Earn your bread

I look back 5 months from today and wonder how I was –>this<– close to having rolled myself into USA. I had a little break in India till I got back to work on my project here and let me just say, I let myself go a bit. I did not realize it at that time (though my friends would beg to differ) since I had left half my wardrobe back here in L.A. and carried some new possessions, and was pretty much in suits back in India (hiding that unsightly paunch). I came home, had the laundry done, plopped into bed and pretty much served two days to myself in the garb of ‘jetlag’.

Now here is a thing about shuttling between countries. You leave most of your belongings in your home country and live out of your suitcase (which I have been doing since last 2 years now). You get used to molding your attire to suit your most basic look and think about colors, new trends, shirts you would wear only once you have settled down for a while (or finally make that trip to the mall). It did not strike me till I was getting ready for a meeting in downtown, a week after, that my shirt was just not buttoning up correctly. I checked the collar, yes it was “M”, the jeans seemed snug (snugger than usual), but they fit. Confused I went through two of my leftover ones and then a new one, same story. I finally just found a slightly normal fit ‘M’ (90% are slim fit) in white and threw that over my blue jeans.

My drive of twenty five minutes to downtown got me pondering and a nagging thought kept hovering somewhere in my brain all the way through the meeting and back home. On returning, I dauntingly stepped on a scale, started converting the 179 lbs it read and that’s when it hit me – 81 kgs. I had an internal promise with my body ever since I turned 30 that I would never cross 80 kgs. The inevitable had happened. Suddenly I was seeing myself 50 times my weight, obese, unhealthy, incredibly unsound and probably delirious. Certain changes had to be made.

The very first change was to get back to my original plateau weight of 165 lbs (two months in, my gym instructor told me my ideal weight should be 155 lbs, but that’s bordering on anorexic, anyway). This weight would allow me to get back into wearing my “M” sized slim shirts and pull on my jeans without struggling (there was an expensive belt lying around refusing to even button on in the first hole). I started by hitting the gym, regularly. Cut down on my sugar. Ate oats & eggs for breakfast (scratched the bacon, pancakes and waffles off the grocery list – though I still walk by the aisle on my weekly grocery shopping sprees and lust longingly), veggie food for lunch and fish and chicken for dinner. There was one thing I could not think about giving up, or should I say, chose to ignore – “Bread”

Now for people who know me, bread makes up for everything I do with cooking, food, eating, writing and well, living. I could (stressing on the word ‘could’ here) polish off an entire baguette single handed (the other held the wine, of course) in one sitting. I baked practically every second day and insisted on cheese platters on wine nights (which were – every second day). I woke up eating bread and slept dreaming about it. Over years I had developed a phagomania for bread.

I was sitting one fine day with a friend ‘B’, munching on a loaded bagel for breakfast and we got talking about health, food and lifestyle. We were discussing how my gym was going pretty well and how consistent I was. The topic shifted to eating habits and the fact that white bread was our worst enemy and not eating bread could change our health for the better. I mean, we had heard stories of people going off carbs, embracing vegan, being gluten intolerant etc. In fact, a couple close friends and family members in L.A. have been gluten free for years now. While I was reminiscing about how ridiculous the idea of giving up bread would be and thanking God that I had no such gluten intolerance (I would rather lead a hermits life!) another thought struck me. I was preaching to my sister-in-law many moons ago about how our bodies get used to craving certain foods and once your body starts craving something regularly it’s all downhill from there (such as sugar, fats, carbohydrates etc.).

We all know anything in excess is bad, for me it was (is) bread. I made an instant decision of just quitting it altogether. I savored the last bite of bagel and bid goodbye to this fragrant, earthy, heady addiction. Now I work a little differently, I advocate that one should try everything but not anything in excess. Basically not make it habitual, be it in food or lifestyle. I gave up bread for 1 month. This window was enough, in my opinion, to see how it affected me. To cut a long story short, I felt lighter, more active, carb starved sometimes and a little annoyed every time someone brought bread around me. The first two feelings could also have been because of the regular gym routine but the other two were definitely my body screaming hoarse for its fix.

I have been bread free for 4 months now (not in the literal sense, but in a more ‘normal behavioral’ sense, akin to eating probably a slice one fine Sunday or an In-N-Out animal style on an irritable day). I have reached a stage where there is no more that longing for bread, but when I do eat it, I savor it just like I would have for any other dish. I devour a burger, but land up leaving half the bun; I munch on pizza, but can barely go through two slices; I order a sandwich and somehow land up converting it into a salad (incidentally my favorite place in DTLA is Sarkis’ restaurant The Daily Dose, a couple streets down from where my restaurant is, not only does it serve vegan friendly food but Sarkis has this knack of converting all his sandwiches into salads for me). Best of all, this little lifestyle change has got me back to my 165 lbs; I fit into all my clothes and have started a brand new routine at the gym beginning March (4 months and going strong, hell yeah!).

In honor of this little win – that of not getting habituated with something (and it extends to other thoughts on lifestyle too), I have chalked this recipe down for my readers. I used to regularly bake this enticingly delicious bread back home. A traditional recipe adapted from my grandmother’s 20+ year old English baking book “Hamlyn All Colour – Teatime Favourites”. This recipe is a traditional Cottage Milk Loaf and is my most valuable recipe. It is a simple recipe of white flour kneaded with milk and baked in a clay pot, super easy to put together. It is best for a large gathering and looks great when served straight out of the oven. Try this out on an indulgent day, just promise me one thing – don’t get addicted to it.

Cottage Milk Loaf

Ingredients

• 450ml Whole Milk
• 2 Level Tsp Dried Yeast
• 1 Tsp Sugar
• 675 gms All Purpose Flour
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 25 gms Powdered Sugar
• 75 gms Unsalted Butter (Or if you use salted, do away with the salt)
• 1 Beaten egg and 1 Tsp milk to use as a wash

Meathod

• Pre heat oven to 230C (450F).`
• Warm the milk slightly and pour over the dried yeast and the teaspoon of sugar, mix well and leave to activate for about 10 minutes (it will froth up)
• Rub the fat (butter) into the flour, salt and powdered sugar till it resembles bread crumbs. Pour the activated yeast slurry into the flour and start kneading vigorously.
• Once the dough comes together, turn it over onto a large platform sprinkled with a little flour. Start by squishing the dough with the palms of your hands and folding. This ensures there is enough carbon dioxide being infused into the dough, the more you do, the more texture (bread holes) you get in the final product.
• Place in a polythene bag and keep undisturbed for about an hour. It should have doubled in size.
• Turn out once again onto a floured platform, knock back the dough and knead for about two minutes till it is nice and supple.
• Divide the dough 1/3rd and 2/3rd, roll the larger piece into a smooth ball and place inside a large clay pot (I used a 14” wide mouthed clay pot), honestly even a flower pot will do. Roll the smaller piece into another ball and place on top of the larger one pressing it down softly. Stick a tall wooden spoke into the centre to hold the dough in place. Cover with an oiled shrink wrap and leave to rise for another hour.
• Unwrap, brush with the egg & milk wash. Pop the clay pot in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes (or until the tops are browned and even toned). You can remove the wooden spoke from the centre after 40 minutes to check on doneness. If it’s sticky in the centre, just pop it back for another 8-10 minutes. Another way to check is to tap the top and the bread will make a hollow sound.
• You can serve it straight from the clay pot, there’s no need to turn it out on to a wire rack as the clay pot absorbs the moisture.
• Enjoy this wholesome bread with practically anything. (If) any leftovers, refresh in a 200C oven the next day for about 8 minutes or till just warm and use as slices for sandwiches.My personal take away from this little lifestyle change is that do whatever you want as far as diet, health and keeping strong is concerned, but moderation is the key and working out is a must (even if it is a walk up and down your street every day). I am not a health or nutrition expert and every person’s dietary needs are extremely personal. This is just generic information I have passed on with my experiences in a diet/health change and is not intended to make one change themselves drastically.

1. Never give up something completely (unless it is smoking or some incredibly bad vice) for a diet, you are born eating specific foods and your bodies (genes etc.) are tuned to eating the foods from your land, if Roti (wheat) has been your staple, eat it in moderation if you cutting out carbohydrates but don’t just give it up completely and suddenly. You want to shock your body, but nicely.

2. Change your diet around to include substitutes to the ingredient you are moderating on, there is a world of information out there or consult your PT / doctor / nutritionist if you are not sure where to start. Include proteins (yes, there are an incredible number of ingredients around you which have a burst of protein).

3. Make it a habit to read the nutrition information on every food you buy. Make sure the protein is high, the calories low and sugar and sodium moderate (trust me that’s a difficult thing to go, but you will gradually learn to pick up the more sensible foods once you get into the habit of reading labels. I found a natural fruit and vegetable based popsicle worth only 10kcal with no added fake sugars like aspartame and it completes my candy cravings)

4. No particular (hardcore) diet is necessary. It’s just the right way of clean, light and sensible eating which matters. You will just tire of eating something completely obscure and tasteless (I have heard of some cleanse diet where you are supposed to only have a particular liquid for some god forsaken number of days – can you believe it, I have seen 4 people indulge in this and give it up in a few days). The whiplash of stopping is it is a complete negative for your system.

5. Find (use) local ingredients to cook with, eat fresh and fun, experiment with spices and herbs (they add immense flavor), and start using fresh home-made ghee or coconut oil in your fat usage. Find your favourite comfort food to latch back on should you get bored (mine is Sev Puri, Asian Style Chicken dishes, Roti and this bread).

6. Work out, Work out, Work out. Stay healthy!