Pies and Procrastibaking

No new pies! These have been on the blog before...

I'm not going to lie, it's been a while. If you thought things were bad while I was finishing my masters, the five month hiatus we've just experienced might have you reconsidering. Although the blog may lie neglected while 99% of my writing energy goes into thesising, the baking has prospered. Some may call it "stress baking" (I do at times), but the term I find most appealing at the moment is "procrastibaking". The former suggests that this enjoyable past-time is stimulated by periods of anxiety, but I find that makes up only a small percentage of the driving forces behind my baking activities. More often, it is for one of three reasons: 

1. as ritual or routine - I start a sourdough loaf every Friday night or Saturday morning and then relish the wafting aroma of bread fresh out of the oven as the sun rises on Monday morning; 
2. to express gratitude, affection, and other warm fuzzy feelings - exhibit A: for a while, my sister would find in her mailbox a little tin of homemade shortbread cookies in late January for her birthday. Even if they were slightly stale, they were baked with love...; or
3. to slow down, meditate, and avoid other less gratifying tasks - feeling the flour, sugar, and oil come together between my fingers often is both relaxing and much more tangible outcomes than typing away at a computer.

My housemates are hilarious...

The last reason captures the essence of procrastibaking. Interestingly, recent research has linked procrastination to emotional barriers rather than an inability to manage time well. While, I'd like to think procrastibaking doesn't go quite as far as the "self-harm" described in this New York Times article, putting "short-term mood repair over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions" seems to fit. Procrastination is a classic case of discounting and distancing - that presentation or thesis chapter outline (or job search...) are future self's problems. Plus, baking is almost always going to be a lot more fun! 

But perhaps it's not fair to associate baking with procrastinatory behaviours, which have such a negative reputation. For those of us who love some nice science to back up our whims, there has also been a recent bit of research suggesting that baking has positive psychological effects and can improve mental health. According to a couple psychology studies, baking can be seen as a little act of creativity that promotes positive emotions, or even a form of mindfulness and meditation, which can help manage symptoms of depression. Apparently, a cake can also be worth a thousand words; baking for others often communicate messages in ways that words can't, particularly during difficult situations, like after the loss of a loved one. 

So, baking justified. As such, maybe it's not too great a leap to convey the joys of baking pies and feeding them to people. It's been nearly five years since my last pie post. This seems like an egregious state of affairs. And so, in celebration of celebrating my birthday with pie (for the fourth time, apparently), I will leave you with favourites from the last ten years.

A Patchwork of Pies

Chocolate Garden Pie (and reminiscing about dirt cups) - September 2015

A Classic Pumpkin Pie (and some seed saving) - February 2014

Spiked Rhubacot Pie (and a birthday pie party) - July 2013

Cardamom Peach Pie (with some food musings and a pie contest) - December 2012

Mushroom Spinach Quiche (and a previous pie party) - March 2012

Rhuberry Peach Crumble Pie (and some history) - July 2010

Past Birthday Posts

The End of an Era? Some Perspective (2016)

A Birthday Musings (2014)

Another Year, Another...Pie? (2013)

What's Cooking? Casado Vegetariano (2012)

Of Wine and Weather (2011)

Another Year as an Eater (2010)

Let Them Eat Cake

Qu’ils mangent de la brioche. Those famous lines are often attributed (abeit incorrectly) to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France in the late 18th century, responding to food shortages and widespread  hunger. While the origins of the utterance are still hotly debated, the sentiment behind them and what they represent is quite powerful. An impoverished segment of the population complains of a lack of food - of no bread - and the wealthy, bourgeousie's response is to "let them eat cake". It demonstrates the complete lack of understanding of why people are going hungry, and the lack of empathy for the plight of those in poverty.

It's interesting that as a society we seem convinced that both the nature of and responses to contemporary poverty have changed drastically. We may no longer confront the feudal societies of lords and serfs, but there are vast inequalities present today, not only between countries but also within nations. Income inequality, one of the best studied of these topics, is still striking and a testament to the fact that capitalism and democratic societies breed elites just as do monarchies. But income is not the only measure of poverty, nor is it considered a complete one. 

Another school of thought, adopted by media sources like Fox News, reduces poverty down to material possessions, arguing that ownership of modern appliances like refrigerators and TVs negates any claims of need. Yet, it is increasingly accepted that material goods don't tell the whole story, either (see study on car ownership). Particularly where showy items are a sign of social standing - or are at least used to give this impression - people may opt for the seemingly less rational choice of buying a flatscreen rather than necessities. This complexity is part of the challenge, and why the questions of not only of how do we measure poverty, but also how we define it, continue to plague the 'development' sphere. These are no trivial matters, as what we measure and why to a large extent informs what we do.

There seems to be two tracks of interest for those of us who happen to study topics related to poverty. On the one hand, we spend a lot of time identifying where poor people exist. A recent study used an interesting combination of survey data from national statistics bureaus in Africa, 'night lights' or luminosity data, and daytime satellite images to build a model that predicts areas of poverty. This could allow poverty tracking to enter the 'data age', filling gaps and potentially replacing costly and often inaccurate household surveys.

On the other hand, what we really need to address are the root causes of poverty-driven inequities and suffering. For instance, groups that have historically been oppressed, because of ethnicity or social caste, may be more susceptible to the poverty trap. Some argue that freedom and empowerment enhance individuals' capacity to get out of poverty. Oftentimes, underlying factors are perpetuated and exacerbated by poverty itself, resulting in a viscious cycle. Poor neighborhoods many times have underperforming schools, fewer skilled job opportunities, and perhaps greater violence and drug use, making it difficult to break the cycle. These murky waters of poverty (and social injustice) were evident in a recent article in the New York Times, which explored divides resulting not just from wealth and education but by race. Of course, if this were all simple and straightforward, we would have met the Milennium (and now Sustainable) Development Goal of ridding the world of poverty ages ago. But acknowledging it's not clear-cut is a first step.

Now for those of you who only clicked the link because you thought I was offering cake, well you're partly in luck. However, rather than simply handing out sugar-laden baked goods or approving the act without providing means of obtaining or consuming, I'm giving you the first tool to enable you to bake your own cake. Sure, this assumes you live in a house with an oven and at least a bowl, spoon, and baking pan. It also assumes you have the resources to purchase the necessary ingredients. But seeing a roadmap (ie recipe) and knowing that eating your cake is possible, can be very empowering.

Citrus Polenta Cake

⅓ cup vegetable oil (canola, sunflower, etc.)

½ cup sugar (I used raw/unrefined)

1 tbs honey (or agave)

½ cup almond milk (or other non-dairy)

Zest of 2 oranges or lemons

1 ⅓ cup fine cornmeal/polenta (can also substitute up to ⅓ cup almond meal)

1 cup plain flour (unbleached)

¼ cup cornflour/cornstarch

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate

1 tbs cider vinegar or lemon juice

¼ cup chopped almonds

Juice of 2 oranges or lemons

¼ -⅓ cup sugar (respectively; or to taste)

1. Combine first five ingredients (‘wet’ ingredients) in a large bowl.

2. Mix five ‘dry’ ingredients (flours, salt, and bicarb) in a separate bowl* so that everything is well-incorporated.

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients until everything has come together. Add acid (vinegar or lemon) and almonds, mixing just to incorporate.

4. Pour batter into a loaf pan or small cake round (grease and flour, if not a silicone pan). Bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes, until a knife comes out clean.

5. Meanwhile, heat citrus juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a soft boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes. It should be a bit syrupy and lightly coat the back of a spoon.

6. When cake is done, remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Pierce the top of the cake with a fork, so that the citrus syrup will the able to filter into the cake, then pour the syrup over the cake. Allow to cool completely. It will be dense!

*Can also do this in the first bowl, but make sure cornflour is added after the cornmeal and flour, otherwise it will clump.

Let Them Eat Bread

You may have figured I fell down a rabbit hole or got lost on the way to library. And while either of those things are likely to happen here in Oxford, I can sadly use neither as an excuse. Rather, it just so happens that the more work I have - the more looming deadlines, the more time spent sitting in front of a computer screen - the more I bake (and the less I apparently write on this blog). Friends know this to be the case, and often benefit from a plethora of carb-laden delights that one person should never (and yet, sometimes does) consume alone.

It's a strangely meditative and calming activity, which requires patience and planning. Operating literally by feel, it is also a very personal pasttime, one in which many of the bakers I know have strong opinions and preferences about process of kneading (or not), fermentation (how long), and composition (how hydrated). Luckily for you, I am not one of those people - though that might explain my bread-baking's inconsistent results. And I'm also not here to wax on the joy of baking, in spite of appearances to the contrary.

On a Skype not too long ago, my father (yes, I know you're reading this) commented on what a challenge it must be to make bread without a breadmaker or a stand mixer and breadhook. While surely those modern amenities facilitate and standardize the production of bread at home, they are by no means necessary. In fact, this comment made me pause, and reflect that actually people have made bread without mechanical aids and in much less optimal conditions for thousands of years. So of course this prompted the ensuing storm of Google searches. 

Now, many of you are familiar with baking using packets of dried yeast that you then activate in warm water with a pinch of sugar. But that 'invention' of packaged and ready to use yeast happened only in the last century and a half. Bakers have used the 'wild' yeast present in the air for much longer. Often referred to as a sourdough 'starter', the naturally occurring Saccharomyces species of yeast metabolize the sugars in grains to produce carbon dioxide and leaven the dough, while the presence of Lactobacillus bacteria create a distinctly sour flavour. Saccharomyces is also used for alcoholic fermentation in wine and beer; in fact, some theories have wine and beer as the first leavening agents in bread!

Bread is one of the foods that marks our species' transition from hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists over 10,000 years ago, initially the result of baking a porrige-like concoction of grain and water on hot stones. The flatbreads (think pita and corn tortillas) still form the basis of diets in many cultures, and must have developed independently in places as different as the arid Levant in the Middle East to the humid forests of South America. Then as far back as 6,000 years ago in the bread basket of ancient times, and likely by accident, that fateful mixing of yeast and ground grain results in a leavened loaf.

It's interesting to reflect on the evolution of this staple food over millennia. What is required of me today - mix flour, water, starter, and a bit of salt; let the dough sit for a day or so; and then preheat my oven and bake - is far less arduous than for my predecessors, even without an electric mixer. But I think perhaps less recognized and yet just as drastic is the change in substrate - from coarse whole grains ground with rocks to finely sifted milled flours. The clean white dust, which we call 'All-Purpose' in the US or 'Plain' here in the UK, bears little resemblance to its ancestors (and is of little use in baking a good loaf of bread). And perhaps for that very reason there seems to be a resurgence, even a rennaissance, of artisan baking of late - both in the home and as businesses. After tasting difference, it's not hard to understand why!

Read More: 
A Brief History of Bread - The History Channel
The Rise and Rise of Sourdough Bread - The Guardian
Bread and Women - The New Yorker
The History of Bread - The Science of Bread Making
The Story Behind a Load of Bread - Botham's of Whitby (artisan baker)
Yeast Fermentation and the Making of Beer and Wine - Nature Citables
What Makes Whole-Grain Bread So Hard to Bake? - Smithsonian
Sourdough Bread-Baking: The Levain - Chef Turned Soldier