chargirlgenius

A Quick Review of my new Zojirushi BBCC-X20

Jeff and my mom went in together to get me a bread machine for Christmas. It just arrived at the house yesterday afternoon, and I took it for a test drive overnight. I originally wanted to do a loaf while awake just in case it walked off the counter or something, but just didn't have time for it last night.

It's a 2lb machine, and most recipes I've seen are for 1.5 lb loaves. I guess I can do the smaller loaf in there, but I figured I'd do a 2lb for my first try, just to make sure that the baking cycle was correct. The basic white in the instruction manual called for dry milk, but I wanted a simpler bread. Instead, I used their Italian herb recipe, but left out the herbs, and substituted 2T of honey for the 3T of sugar. It also had a bit of olive oil.

Smell

This morning, my last dreams were permeated by a yeast scent that overwhelmed everything. We woke to a divine smell that even got ME out of bread. Breakfast was fresh baked bread and fresh ground coffee. Mmm.

Crust

No problem at all. The crust is gorgeous. It's not quite as good as the one I make when I spritz it and put ice cubes in the bottom of the oven, but it's certainly as good as anything that I can get in any store within 30 minutes of here. I could easily just do the dough and take it out to bake. I know people don't see the sense of that, but as forgetful as I am, it's fantastic to not have to pay attention to the rise.

Size

A lot of reviewers (of any bread machine) complain that the slices don't fit in their toasters. These are probably too big for a regular toaster, but we have a countertop toaster oven, so no problem.

Crumb

Chewy, full of small holes, no giant holes like we normally get with the store-bought artisan breads. A little moister than my homemade bread, but I can probably play with that.

Clean up

I washed the measuring stuff from the honey, flour, and olive oil. The bread just slid out of the pan and there's nothing really to wash there.

Indentations

This is a two-small paddle kneading system. There's no giant hole like with the one paddle kneader. It doesn't really affect the shape of the bread - a few slices just have a small dent at the bottom.

Sum up

I'm looking forward to trying the quick sourdough cycle, which really looks like a nice way to do a sponge. It was easy, and the bread was really tasty. The machine didn't wake up Jeff until he smelled the bread three minutes before our alarm went off. I could pretty easily make all of our daily bread in here.

Has anybody else read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan? I'm listening to it on CD while painting the bedroom, and I'm loving it. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for coming up with "Eat food, not products" on my own over a year ago. Anyway, I recommend it to anybody who has ever dieted, or, well, ever eaten an American diet.

Although, listening to it on CD is a tad on the annoying side. The reader gets a bit of preachy, smug attitude in his voice, and while I'm sure that the book is full of plenty of preachy, smug attitude, I can handle it better in print. Annoying, but it doesn't detract that much from the book itself.

I've also recently read The End of Overeating by David Kessler. Admittedly, I haven't read the final chapter or two, where he lays out his plan for beating the system. I'm sure it's good, but I can't imagine it's the much different from Michael Pollan's Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. mantra. Kessler hits HARD on the food industry and their marketing of highly processed foods. Pollan seems to aim more at "nutritionism", and science-based eating that is seemlingly prevalent in our culture. The books enhance each other's messages.

If Pollan hits on science, and Kessler nails industry, Marion Nestle (no, no relation) focuses on government (and industry, really) in her Food Politics blog (and in her book, too, I'm sure, although I haven't read it).

I'm looking forward to more reading... Food, Inc., the movie or the book, and Fast Food Nation, among others. I'll definitely check more Michael Pollan, including The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Other suggestions? Oh, and while I'm talking about food, do any of my southern friends shop at "Earth's Fare" stores? Jeff was in Huntsville for work this week, and I read an article about one of those stores opening in that area. Sounded intriguing.

Lots of great, thoughtful, comments on my post yesterday. Thanks!

One comment that several people had in common is that cooking for yourself, eating whole foods, and avoiding pre-packaged convenience foods is hard and time consuming. It is. I don’t disagree with that one bit. When Jeff in on travel I don’t frequently cook. It’s usually Mac N Cheese, one of those meal in a bag things from the freezer section, fish sticks, that sort of thing. (But while I occasionally feel guilty about not getting them their veggies often enough, this week I was good about always having a side of broccoli or lima beans – their favorites.)

But then I wonder how much of that is perception fueled by marketing? I’m sure there are options that are just as, or almost, as easy as dumping a box of mac and cheese in boiling water.

(Of course, good ol’ Kraft Dinner isn’t easy enough, we’ve provided with EZ Mac for the ultimate in convenience food.)

( ideas )

Ideas? What’s as simple to make as Mac n Cheese or dinner in a bag (usually sautéed), yet a whole or mostly-whole food? Do you think that “convenience” food is a myth?

Saffron is apparently quite cheap in Brazil. Luana's mom just sent us a quarter pound bag of it (powdered). Yay! She also sent along saffron roots. Does anybody know what I should do with those???

Neato!

(Hey sutragirl, wanna come play with it?)

I did a lot of baking/cooking this weekend. German Chocolate Cake on Saturday for Jeff’s birthday, and pancakes and banana bread yesterday. Henry helped with both yesterday, even down to pouring batter on the griddle for his very own pancake.

On a whim, I tried something with the pancakes that is making me drool even now. It’s so simple, I’m certain that everybody else in the world already does it, but in case you don’t…

Banana Crack. Make up your favorite pancake batter. I have an old family recipe for buttermilk pancakes that I use. Slice bananas, nice and thin, dropping them on the griddle. Four or five slices will do – too many, and the pancake loses structure (depending on your batter). Pour batter over them, and cook normally.

Other fruit would work took, but the bananas directly on the griddle caramelize beautifully. Ever grilled bananas? Mmm. Same thing. They didn’t stick to the griddle, though if I’d done a whole batch that way I probably would have re-greased it. Usually I use bacon or sausage grease, but since Luana is a vegetarian they were butter pancakes yesterday. Oh, throw me in that briar patch.