Acres in a Loaf of Bread

Common Grain Alliance ^ | 2020 | Heather Coiner

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Link for the above post!

Article: Why did women stop dominating the beer industry?

(My thought about he Smithsonian article is that it was Household Husbandry and Inn Keeping and not an "Industry" until about 2 centuries ago. Still, some good information.)

[Ellendra]

Hopefully being at the low end of the metabolic curve is an asset when the food shortages hit. If access to food requires a significantly greater calorie expenditure, the ability to run on low inputs may be compromised.

If not for other people, it would definitely be a survival advantage. If the majority are having trouble finding enough food, being the only fat lady will definitely draw some attention!!

[Ellendra]

The drink was an inexpensive way to consume and preserve grains.

You can also use the spent grains, and the yeasty sediment from the bottom of the fermentation vessel, to make bread with. I suspect that the first yeast breads were made because somebody decided to get multiple uses out of their brewed grains.

Getting the right proportion takes some experimenting. I've done it once using the sediment from a batch of wine, and it worked well enough, but I should have used more in the batch. This provides a way to grow your own yeast, for those of us who don't like the sour part of sourdough bread.

I'll probably have quite the brewery going if I have to survive on what I grow. I recently learned that my chronic pain disorder is actually the result of an inability to metabolize arginine into agmatine. Taking agmatine sulfate supplements eliminated all my symptoms overnight! But, if I can't buy agmatine, I'll have to produce it somehow, and yeast is the most promising option. But that's going to require a lot of yeast!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Ellendra; I can see using the mash for your farm animals, but that is the first I have heard about using it for bread!

Brewers yeast is very good source of B vitamins and can be used to give a Cheesy Uami taste.

You probably have your own Brewing source somewhere in Wisconsin. (I dunnoh....Are their brewing supplies in Wisconsin? :) But here is another!

Northern Brewer Home Brewing supplies

Survival foods! Beside Potatos, turnips, carrots, and Rutabagas are good choices and all store well for a long time. In season, turnips are just about the fastest growing vegetable. You can eat them, your animals can eat them. (So can wild animals...Other readers....fencing is probably the first thing a starting gardener should buy! Ellendra...I know you already know this!)

(I am making cider right now....I may use it to make vinegar later!)

[Myrddin]

If the majority are having trouble finding enough food, being the only fat lady will definitely draw some attention!!

No problem. Neither fat or a lady. 😉

[Ellendra]

Unfortunately, I’m both. Keeping my calorie intake below 1000 just slows down the rate of gain. At one point I managed to get my intake below 450/day for 2 weeks, but that isn’t something I can do long-term.

[Ellendra]

I actually do all my brewing with ordinary bread yeast. I know there are lots of specialized strains, there’s even a shop nearby that sells them. But when I decided to try my hand at winemaking I chose to look for the simplest method possible. Results have been good. I just don’t drink that much, so I stopped making it. It’s a good skill to have.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Was this from your own grapes?

I am making some hard cider with a Red Star wine yeast. I will use some for Vinegar. I saw a 1 qt bottle of Bragg ACV selling for $10 and decided, like you, to at least know how to produce our own.

**If you try again, bakers yeast is geared for a very fast ferment of carbs. An inexpensive wine yeast developed specifically to ferment grapes would take longer, but probably better results. Red Star, for example, makes both bread and wine yeasts.

[Myrddin]

Intermittent fasting, not starvation, is the better approach. I eat 600 calories on Monday/Thursday and 1250 the other days. Staying too low for too long signals starvation and a conservation metabolism takes over. My calorie targets on the 1250 days are aimed at sufficient protein for my lean muscle mass. 93 grams gets the job done. I shoot for 30% calories from protein, 40% calories from carbs, 30% calories from fat. My lean body mass and activity drive the protein target. The proportions hail from the "zone" diet. (93 x 4) / 0.30 = 1240 calories total. (1240 * 0.40) / 4 = 124 grams of carbs. (1240 * 0.30) / 9 = 41 grams of fat. I put those targets into MyFitnessPal and track everything I eat during the day. When I hit my targets, I stop eating for the day. The numbers are proportionately reduced for the Monday/Thursday timeframe.

There are lots of good electronic scales that will give you body fat % and water weight to track proper hydration. You can derive your lean body mass from the scale and set personal targets suitable for your own configuration. Protein sufficient is the aim. Shorting protein can have adverse effects on your heart.

I'm currently 17% body fat. At 145 lbs, it was 13.7%. Women need a higher body fat percentage to be healthy.

[Ellendra]

My wines were made from other things. The first wine I made was from butternut squash, because I assumed my first try would be a disaster and had so much squash that it would be no big loss. It turned out so well, it won a contest!

My other attempts were made from apples, melons, and one was made from coffee grounds because I wanted to see if would taste like Kahlua. (Still don’t know, somebody threw it out.)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

That is really interesting! I would not have thought squash!

Apples are a good choice for cider. I have cider fermenting downstairs.

I have rhubarb out in the garden and may give Rhubarb wine a try. There are a number of recipes for Rhubarb wine.

[Ellendra]

I have tried intermittent fasting. The only thing I got out of it were migraines and shakiness.

I’m pretty sure the problem lies in the enzymes needed to convert fat into energy. There’s a list of them needed, and if any are missing, the fat stays where it is. I know there are other enzymes my body refuses to produce, so it wouldn’t be any surprise if one of the fat-burning enzymes is also on the list. Unfortunately that’s not something that’s easy to test for.