Heater Meals

Yum Heater Meals.

My COUSIN and Bo who stayed in New Orleans during the worst of the worst (stupid art student...just kidding Hanna), brought me the most unusual gift for Christmas. Heater Meals are a self contained meal. Well that doesn't sound so special, consider there is no microwave or oven required to get the little delicacies steaming hot, now that's something. The magicians at Heater Meals have devised a way to heat the meal using a chemical heating method. They have even provided a small pouch of water to start the magic reaction. Pour the water on the chemical heating unit, place the heater meal face down (there is a sturdy protective cover) on the pad, store the whole thing back in the box, and in a few minutes there is steam pouring out of the box. Unfortunately the steam does not really smell that appetizing, but then you can't have it all.

The best part is the taste. They are as good as or better than the best store bought frozen dinner. I really wanted to hate this idea, but after having it, I wouldn't mind buying a few more for those long trips to the orient, where the food is certainly not as good as a heater meal, or to an away bike race where you are not sure where you will eat. HERE is a picture of the back of the box with good directions and the nutritional information. Check out the ingredients, really nothing too bad. I had the chicken pasta Italiana.

Foundation Boule (and flour myths)

You can criticize the French for many things, but one thing is for certain, they have made the art of cooking just that, an art. One of my favorite French foods is the most simple, bread. Unfortunately until recently I was unable to bake a loaf of French bread that compared to the best I could get locally.

All that changed when I went home to visit my folks, and my sister in law, who is the biggest Francophile I know gave me a brief lesson on making a boule. Boule is the French word for a round domed shaped piece of yeast bread. Texture of a baguette, but a different shape. Of course I completely forgot most of what I learned, other than it was really simple. There she was making two loaves of boule with a child in one arm, and explaining to me what to do. A multitasking princess! We made a sour dough that had well, a sour dough starter. I came home with the self confidence to make a simple boule.

As I said I forgot most of what I learned, but I did a little research and tried to remember as much as I could

1 cup warm (100 degree F) Water

1 package yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour or Bread flour

2 tbl Kosher Salt

1 egg white

1 tbl water

The first thing you will notice is there are very few ingredients, and I generally think that is a good thing, one its usually healthier, but more importantly is easier to make. I am always trying to be more efficient in the kitchen. Examples of that efficiency follow

Mix warm water, yeast and sugar in a measuring cup. Stir and let sit 5 minutes. While the yeast is having a party and multiplying, go fetch the remainder of ingredients and put the flour and 1 tbl of Salt in the food processor. Pulse a few time to mix. I didn't use the plastic blade, because well that's one more thing to go get and quite frankly internet recipes called for the metal blade.
Slowly add the water/sugar/yeast mixture to the food processor while its on. The dough will form a ball. Stop the processor once the ball forms. If the ball seems wet, and slimy add a 1/4 cup of flour, if it doesn't form a ball add a few tablespoons of water. Turn the processor on and keep adjusting the consistency (you may not have to do anything). Let the ball go around for 30 seconds.

Remove the dough ball. The sides of the processor should be fairly clean, if not it was probably too wet, don't worry it will still work. Knead the dough a few times by hand, and put the dough ball in bowl and cover. No need for oiling the dough or bowl as some recipes call for. That takes time, and with little advantage.

Let the dough rise in a warm place a couple hours until it has doubled in size. Punch it down and remove from the bowl. Knead a few times by hand.

Throw some flour on a baking sheet, do your best to form a round dough ball. With both hands push down on the left and right edges of the ball and tuck under. Turn the ball 1/4 of turn and do more stretching and tucking. This makes the top of the all tight and smooth. Once you get tired of doing this (3 or 4 complete turns) put a towel over the ball, and let rise a couple more hours.

Turn the oven to 450 and score the top of the dough ball with a razor. There is a specific tool for this, and I am sure Williams and Sonoma would sell you one. I use a box cutter. Make 4 to 6 scores on the top of the ball. Paint the top with egg white / water mixture and then sprinkle liberally with Kosher Salt. I like salt.

Put the bread in the oven and turn it down to 375. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Many people use pizza stones, mist the bread, or throw ice cubes in the oven to make the crust crisp. My crust is very crisp without any of that. Again more efficient. The bread should sound hollow when tapped from the bottom. It may stick to the baking pan so I guess you could put corn meal down or parchment, but I just pry it off. Its fine.

The result is better than anything I can buy locally, it has a great texture, crisp crust, and I love the Kosher Salt on top. I've added roasted garlic to the dough and that's pretty good too. And I just love the rustic look. It makes me think some artisan did it.



Making the bread got me investigating the difference in all the possible bread flours. I had on hand Whole Wheat PastryDough from THIS recipe, and I had just purchased 5 lbs of bread flour, as that is what my sister in law suggested. Reading the labels I was shocked. Click below to see the Labels.





The first thing you will notice is the bread dough is lower in calories, lower in fat, higher in protein, higher in other nutrients. Wow, why would I use whole wheat when I could get a seemingly healthier ingredient in bread dough. Hey I don't make this stuff up. I questioned a few people on why they preferred whole wheat.

"Whole wheat has less sugar"
Actually neither has sugar

"Whole wheat is a slower burning carb"
I think what they mean is that it has a lower Glycemic Index, that is the rate which the carbs raise your blood sugar levels. Hmmm, well I checked out http://www.glycemicindex.com/ and searching for wholewheat flour resulted in a GI of 73 (same as beer!) and a carbs/g of 11.4, while bread flour (from the US) had a GI of 70 and 13.4 carbs/g. So wholewheat has a higher GI, but according to them has a lower carbs/g, so in fact the load of what your body experiences is slightly higher for white bread flour as opposed to whole wheat flour, but not my much. And both are so high compared to other foods, its like asking what car consumes more gas a Hummer or Panzer Tank. Neither are appropriate if you are trying to keep a low GI diet. Why you would want to do that anyway is a subject for another debate. The same site says anything of 70 is considered a high GI food. It also recommends switching from wheat to oats, barley and bran. For a really good explanation on wheat types see THIS article.

"Whole wheat is less processed"

Thats true, they strip away the germ and add back more nutrients than they took away. Sure those vitamins are "processed", but so are the ones in the pill you probably take every morning, and no one accuses those vitamins as being processed.

"Whole wheat flour has more fiber"

I refer you to the the two labels above. They have the same amounts.

Now it could be true that my two samples of flour are not indicative of store bought items with either whole wheat or non whole wheat, but for my home made bread, it appears as there is no advantage to using whole wheat flour, and besides, thats one more thing to buy and store.

Ever Wonder What Winter Riding is Like?

Most people can't imagine riding a bike for 3-4 hrs in the middle of winter. There is no racing on the horizon and everyone seems to have a common cycling regiment of putting in hours on the bike to raise their aerobic capacity. Here is a short clip (3 min/12 MB) of a few scenes from today's ride through Pittsford/Mendon/Fishers. Mostly pictures of guys butts, and the wind going down the hill in Powdermill Park is hard to listen to. Fixed gear ride in mid 30s, and mostly dry roads.

Click Here for a .wmv format, sorry Mac guys.

The video was done with a Tony Hawk Helmet Cam, and associated software. I applogize to all those who did not want to be taped and I got your rear end, and to those that wanted to be taped but I missed, let me know.

If I didn't look like such a dork, I would wear it more often. Perhaps in a training race, where looking like a dork can't be avoided.

WOPAS part 1

"A person's potential is confined only by self-imposed limitations and the irrationality of others" -Brent Bender

When I was a kid my mother had this saying that really upset me, "It's not IQ it's I CAN", of course my response was always, that's because you don't have a very high IQ, then it was off to my room.
As I've gotten older, my mother has become more wise. That saying is always in the back of my head when I work with really smart people who can't seem to get anything done. Its also hit home to me after I got a Power Meter for my bike.

At first the Power Meter was yet another cycling toy, then it became a slave. I was the child and it was the master. I was constantly not doing my best. The numbers didn't lie. I rarely lived up to my expectation. For days I would grimace as I looked at the PT computer, much like people who don't want to get on the scales to weigh themselves, I never wanted to ride my hardest, because the numbers never lived up to my expectations. This turned into a self fulfilling prophesy, as I became more depressed over my lack of power, my performance likewise suffered.

Being an engineer I recognized this as a negative feedback loop. I also began to realize what a powerful governor the mind is. Our mind has the potential to slash our performance, perhaps it also has the ability to augment our performance just as much. Hopefully the chart below explains my thoughts

There is a continuum of cycling performance, somewhere between the abilities of my mother (sorry mom) and Lance is my average ability. I am sure I am closer to my Mom than Lance, heck I never even met Lance. But my athletic ability is not constant from day to day, independent of my physical fitness, my mind plays a relatively unforgiving role in my ability. This area below and above my average ability I define as the Window Of Potential Athletic Success or WOPAS.

I think people underestimate the size of the window. I can surely confirm the window stretches very far to the left. Screaming at the kids, being kicked by the boss, and late for a deadline will move your abilities to the left of the window. What remains relatively unexplored, yet through symmetry most likely exists is the area to the right side of the window.

The Power Meter is a great tool for understanding your fitness at times throughout the year. It provides a crisp language for describing exercises and for reporting results. It is not a tool to compare one riders potential with another. Fortunately there is more to cycling than pure physical power. The brain gets involved in race strategy and in pushing you body beyond where its thinks it should quit. The body is an hourly worker, the brain can pay huge bonuses for overtime.

A friend of mine told me that it only takes 2 people to have a bike race, with the Power Tap, it only takes one, me and the computer. Its hard to constantly beat your best, and I'm working on that not getting me down, but looking for some way to use it as mental motivation. I've got some ideas, but you will have to wait for the book.

"Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize that there's adifference between knowing the path and walking the path." -Morpheus- from "The Matrix"