Why You Should Bake Your Own Bread

If I can do it, anyone can - plus, weekend reading

Me at work making sourdough bread - see the full video here

It’s easy to say you don’t have time. In fact, that’s what many of us do when we don’t want to fit something else into our busy lives. Myself included. But if you’re like me and enjoy bread, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not making your own.

Once you overcome the initial learning curve, it’s very straightforward. Most of the time spent baking is passive — the sourdough starter does the work for you.

And the best part? You know everything that goes into the bread. It should only be four ingredients — starter, flour, water, and salt. That’s it.

As I discuss in the sourdough movie I made below, American bread is in crisis. Even “upscale” grocery stores like Whole Foods sell fresh bread that includes all sorts of additives and preservatives. It’s increasingly difficult to find bread in America that the rest of the world would consider real bread (limited to the four ingredients I mentioned).

I discuss these issues while testing a new Le Creuset bread oven. I also talk about why I became a crazy bread guy in the first place.

Bottom line — we should be demanding more from our food, especially in America where we consistently choose convenience over quality, as I described in this 7-Eleven essay.

Even if you don’t choose to attempt your own sourdough, I hope the movie below is thought-provoking and enjoyable.

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Great essays for weekend reading

In case you didn’t know, I’m a huge baseball fan. It’s been my favorite sport ever since my dad introduced it to me as a toddler. As a lifelong fan of the Seattle Mariners, this year has been special.

It’s the first time in 24 years that the Mariners clinched the AL West. I’m thrilled, but saddened that my dad missed it, despite enduring 22 of those years (most of them with losing teams).

So in this essay I discuss gratitude and mindfulness when it comes to success. Not just in baseball, but in life.

Even at the heights of invincibility, the ledge is always nearby. And the drop may last for 24 years before you can start the climb again.

Read the full essay here. (Also on Medium, where it was boosted).

We’ve also published some great pieces recently at the publication I manage, The Political Prism (which passed 11,000 subscribers!). Here are a couple, both of which were boosted by Medium’s curators:

• What I Learned About the Plight of Ukraine’s Children at the United Nations This Week (Russia is waging Educide, a secondary war far from the frontlines, against Ukraine’s children) by Oksana Kukurudza’s Sunflowers Rarely Break

• How to Kill Free Speech Without Touching the Constitution (The government doesn’t need to ban dissent when it can terrify bosses into censoring workers for them) by Bryan Driscoll

Another great essay I read recently is more of a listicle, but it’s entertaining — GQ’s 125 Rules for Modern Gentlemen. I think I’ll need to make a short video or write a reaction piece with my thoughts here because there’s a lot to unpack. A few of my favorite “rules”:

• “Take out your AirPods when you’re talking to someone. Muting doesn’t count.”

• Call it old-school, call it charming. But if we’re walking together, the gentleman should take the street side. I’ll be on the inside by the buildings. It’s a quiet sign from you to me that says, “I’ve got you.”

• Dress up for work, whatever that means to you.

• Small talk is both an art and a courtesy to the person next to you at a social occasion. Think of who’s going to be at the party and do a bit of prep work. Practice talking to strangers at coffee shops, the dry cleaner’s, wherever. You can do it!

• It’s always better to be overdressed. (Again.) After a decade or so of dressing down feeling especially fresh, suddenly there’s no cooler move than showing up to the function in a look sharp enough to make people assume you’re heading somewhere spectacular afterward.

I’m bringing back the suit or at least a blazer this fall and winter. Stay tuned.

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Thanks for being here, and have a good weekend.