One-minute (whole grain) bread.

Whole grains are one of the most important foods to add to our diets. The Whole Grains Council recommends eating at least half of all of your grains whole, but I think it’s definitely better for you to eat as few refined grains (a.k.a. “grains with all the nutrition removed even if they’re ‘enriched’ which just means that they added back some nutrients so you don’t die” grains) as possible. One of the tastiest ways to eat whole grains is in bread! So… I have a very easy recipe for whole grain bread. And by “easy” I mean “one minute of prep time”, not “let’s spend all afternoon kneading dough”.

A while back, I discovered an awesome recipe for ciabatta bread with only one minute of prep time. But, as usual, the first time I made it I used too much water and it was okay but not great so I filed away the recipe and didn’t look at it again until the other day. Since I’m getting into artisan bread, I decided to try this easy recipe for practice. Tonight I perfected (so perfectly that of course I’ll never be able to duplicate the results) a whole wheat version of that recipe! It’s very simple. You just use whole wheat flour instead of white flour. It worked when I halved the recipe and made pizza dough, at least.

All you need is:

4 cups of whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat flour!)
2 cups of warm water
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of yeast

Instructions:
Mix the water and the yeast in a bowl. Add the flour and salt. Stir until you have a dough just softer than the consistency of playdough (it's better to err on the side of too dry, because if the dough has too much water it'll take a year and a half to bake). Now cover with a towel and walk away. Just walk away. Let it rise for 8 to 12 hours (or you could add some sugar or honey and it will not take as long), then just pour the dough onto a greased or floured cookie sheet (or baking stone, or whatever you make bread on) and smooth it out with a spoon (ciabatta should not be too thin, though; try an inch or so thick). Then bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes, then take it out of the oven and let it cool!

When I made it today I halved the recipe except for the yeast, which I kept at 1 tsp., and added a squirt of honey, and it rose in one hour (an hour too early, so I punched it down and it rose again). Half the recipe makes one large pizza, by the way.

Since I love to analyze nutritional content, I made a recipe file on one of my favorite websites, Nutritiondata.com.
According to the nutrition facts for this recipe, if you made pizza with this recipe, one slice would have 102 calories, one gram of fat and four grams of fiber! It’s also a good source of niacin, iron, selenium, manganese, and other vitamins and minerals. Read all the facts here. (I’ll try to post nutrition data for most of the recipes that I post here, by the way.)

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comments what you think.

I know I don’t have any readers, but…

Whole Foods Market is having a recipe contest! Each week, you can submit an original recipe that has to contain the ingredient of the week which is listed on the website. You can read more about it at:

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2010/06/8-week-single-ingredient-recipe-contest/

This week’s ingredient is Cucumber.

You are my sunshine…

This is my first real post. And I decided to write about sunshine because that’s what made me think about making this blog. I can try to explain it to you if you’d like; if you don’t want to be exposed to The Most Confusing Train Of Thought Ever, skip the next paragraph.

So, I’m sick today. I feel pretty bad. I have a sore throat, headache, and a runny nose. I was lying down to take a nap earlier (I closed the blinds in my bedroom so it would be dark) but I couldn’t sleep. Then I remembered that I hadn’t fed the dogs today. I got up and went outside (ugh) and suddenly remembered that I hadn’t been exposed to sunlight at all today. Well, that wouldn’t do. So I stood in the sunlight for a few minutes. I realized that I was feeling substantially better when I was in the sun, so I got a camp chair and sat out in the sun for probably half an hour before I got so hot I decided to go back in. The effect of long-term exposure wasn’t as great, but at least I got my vitamin D.

Vitamin D used to be a “whatever” nutrient. Just go outside for 15 minutes or eat a fish, and you’ll get vitamin D, and your bones will be healthy. Now vitamin D is gaining a much cooler reputation as studies link it to preventing all sorts of diseases. That’s one reason why I felt that I should definitely get sunshine if I’m sick.
Unfortunately, some people are still afraid of the sun. As if being seen by that hideous ultraviolet-ray-emitting murderer in the sky will doom you to death by skin cancer unless you bathe in sunscreen. People don’t spend nearly enough time outside. Most people only need a small amount of time to benefit from sunshine, depending on location, skin color, weather, etc. Here’s a neat tool to find out how much sunshine you need to get enough vitamin D every day:

http://nadir.nilu.no/~olaeng/fastrt/VitD-ez_quartMED.html

Getting sunshine is important because vitamin D is not found in any plant foods, so it can be hard to get enough unless you supplement (which is probably a good idea for people in colder climates).

Sunshine is not only good for vitamin D. It has a lot of other health benefits (maybe I’ll research some and write about them later). Just don’t spend too much time outside and get sunburned. If you feel like you’re getting too hot or starting to burn, go inside or, better yet, into the shade.

Spend some time in the sun today!

Beginings

This is the genesis of my new blog, Broccoli Central. The name is totally random (I tried to think of something healthy and go from there). If anyone has a better name idea, let me know so I can feel bad about myself and try to defend my original choice.

I'm just a teenager who likes to study and experiment with health. I'm here to share the information and ideas I have about health, but don't make any major changes without talking to your doctor and your pet kinkajou, Melvin. And don't take any nutritional information I give here too seriously unless I use a reliable reference (which I will try to find, of course). By the way, this fall I'm going to be starting college and studying nutrition and dietetics, so once I become a Registered Dietitian, I guess you can put a little more stock in what I say. But please, use common sense. If you have a severe heart condition and I suggest going for a nice brisk walk, don't. Seriously.

So, I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say, and that you can improve your health because of it. Au revoir!