September: Our Daily Bread
Here we are at the tail end of summer, a few lovely days and hopefully a few more to come! I have to admit that I love the changing seasons, the drawing in of the nights, the abundance of autumn berries calling to us from the hedgerows in all their beautiful colours, to support our immunity as the temperatures drop and flu and cold viruses start to appear.
Our theme for this month is Our Daily Bread, with particular emphasis on Sourdough, which is the original bread made with only 3 ingredients, and allowed to prove slowly for maximum digestibility.
Bread has become a contentious issue these days, and no wonder, commercially produced bread is so full of preservatives, emulsifiers, enzyme enhancers, and has literally no nutritional value, beyond simple starch, which breaks down into sugar super fast causing blood sugar spikes which wreck our metabolism and can lead to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. A world without bread would be a sad one indeed, I love warm buttered toast, a soft and pillowy sandwich, a fresh sourdough straight from the oven, but I certainly don’t want to negatively impact my metabolic health by eating white commercially produced bread.
New legislation coming into force early next year means all white flour will be fortified with folic acid, mainly to prevent neural tube defects in unborn babies, which could ultimately, have a negative impact on the rest of us.
Wheat and oats are routinely sprayed with glyphosate in the UK around harvest time to make the grains easier to harvest. Glyphosate is a toxic weedkiller linked with many negative effects on the gut and increased risk of cancer. This is why I only use organic flour and oats in my bread and baking. I also mill my own flour, wholemeal, rye and spelt from organic grains.
Gluten has become the scapegoat for many health issues, especially gut issues and autoimmune problems, and although it can be an issue for some people, most people who are gluten intolerant (not celiac) are absolutely fine eating sourdough, so long as it has been made traditionally and allowed to slowly ferment, whereby a lot of the gluten is broken down and much easier to digest.
My sourdough journey began around 10 years ago, and after attending a few workshops, reading lots of books and experimentation in the kitchen, I have perfected the easiest way to make delicious sourdough, to fit into anyone's schedule. My sourdough workshops were always really popular, I must have started hundreds of people on their sourdough journey! I will be sharing all my top tips this month, from making and looking after a starter, to equipment, ingredients, my basic recipe, baking techniques, using different shaped tins, adding seasonal ingredients, making sourdough crackers, rolls, pizza, muffins and lots more besides.
If you don’t fancy trying sourdough then my fermented Kefir Bread is a great substitute and it couldn’t be easier to make! This is a great way of using homemade kefir which is a bit sour to drink. This bread doesn’t work with shop bought kefir, at least it didn’t when I tried it! A fabulous gluten free healthy alternative is Chia bread, packed with soluble fibre, protein and minerals which keeps our blood sugar steady and supports our gut microbiome. It’s literally held together with hydrated chia seeds and slices like a dream!
We are still gaining members over on our Gathering Space on Circle which is fabulous, so do remember to come and join us, here. We have regular Workshops and chats which are recorded and available to view for the full month.
Thank you, as always, for being here with me.
In good health,
Janice xx
