financial necessity.
Hi Manzanita - I'm not keen on sourdough for some reason, also bread doesn't agree with me so I steer clear .. but I love the smell of baking bread ... it's good to know its value .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHilary
DeleteSo many people seek the gluten free goods. I don't notice any difference but I think the fermented bread takes care of the gluten problem. I think bread must be my comfort food. LOL
River
ReplyDeleteyes there are many reasons for women to work but I was mainly thinking of when kids are young and still need guidance and good nutrition. A single mother of 3 boys, oldest probably around 9, moved in the neighborhood and those boys are alone 2 hours every day until the mom comes home. Since my lot is fairly large, I have the two big trash bins in my yard. Someone has been tossing un- bagged garage and trash in the bin. And when the truck comes along, dumps the can in the truck but spills a lot of the loose stuff in my yard. I took a good look at all the boxes of processed food from the center aisles. I said to myself, "Those people aren't going to live very long" and then I found out it was the gal with the 3 boys. No wonder those kids are screaming, yelling, bouncing around .... no supervision and all sugared up. I know I sound like an old fuddy-duddy but often it appears some people are molding delinquents.
Perhaps you could chat with the mother and invite the boys to help in the garage and yard. They would get supervision and she would get peace of mind knowing her boys are being watched over. You could feed them healthier snacks. Or at least teach them the value of healthier foods.
ReplyDelete...if i had a bread machine, i'd immediately head on to make my portion of Goodness you describe! Or do you bake in the oven? I think it's more challenging for those who make their 1st bread...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, we also love to dry our daily bread in a toaster as Paul Bragg advices, it is healthy too. My huge sweet tooth is always craving for any kind of bakery... So, i always remember to make wise choices! :)