Bio-Bubble Bread - a low phytic acid, 24 hour ferment bread

Starting at sundown, combine the following into a batter and incubate overnight until sunrise.

1 cup of Bio-Bubble
1 cup untreated rain water
2 cups organic wholemeal bread flour
40-50 grams pure honey
1 small dash of unrefined sea salt

At sunrise add the following to make a dough, knead and incubate all day until sundown.

1 heaped teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons organic flax seed
1 heaped tablespoon organic poppy seed
1 heaped tablespoon organic caraway seed (optional)
1 heaped tablespoon organic rosemary, fennel seed of coriander seed (optional)
2 cups wholemeal flour, enough to make a moist dough. Bakers choice of wheat, rye or spelt.

An hour before sundown insert hearth rock or fire bricks in over and preheat for at least an hour to 200C. Knead dough into a round loaf and score, lightly, for expansion. Flour heath and set loaf on hearth to bake for approximately 40-50 minutes, or until center is barely baked. Air cool. This bread should have a crust.

Theory behind 24 hour bread


The purpose of this bread if to bring the flour to life from its inert condition as grain.l This is a simple method that starts with finely ground whole grain flour. It can take place of the more cumbersome method of malting (sprouting, drying and grinding) whole grain to make the dough.

One of the reasons people have trouble digesting bread and develop allergies to protein rich grains such as wheat is that these grains in their inert state contain phytic acid which inhibits uptake of minerals, especially magnesium and zinc.

Enrenfired Pfeiffer's chronmatographic research into breads and bread baking suggests that flours needs to ferment as a dough for 12 to 16 hours for phytic acid to be destroyed and the resulting bread to be digestible.

Bio-Bubble serves to mediate and provide microbial support, much as plant juices - or even the clay in the soil - do. This balance between the digestive processes of lime (CaO) and the ripening processes of silica.

The result is a rich, flavourful bread that surmounts the three chief problems most people have with breads - phtic acid, yeast and undigested gluten. Phytates block absorption of magnesium and zinc. Yeasts exacerbate Candida problems and undigested gluten triggers allergies.

What is Bio-Bubble™?

Bio-Bubble™ is a fizzy, fermented probiotic powerhouse, featuring food-based antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins, enzymes and billions of beneficial microorganisms per serve.

"This defence food offers probiotic support that is far more potent than many of the task-specific probiotics. This is a fizzy, fermented liquid derived from the microbial digestion of eight organic cereal grains and several legumes including alfalfa and soybeans. Probiotics involve a numbers game where the aim is to overwhelm the 'bad' guys with the 'good' guys and you will see that the benefits can extend far beyond bio-balancing.

Bio-Bubble link here

Rosa's Spelt Bread

Ingredients

375 ml of water
1 slice of butter, approximately 2 tablespoons
2 cups of wholemeal spelt flour
2 cups of white spelt flour
1 1/2 tablespoons of milk powder
1 1/2- 2 tablespoons of unrefined brown sugar
2 teaspoons of fine celtic salt or 1 1/2 tsp of normal salt
1 sachet of Tandaco Rapid Rise yeast (if not available use the most active yeast you can source)

Directions:
Place all ingredients in order as listed above into the breaker maker (if using a timer ensure the yeast can't touch the water).

Unused portions can be frozen.

Sunday in my Garden

The winter weight gain has been creeping onto areas of my body that are already evident enough, so I decided that as today was such a glorious winter day I would work in the garden and enjoy the sunshine and hopefully the exercise! The day is so glorious that it feels like spring and from the way some of the trees are sprouting they must feel that it is spring too!

No better way to get exercise than carrying watering cans around the garden! I made a mix of 1 tablespoon of Instant Humus and 7 litres of water. Carrying a7 litres of water is a great weight exercise, and cheaper than a gym membership! If we are going to have an early spring then no better time to increase the moisture and nutrient retention in our soil!

I can never describe the wonderful feelings and emotions that I feel when I use organic products to nurture my garden. For one, I know that I am using a mineral rich humic acid derived from ancient plant matter! I gifted myself an extra thrill by mixing it all in with a stick pruned from one of our trees. For those who know me, they will be aware that I love a good stick, and this is a great stick to use to stir things!

By the time I had watered the shady south eastern part of the garden, I had developed quite a “dewy” appearance as they describe honest sweat in those old romance books! As usual I finished with a lovely cup a tea, and a sense of having accomplished something that really mattered, unlike a lot of other things I did today!

more than food for thought

Folk wisdom in Japan says that one should eat 30 different foods types every day. Counting herbs, spices, oils, nuts and seeds, it is  estimated that the typical Italian diet contains approximately 60 different food groups. The comparable estimate for the typical Western diet is just 20 food groups. So it may not be the high olive oil content and low level of saturated fats in the Mediterranean diet which confer the well-known benefits: it may be the variety as well. This would explain the French anomaly, where the consumption of butter, cream and cheese is legendary, but where freshness and variety of herbs and vegetables are also paramount.

                                Dr  Carole Hungerford. 2009.  Good Health in the 21st Century,  pp10,11.

If I was honest, I would have to admit that there are more than a few days when I would be challenged to eat even that paltry 20 food groups. 

 Note to self - do better for my own sake!

Mo, Cu and Zn - Total Cover

Molybdenum (Mo)

Plants: Supports nitrogen-fixation and nitrate conversion into plant proteins.

Copper (Cu)

Soil: Copper deficiencies can appear in boggy soils high in carbon (peat) as well as sandy soils where large quantities of nitrogen have been added.

Plants: Copper is a protein nutrient and is essential for chlorophyll production, sugar synthesis, seed and root metabolism.

People: Needed for iron transportation and the formation of haemoglobin.

Zinc (Zn)

Soil: If you have over applied phosphorous using chook manure pellets over the years, then you probably have induced a zinc deficiency. The answer is to use a foliar spray to by-pass the soil-based lockup. Zinc is important in the soil for the health of beneficial microorganisms, particularly nitrogen fixers.

Plants: Zinc is often call the energy micronutrient for plants.

People: Zinc is essential for the proper functioning of reproductive organs and for the immune system.

Link: Total Cover

Good Soil Bugs – Make them feel at home, and make it good enough to eat!

Often referred to as the soil food web, a healthy, living soil will be teeming with microbes, both beneficial and pathogenic (infective; able to cause disease). Including species of bacteria, fungi, algae, nematodes, protozoa, arthropods and earthworms, soil microbes are all vital in maintaining a healthy soil structure.

Often we’ll hear of a garden that is receiving the best of everything but still not thriving, something is just not right. The problem could be lack of beneficial soil microbes. How can this happen?

There are a number of reasons for a lack of microbes including indiscriminate use of fungicides, biocides, herbicides, nematicides or fumigated landscape soils and high salt fertilisers.

Microbe brewing is one way to overcome these problems and is easier than beer brewing. In just 24 hours, in ideal conditions you can brew billions of microbes that will help bring your soils to life!

As with all garden inputs, wear gloves and a breathing mask to ensure you don’t breathe the microbes into your lungs.

Once you have brewed and applied your microbes help create a comfy microbe home with regular composting, add minerals like Soft Rock phosphate and feeding the soils with kelp, fish, aloe, molasses, humic acid and fulvic acid. 

Managing Micronutrients : Iron, Magnesium, Boron

Iron (Fe)

Plants: Carrier of oxygen for the essential production of chlorophyll.

People: Central elements in haemoglobin and essential in the function of hundres of enzymes and proteins.

Magnesium (Mn)

Soil: More available in low pH soil and can be tied up in soils with high calcium or phosphorous.

Plants: Strongly support seed germination, fruiting and ripening. Important for nitrogen metabolism.

People: found in mitochondria and is a key component in energy metabolism.

Animals: Needed for normal growth and bone formation. Essential is reproductive health.

Boron (B) Boost

Soil: Humus is the boron storehouse, so if you don’t have good levels of organic matter you will probably have boron deficient soils. Calcium is the “trucker of all minerals” and boron is the “steering wheel”, so calcium will not work as well when boron is lacking.

Plants: Calcium can operate to full effect only if boron is present. Boron is also very important during the reproductive stage as it regulates flowering, pollination and the fruit to flower ratio. This is particularly important in fruit trees. A foliar spray just before flowering will supply boron and all other minerals at this critical time.

Deficiency Symptoms: Hollow stems in broccoli, woody texture in strawberries, flower and fruit drop in the orchard and poor seed set are all symptoms of boron deficiency. You may also see die back on passionfruit and grape vines.

People: This mineral also impacts calcium metabolism in humans. Boron influences the release of calcium into the blood and the absorption of calcium into our bones. Boron deficiency has also been strongly linked to arthritis and it is important in red blood cell development.

Animals: Boron has been used for over 30 years for the treatment of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in farm animals and could also be used to treat these problems in pets.