Nourishing Traditions and other Recipes for a Better Health

[freemotion]

Okay, first, I've renamed the thread.

First set of questions - stopped in a local dry-goods store and saw Winona Flour and Sapphire Flour. For the first, there was a ingredients list that included Barley. The second, just said "wheat". What special purpose do these flour fulfill?

(now that I think about it, I didn't see any arrowroot, and that was something else I was looking for.

I am not familiar with either flour product, but get a whole grain product that doesn't contain any non-grain ingredients or anything that starts with the word "enriched."

Arrowroot powder can be found in a health food store that carries Bob's Red Mill products or bulk products. It is a good replacement for cornstarch as a neutral thickening agent. It is also great to use as baby powder, btw, and can be gently scented with a few drops of orange or tangerine and lavender essential oils.

 

[freemotion]

Found this:

Winona Patent
High protein standard patent flour made from strong spring wheat.

This will be a good bread flour. Better would be organic. Can you get Wheat Montana stuff?

 

[freemotion]

The Sapphire flour links from my google search were taking forever to open, but I could see enough in the brief that it is a basic unbleached white flour. Avoid it. It is also from ConAgra Foods, so will be loaded with pesticides and herbicides.

 

[moolie]

Sorry for the hijack Jamie, I saw the title and breezed through the comments, and added my own before I had a busy rest of my day and in my haste I totally missed your question--my sincere apologies.

The best flour to use is flour that is ground fresh prior to baking/cooking with it, as nutrients are lost over the course of hours and days. Most grocery store flour (other than white, which is pretty much just dead starch to which some nutrients have been added back in the "enriching" process) is also rancid, and flours like those made from rye produce a particular flavour in the finished product that many people don't like because of the rancidity.

I have never heard of either of the brand names you mentioned, so I'm sorry I'm no help there, but it looks like Freemotion has found some info for you.

We have always bought freshly ground organic whole wheat flour from our natural foods store (they grind the wheat there, we store it in the freezer to try to keep it as fresh as possible), but I'm expecting to take delivery any day now of my own grain mill and already have 25 lbs of hard red wheat all ready to go for our next bread baking day. I am so looking forward to it!

 

[framing fowl]

Moolie, appreciated your earlier comments and felt that it might have given people food for thought and another perspective. We all have to decide where our personal balance is on the scale of modern and traditional practices for preparing foods. Maybe we should start another thread but I for one would be interested in exploring some of the other books you have found useful.

My personal yardstick is not to aim for perfection, but continually one more step in the right direction as I am able with the time, knowledge and resources available to me.

For example, we used to always use margarine. Then we switched to the cheap butter. Now we buy organic butter on sale. I am keeping an eye out for a local source of homemade butter from pastured cows not fed grain. But I don't stress about the fact that I haven't found it yet.

I think what is in NT is a huge step forward from the standard american diet of microwaved Lean Cuisine, hamburger helper, and drive through.

 

[moolie]

Thanks FF

My apology to Jamie was for my hijack away from his question, especially as this is his thread and I completely missed it in my initial glance-through.

My opinions about the book, however, stand. Balance is truly what is important.

I know so many people who have incredibly varied and very specific dietary needs. It's interesting that there is a thread going at the moment about how dieticians don't have people's best interests at heart, because I know a couple and they offer a much more balanced approach than what I assume the OP in that thread believes they do. People are as individual as snowflakes, there is no one right way to eat for optimum health. There are guidelines that may work for most people, but not all.

The book in question is about traditional foods and traditional food preparation, and misses the mark in many instances. Ph.D. is great, I know it means Doctor, however it confers a level of educational study and doesn't mean medical doctor. Opinions presented as fact are very dangerous. Everyone who writes a book has a bias, and the bias in this particular book hits the reader over the head. It is always prudent to investigate sources, determine who has something to sell (such as the fact that the writer of one particular source cited in the book owns the largest chain of organic bakeries in North America) or an axe to grind, and proceed cautiously.

I am extremely fortunate that I am the product of traditional cooking and enjoy excellent health, as do the rest of my family. We work to ensure that we do the best we can to take care of ourselves. My belief has always been all things in moderation, and moderation in all things. The occasional sweet treat won't hurt anyone (unless it contains allergens or ingredients to which the consumer has sensitivity).

It's funny to me that there is this perceived resurgence of interest in self sufficiency and holistic health, because it has always been a part of my life. I don't do much different in my everyday life than my parents or grandparents did, except that I have some newer technology in my life (computers etc.) than they had access to. The comments about lean cuisine and hamburger helper just go right over my head, because I've never even glanced at products like those, let alone eaten them.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Found this:

Winona Patent
High protein standard patent flour made from strong spring wheat.

This will be a good bread flour. Better would be organic. Can you get Wheat Montana stuff?

Yes, I can - the Wheat Montana was right there on the shelf next to the Winona.

This household loves bread, this is the first aspect of the family diet I'm trying to change, because we love it too much. So I'm open to recommendations here.

 

[FarmerJamie]

As far as anyone "hijacking" the thread, it doesn't bother me - sometimes it the journey, not the destination.

I'm looking for some interesting discussion and knowledge sharing.

The "hamburger helper" comments really ring true with me, because we got busy with life and fell into that meal-from-a-box approach as the kids got busy outside the home. I'm trying to rein that back in.


Grinding our own flour would be something I would want to do eventually, but there are other changes that need to be done first to get there. If it was just me, no problem, but I have four folks to consider how to bring along for the ride.

Please, please, don't hold back on the discussion.

 

[Britesea]

Something we have found since my DH started baking bread-- we aren't eating as much simply because the bread provides so much satisfaction when you eat it. I think that when people eat lots of a particular food, it's possibly because their bodies are craving a particular nutrient. Our bread is naturally leavened, the flour spends 18 hours soaking in the acidic sourdough liquids, we use organic whole wheat flour and a "texture mix" consisting of Bob's Red Mill 5 grain whole rolled cereal, flax seed, sesame seed, poppy seed, sunflower seed and pumpkin seed. The bread comes out with a marvelous aroma, crunchy crust, and lots of chewing satisfaction. One or, at the most 2 slices and you are full. It's especially ambrosial spread with some goat milk farmers cheese and elderberry jelly!

 

[FarmerJamie]

Something we have found since my DH started baking bread-- we aren't eating as much simply because the bread provides so much satisfaction when you eat it. I think that when people eat lots of a particular food, it's possibly because their bodies are craving a particular nutrient. Our bread is naturally leavened, the flour spends 18 hours soaking in the acidic sourdough liquids, we use organic whole wheat flour and a "texture mix" consisting of Bob's Red Mill 5 grain whole rolled cereal, flax seed, sesame seed, poppy seed, sunflower seed and pumpkin seed. The bread comes out with a marvelous aroma, crunchy crust, and lots of chewing satisfaction. One or, at the most 2 slices and you are full. It's especially ambrosial spread with some goat milk farmers cheese and elderberry jelly!

Care to share the bread recipe?