Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest
Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest
xtrocious Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:36 am
Use your loaf!
It's been the scourge of dieters for years. Now, one baking obsessive celebrates as experts admit bread is actually good for you
By Lydia Slater
Last updated at 1:41 AM on 27th January 2011
Comments (29) Add to My Stories .
Dr Atkins must be spinning in his grave. After years of demonisation by the diet police, bread — crust, crumb and optional thick layer of golden butter — is back.
Sales of bread are rising for the first time in 36 years: Tesco, Asda and the Co-op have each reported an overall increase of up to 10 per cent, while speciality bakeries are mushrooming, their shelves groaning with ever more inventive breads, studded with everything from chocolate to potato.
And this week nutritionists have declared that far from being a food to avoid, bread is positively beneficial. It’s full of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, especially if you opt for wholegrain varieties with added nuts, seeds or dried fruit.
A slice of the upper crust: Lydia Slater, with her homemade bread, says her breadmaker was the best investment she's ever made
But even white sliced ‘mother’s shame’ has some nutritional value, as it’s a great source of calcium (essential if you’ve cut out that other modern dietary bogey, dairy).
Meanwhile, a new American diet book, The Carb Lover’s Diet, insists that bread, far from being fattening, actually helps to burn calories: wholegrain bread is rich in ‘resistant starch’, a type of carbohydrate that leaves you feeling fuller for longer because it’s hard to digest.
More...Now this is what you call 'haute cuisine': World's highest restaurant opens in Dubai a dizzying 1,350ft from the groundThis cynical five-a-day myth: Nutrition expert claims we've all been duped
‘Studies show that resistant starch can help to curb cravings, control blood sugar levels and boost metabolism,’ say authors Ellen Kunes and Frances Largeman-Roth.
As it has only 80-100 calories a slice, bread can be a positive aid to weight loss rather than a diet-buster, as long as you don’t slather it with prawn mayo.
What’s more, although it has been fashionable in recent years to claim to be allergic to wheat, the number of people genuinely affected remains very small, between 1-2 per cent of the population, according to Allergy UK.
And sufferers’ symptoms go well beyond a bit of temporary bloating — they may get headaches, nausea, aches and pains or hay-fever-like symptoms. If you do feel a little bloated after eating bread, nutritionists say that’s probably related to the effects of eating fibre and is good for you.
No wonder estate agents recommend popping bread in the oven before showing people round your house
Well, hallelujah! The rehabilitation of this staple foodstuff is long overdue. Because, make no mistake: bread isn’t just healthy — it’s one of the most evocative foods there is.
The yeasty, faintly beery smell of rising dough, the warm savour of a baking loaf is the distilled essence of comfort and security; no wonder estate agents recommend popping bread in the oven before showing people round your house.
Bread is one of the earliest prepared foods known to man, dating back to the Neolithic era. It carries a heavy weight of symbolic value as the staff of life, an offering to the gods in ancient civilisations and a fundamental part of many religious rituals today.
Most nations have their own prized styles of loaf, from crisp, airy French baguettes, to chewy Italian ciabattas, fragrant Polish rye breads, treacly German loaves, puffy, buttery naans, soft, flexible lavash, doughy bagels . . . I love them all. Even, I have to admit, the occasional slice of plastic white, which seems to make the best bacon sarnie.
Bread-ifying: Nutritionists say bread is full of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, especially wholegrain varieties with added nuts, seeds or dried fruit
Growing up in the Seventies, my frustrated hippy father made his own bread every Sunday. It was rock-like, with a thick crust and a dense, bran-heavy interior. Nevertheless, my greatest treat was being cut a thick slice, hot from the oven and gobbling it down almost without pause for breath.
As a teenager I discovered the contrasting joys of white bread. While my friends flocked to the sweet shop, I headed for the next-door bakery for a poppy-seed bloomer. I would race home and cut myself a doorstep, layering it with butter and Marmite. Bliss!
And during the darkest days of Atkins-mania I braved the pitying stares of my fellow diners by continuing to explore the bread basket at every restaurant. To my mind, those chewy slices, studded with olives or walnuts and spread with cool, salted butter were twice as delicious as anything you’d get on the pudding menu.
A couple of years ago, worried by the presence of chemical additives in mass-produced bread, I bought a breadmaker to ensure my children ate as healthily as possible. I was worried it would end up in my great appliance graveyard at the back of a cupboard.
On the contrary, it’s been the best investment I’ve ever made. Every third evening, before I go to bed, I chuck in flour, water, honey, olive oil, salt, yeast and a few little extras now I’m an amateur expert and can go off-recipe — a handful of oats, maybe, or a sprinkling of pine nuts.
Heritage: Bread is one of the earliest prepared foods known to man, dating back to the Neolithic era
When the going gets really tough, a proper breadmaking session by hand is called for. If I’ve had a row with my husband, I grab a bag of flour and get mixing.
Just the silky feel of the flour trickling through your fingers is enough to calm shredded nerves. Then there’s the sensual pleasure of squishing up the flour, oil and warm water. The kneading is an enjoyably exhausting process that will leave your dough smooth and you slightly breathless.
My favourite bit, though, is when the dough has risen for the first time and you get to punch your fist into the centre of its satiny billows and squash it back down to size. It’s childishly satisfying.
By this stage of the process, any residual resentment has always dissipated, and I’m free to plump, plait or decorate my loaves before putting them in the oven and waiting for the rich smell of baking to permeate the house. And that’s even before you get to taste your handiwork and bask in the compliments from your family.
The whole breadmaking process seems calculated to put one in a good mood.
It doesn’t surprise me to discover that a new social enterprise, Virtuous Bread, has been going into prisons and teaching inmates how to bake bread as a confidence-building exercise (not to mention a new skill).
In my experience, it’s worth hours on the therapist’s couch. So I’m off to cut myself a thick slice of home-made happiness.
It's been the scourge of dieters for years. Now, one baking obsessive celebrates as experts admit bread is actually good for you
By Lydia Slater
Last updated at 1:41 AM on 27th January 2011
Comments (29) Add to My Stories .
Dr Atkins must be spinning in his grave. After years of demonisation by the diet police, bread — crust, crumb and optional thick layer of golden butter — is back.
Sales of bread are rising for the first time in 36 years: Tesco, Asda and the Co-op have each reported an overall increase of up to 10 per cent, while speciality bakeries are mushrooming, their shelves groaning with ever more inventive breads, studded with everything from chocolate to potato.
And this week nutritionists have declared that far from being a food to avoid, bread is positively beneficial. It’s full of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, especially if you opt for wholegrain varieties with added nuts, seeds or dried fruit.
A slice of the upper crust: Lydia Slater, with her homemade bread, says her breadmaker was the best investment she's ever made
But even white sliced ‘mother’s shame’ has some nutritional value, as it’s a great source of calcium (essential if you’ve cut out that other modern dietary bogey, dairy).
Meanwhile, a new American diet book, The Carb Lover’s Diet, insists that bread, far from being fattening, actually helps to burn calories: wholegrain bread is rich in ‘resistant starch’, a type of carbohydrate that leaves you feeling fuller for longer because it’s hard to digest.
More...Now this is what you call 'haute cuisine': World's highest restaurant opens in Dubai a dizzying 1,350ft from the groundThis cynical five-a-day myth: Nutrition expert claims we've all been duped
‘Studies show that resistant starch can help to curb cravings, control blood sugar levels and boost metabolism,’ say authors Ellen Kunes and Frances Largeman-Roth.
As it has only 80-100 calories a slice, bread can be a positive aid to weight loss rather than a diet-buster, as long as you don’t slather it with prawn mayo.
What’s more, although it has been fashionable in recent years to claim to be allergic to wheat, the number of people genuinely affected remains very small, between 1-2 per cent of the population, according to Allergy UK.
And sufferers’ symptoms go well beyond a bit of temporary bloating — they may get headaches, nausea, aches and pains or hay-fever-like symptoms. If you do feel a little bloated after eating bread, nutritionists say that’s probably related to the effects of eating fibre and is good for you.
No wonder estate agents recommend popping bread in the oven before showing people round your house
Well, hallelujah! The rehabilitation of this staple foodstuff is long overdue. Because, make no mistake: bread isn’t just healthy — it’s one of the most evocative foods there is.
The yeasty, faintly beery smell of rising dough, the warm savour of a baking loaf is the distilled essence of comfort and security; no wonder estate agents recommend popping bread in the oven before showing people round your house.
Bread is one of the earliest prepared foods known to man, dating back to the Neolithic era. It carries a heavy weight of symbolic value as the staff of life, an offering to the gods in ancient civilisations and a fundamental part of many religious rituals today.
Most nations have their own prized styles of loaf, from crisp, airy French baguettes, to chewy Italian ciabattas, fragrant Polish rye breads, treacly German loaves, puffy, buttery naans, soft, flexible lavash, doughy bagels . . . I love them all. Even, I have to admit, the occasional slice of plastic white, which seems to make the best bacon sarnie.
Bread-ifying: Nutritionists say bread is full of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, especially wholegrain varieties with added nuts, seeds or dried fruit
Growing up in the Seventies, my frustrated hippy father made his own bread every Sunday. It was rock-like, with a thick crust and a dense, bran-heavy interior. Nevertheless, my greatest treat was being cut a thick slice, hot from the oven and gobbling it down almost without pause for breath.
As a teenager I discovered the contrasting joys of white bread. While my friends flocked to the sweet shop, I headed for the next-door bakery for a poppy-seed bloomer. I would race home and cut myself a doorstep, layering it with butter and Marmite. Bliss!
And during the darkest days of Atkins-mania I braved the pitying stares of my fellow diners by continuing to explore the bread basket at every restaurant. To my mind, those chewy slices, studded with olives or walnuts and spread with cool, salted butter were twice as delicious as anything you’d get on the pudding menu.
A couple of years ago, worried by the presence of chemical additives in mass-produced bread, I bought a breadmaker to ensure my children ate as healthily as possible. I was worried it would end up in my great appliance graveyard at the back of a cupboard.
On the contrary, it’s been the best investment I’ve ever made. Every third evening, before I go to bed, I chuck in flour, water, honey, olive oil, salt, yeast and a few little extras now I’m an amateur expert and can go off-recipe — a handful of oats, maybe, or a sprinkling of pine nuts.
Heritage: Bread is one of the earliest prepared foods known to man, dating back to the Neolithic era
When the going gets really tough, a proper breadmaking session by hand is called for. If I’ve had a row with my husband, I grab a bag of flour and get mixing.
Just the silky feel of the flour trickling through your fingers is enough to calm shredded nerves. Then there’s the sensual pleasure of squishing up the flour, oil and warm water. The kneading is an enjoyably exhausting process that will leave your dough smooth and you slightly breathless.
My favourite bit, though, is when the dough has risen for the first time and you get to punch your fist into the centre of its satiny billows and squash it back down to size. It’s childishly satisfying.
By this stage of the process, any residual resentment has always dissipated, and I’m free to plump, plait or decorate my loaves before putting them in the oven and waiting for the rich smell of baking to permeate the house. And that’s even before you get to taste your handiwork and bask in the compliments from your family.
The whole breadmaking process seems calculated to put one in a good mood.
It doesn’t surprise me to discover that a new social enterprise, Virtuous Bread, has been going into prisons and teaching inmates how to bake bread as a confidence-building exercise (not to mention a new skill).
In my experience, it’s worth hours on the therapist’s couch. So I’m off to cut myself a thick slice of home-made happiness.
xtrocious- Posts : 161
Join date : 2010-12-30
Age : 55
Location : West Singapore
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