Daily Archives: 3/21/2012

On bread…

This morning I was in a rush to get out of the house, and didn’t have time to make a big breakfast, so while I was gathering my stuff, I cut a fairly thick slice of bread off the loaf I made last night and jammed it in the toaster. As I was about to leave, the toaster popped, I quickly smeared on a tablespoon of peanut butter, and headed out.

It was really quite delicious.

Other than some Jewish ryebread that we got the other day, I haven’t bought a loaf of bread since last year. Instead, I make it, using what I consider one of the greatest food hacks of recent memory: Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread. Making bread this way is straightforward and ultimately rewarding: to have a tasty hot loaf come out of the oven, after filling your kitchen with that bready, yeasty smell feels like you are really cooking, that you really understand food.

Yes, yes. Some of you are of the anti-carb religion. I know, carbs do terrible things to your blood sugar and insulin levels, which mucks with all sorts of things having to do with metabolism and weight management. I even agree with it, at least to a point. But “bad foods” have gone through cycles. When I was a kid, it was sugar. Then it was fats. Then carbohydrates. We want to do the right thing, but we get fed conflicting information. We were told that there were links between consumption of fats and coronary disease, but more recent studies seem to refute this basic idea. Recent studies question the idea that omega-3 fatty acids improve cardiac health, or that dietary fiber protects against colon cancer. What’s a guy to do?

I’m trying to develop a philosophy of food, cooking and eating that will feed and nourish my body, and still provide me with the rich, emotional experience that I enjoy from food. I like Michael Pollan’s simple philosophy:

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I’m been mostly thinking about the first one over the last month, that I should be eating food. I began to realize that my weight (and the associated health issues related to it) weren’t really being caused by the occasional trips to the fancy restaurants that my wife and I enjoy a few times a year, nor by the meals that I prepared for myself, but were caused by all the “food-like” substances that I ate without thinking. So-called fast food. Processed food. Food that came in boxes, with nutritional labels. I began to view even the “Smart Ones” frozen foods that my wife and I consumed almost daily in our previous bought of Weight Watchers were part of a basic problem: a prioritization of convenience over actually taking the time and energy to think about, prepare, and consume actual food.

So, back to bread. The no-knead bread takes about 3 cups of flour to make. Along with infinitesimal amounts of salt, yeast, and a water, all it takes is heat to convert this into a large crusty loaf such as the one I pictured above. I made that loaf with unbleached bread flour (King Arthur’s). Should I be eating this? Should I be making this?

I’m going to say “yes”, with certain reservations.

First of all, while it is made from a fairly processed raw material (bread flour), it contains none of the “non-food” items that you frequently see on bread labels. It has no high fructose corn syrup (in fact, no added sugar). It has no preservatives. It’s just flour, salt, yeast and water. It’s pretty much the same recipe that humans have been making for thousands of years. It would be hard to classify bread made this way as a non-food: bread is practically the definition of food. We could deconstruct all the components: a cup of bread flour has about 361 calories, 2g of fat, 73 grams of carbohydrates, 12.7 grams of protein, and 1 gram of sugar. That is a lot of carbohydrates. There isn’t a lot of vitamin content in the bread either. But even if you ate 1/3 of my loaf in a day, it would account for less than 20% of the calories of a typical 2000 calorie diet. Reasonable (not even small) portions of this bread can be a part of your daily meal, and of course, I don’t even eat it daily. When I do, I try to make sure other aspects of my diet are richer in proteins and vegetables.

Secondly, I’m making it myself. I’m under no delusion that the bread is more nutritious as a result, but I’m trying to modify some of my destructive food behaviors. One of the ways to do that is to stop shooting for convenience. Convenience foods are there when you don’t want to be bothered to think about what you are eating, but you should be thinking about what you are eating. While this bread is simple to make, it does take 24 hours to make. You have to think ahead of time, and that means that you tend not to eat it without thinking about it. I firmly believe that so-called ‘food scientists’ are working mostly to make products which are addictive and convenient, rather than satisfying and nutritious. I can do better.

Third, and perhaps most importantly: it’s better in almost everyway than the convenient food it replaces. Check out that loaf again. It looks better. It smells better. It tastes better. When I make it, I feel like I’m cutting out the bad stuff, and concentrating on the good stuff. I think about building meals around a few slices of bread. I think about butternut squash soup. Or maybe just some braised greens and some crusty slices of toast. This morning’s peanut butter and toast was brilliant. The toast had a crispiness that I don’t think you get in prepackaged, pre-sliced bread. I modified the cooking times and preps a bit from my previous loaf, and the bread came out higher, and with a more delicate crust. I’m already imagining the next loaf I’ll make (probably next week).

I’m going to enjoy bread and pasta, but I’m going to think carefully about it. I’m going to maximize my enjoyment of it, while moderating my consumption.

Addendum: One of the most interesting books I’ve read lately is Tamar Adler’s incredible Everlasting Meal. She makes a claim in her book which struck home with me, that it’s impossible to solve dietary problems without cooking (I’ll have to look up the exact quote). Her book is a brilliant celebration of the art, craft and philosophy of cooking and food. Well worth reading.

24 hours, 73 unique stations on WSPR

For the last couple of days, I’ve let my FT-817 and the WSPR software monitor 40m, 30m, and 20m (shifted as time permits, and as propagation shifts). Last night I managed to set a new distance record by hearing ZS6BIM in South Africa, at a distance of 16,941km. I also picked up a couple of other entities that I haven’t seen before: Austria, Guatemala, Vietnam and Thailand. Very cool.

73 spots:

Timestamp Call MHz SNR Drift Grid Pwr Reporter RGrid km az
 2012-03-21 16:24   ZS6BIM   10.140114   -24   0   KG44df   1   K6HX   CM87ux   16941   303 
 2012-03-21 14:00   HS0ZBS   10.140216   -27   0   OK03ss   5   K6HX   CM87ux   12669   37 
 2012-03-20 17:28   VK2UX   14.097091   -17   0   QF56hf   5   K6HX   CM87ux   12007   56 
 2012-03-21 05:54   ZL3XX   7.040101   -25   -1   RE78kr   5   K6HX   CM87ux   10873   45 
 2012-03-21 16:34   ZL2FT   10.140146   -26   0   RF70mb   5   K6HX   CM87ux   10758   45 
 2012-03-21 06:12   OE3WGW   10.140174   -24   -2   JN88cj   5   K6HX   CM87ux   9573   328 
 2012-03-21 05:26   EA1URO   7.040090   -26   0   IN62bh   5   K6HX   CM87ux   8898   313 
 2012-03-21 16:34   JA2GRC   10.140211   -27   0   PM74uu   5   K6HX   CM87ux   8613   52 
 2012-03-21 16:34   JQ2WDO   10.140190   -18   0   PM95gi   5   K6HX   CM87ux   8374   54 
 2012-03-20 19:04   WA2YUN   14.097123   -9   0   RK39hh   5   K6HX   CM87ux   7072   56 
 2012-03-21 06:08   W1BW   10.140231   -25   0   FN42hl   0.1   K6HX   CM87ux   4286   281 
 2012-03-20 20:50   W2RON   14.097098   -10   0   FN34kp   5   K6HX   CM87ux   4109   277 
 2012-03-20 18:56   WA3DNM   14.097119   -16   0   FM29fw   5   K6HX   CM87ux   4002   282 
 2012-03-21 02:38   TG8AMX   7.040087   -14   0   EK44fu   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3965   316 
 2012-03-20 20:52   W4AC   14.097113   -24   0   EL86ux   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3913   298 
 2012-03-20 21:30   W3GXT   14.097099   -21   0   FM19ol   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3908   282 
 2012-03-21 12:08   KB3VR   10.140176   -25   -1   FM19la   1   K6HX   CM87ux   3898   283 
 2012-03-20 18:40   W3CSW   14.097161   -29   0   FM19kd   2   K6HX   CM87ux   3888   283 
 2012-03-20 19:04   K3GEN   14.097026   -25   0   FM19ke   1   K6HX   CM87ux   3887   283 
 2012-03-20 20:08   W2LNX   14.097094   -16   0   FM19jb   50   K6HX   CM87ux   3883   283 
 2012-03-20 18:54   NH7SR   14.097110   -8   0   BL11ch   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3866   53 
 2012-03-21 01:26   AI4WV   14.097047   -9   1   FM05pv   2   K6HX   CM87ux   3845   287 
 2012-03-20 18:42   NA4U   14.097120   -20   0   FM03ac   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3835   290 
 2012-03-21 06:30   WA8KNE   10.140177   -16   0   EM90gg   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3823   294 
 2012-03-21 07:30   W3HH   10.140141   -17   0   EL89vb   1   K6HX   CM87ux   3814   296 
 2012-03-21 04:02   W2XC   7.040118   -11   -1   FN02qw   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3693   277 
 2012-03-20 21:30   KC2UK   14.097091   -11   0   FN03mb   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3665   276 
 2012-03-21 02:10   VA3SK   7.040028   -18   0   FN06   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3635   271 
 2012-03-21 02:20   VA3MW   7.040146   -12   0   FN03hu   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3623   275 
 2012-03-20 19:10   W4DJW   14.097024   -18   0   EM84ux   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3564   287 
 2012-03-21 12:30   WT4C   10.140156   -18   1   EM84ps   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3535   288 
 2012-03-20 20:30   VE3KYK   14.097015   -10   0   EN96ol   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3501   270 
 2012-03-20 17:30   VE3ELX   14.097091   -18   -2   EN92gv   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3464   275 
 2012-03-20 20:40   K4COD   14.097151   -6   0   EM73sc   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3442   290 
 2012-03-21 00:14   AK4T   14.097137   -26   0   EM74vb   2   K6HX   CM87ux   3429   288 
 2012-03-21 05:36   KE3PL   7.040065   -12   0   EM74xx   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3412   287 
 2012-03-20 17:20   W8SJV   14.097172   -22   0   EN80mg   1   K6HX   CM87ux   3375   279 
 2012-03-20 17:26   KC8WJD   14.097011   -27   0   EN72dx   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3118   272 
 2012-03-21 02:08   K8CYV   7.040112   -4   0   EN63ve   5   K6HX   CM87ux   3077   272 
 2012-03-21 09:36   KC9NBV   10.140196   -13   0   EM69oe   1   K6HX   CM87ux   3069   279 
 2012-03-21 00:30   K9AN   14.097161   -11   0   EN50wc   0.5   K6HX   CM87ux   2942   277 
 2012-03-20 23:24   KC9OJV   14.097064   -27   -1   EN51wu   1   K6HX   CM87ux   2926   273 
 2012-03-20 18:56   KB9AMG   14.097030   -22   0   EN52tx   5   K6HX   CM87ux   2902   271 
 2012-03-20 17:14   K0VM   14.097091   -13   0   EN42db   2   K6HX   CM87ux   2629   270 
 2012-03-20 22:48   K0AZ   14.097027   -14   0   EM37cd   1   K6HX   CM87ux   2504   281 
 2012-03-20 18:40   WA5VRO   14.097061   -12   0   EM10cf   5   K6HX   CM87ux   2406   298 
 2012-03-21 02:42   VE4KE   7.040095   -11   0   EO01te   5   K6HX   CM87ux   2378   241 
 2012-03-20 18:56   K5XL   14.097141   -16   0   EM12kp   1   K6HX   CM87ux   2351   292 
 2012-03-20 19:30   KE7A   14.097132   -10   -1   EM12kx   5   K6HX   CM87ux   2338   291 
 2012-03-20 21:42   K5FRD   14.097011   +10   0   EM12gm   10   K6HX   CM87ux   2327   292 
 2012-03-20 17:46   K7FB   14.097017   -19   0   EM13   1   K6HX   CM87ux   2326   290 
 2012-03-20 21:20   WA5ETV   14.097090   -22   0   EM15jm   5   K6HX   CM87ux   2245   284 
 2012-03-20 20:50   VE6PDQ   14.097117   -17   0   DO34ir   5   K6HX   CM87ux   1983   204 
 2012-03-20 20:40   VE6OG   14.097167   -2   0   DO33fn   5   K6HX   CM87ux   1858   205 
 2012-03-21 02:56   K5USF   7.040053   -9   0   DM62pi   1   K6HX   CM87ux   1546   298 
 2012-03-21 14:12   W5OLF   10.140171   -28   0   DM79   0.01   K6HX   CM87ux   1503   269 
 2012-03-20 20:40   WF7M   14.097088   -13   0   CN87nw   1   K6HX   CM87ux   1108   177 
 2012-03-21 15:40   W8ZU   10.140193   +2   0   DM33   5   K6HX   CM87ux   973   304 
 2012-03-21 02:06   KF7O   7.040101   -7   0   DN06tb   1   K6HX   CM87ux   955   201 
 2012-03-20 18:32   W7QL   14.097096   +10   -1   DN40bo   5   K6HX   CM87ux   942   255 
 2012-03-20 18:52   WA7KGX   14.097118   +2   0   CN85no   5   K6HX   CM87ux   849   177 
 2012-03-21 03:04   W6II   7.040011   -4   0   CN85mn   5   K6HX   CM87ux   845   176 
 2012-03-21 03:44   K7FET   7.040069   -25   0   CN85mm   1   K6HX   CM87ux   840   176 
 2012-03-20 18:40   AC0NM   14.097019   -27   0   DM12jt   1   K6HX   CM87ux   736   323 
 2012-03-21 16:36   N6ETE   10.140147   +2   0   DM12kw   1   K6HX   CM87ux   730   322 
 2012-03-21 02:38   WD6DOD   7.040143   +3   0   DM13ao   5   K6HX   CM87ux   624   322 
 2012-03-21 16:30   K7LG   10.140200   -4   -1   DM04se   1   K6HX   CM87ux   544   322 
 2012-03-21 16:36   KC6KGE   10.140243   -17   0   DM05gd   5   K6HX   CM87ux   404   322 
 2012-03-21 01:50   KP4MD   14.097054   -18   0   CM98iq   5   K6HX   CM87ux   118   228 
 2012-03-20 19:00   N6GN   14.097091   -19   0   CM88ok   5   K6HX   CM87ux   67   139 
 2012-03-20 18:56   K6SRO   14.097188   -16   0   CM88ql   5   K6HX   CM87ux   63   152 
 2012-03-20 18:54   W6/LA4ZCA   14.097047   -16   0   CM87wk   5   K6HX   CM87ux   62   346 
 2012-03-21 04:38   NN6RF   7.040012   -14   0   CM87uw   2   K6HX   CM87ux   5   0