You eat more salt in bread than in potato chips? I think not...

marilynfl

Moderator
I've got a bone to pick with the linked USAToday story on sodium research.

While I'm not debunking their data, what jumped out at me was the comparison portion size: 1 oz.

Their research shows various bread products (English muffins, cornbread, etc) have more sodium in 1 oz of bread than the 120 mg in 1 oz of potato chips, but I know my (lack of) will power. While I can stop at 1 or 2 slices a bread, I'd have a HARD time stopping at 1 oz of potato chips.

To give you an example, they don't even SELL 1 oz servings of potato chips at our cafeteria. There is the individual bag serving (1 3/4 oz, almost twice their research control). One bag of that and you're already over the sliced bread sodium numbers.

Lately, they've changed to a 2.5 serving bag, which almost everyone I know eats at one sitting.

And now they've found space for 5 oz bags. With jars of dip near by.

Tell me, do you know any engineers? Because I can tell you first-hand that they'll sit at a computer ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT if you give them enough chips and Mountain Dew. But a loaf of bread? Na. They're not going to binge on that.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2012-03-04/Bread-is-a-big-source-of-Americans-salt-intake-too/53357294/1

 
Interesting you should bring this up. I was listening to a late night talk show

and the health professional brought up this exact statistic about sodium, bread and chips. I was floored. She was talking about a natural supplement, Lithium Orotate used to treat several brain chemistry issues. Interesting talk with some curious facts.

 
Chips are one of my red-light foods. I can eat just a little something

sweet and be happy with it but I could eat a whole bag of chips and a wash basin full of dip or guacomole. Chips tend to taste saltier than they really are because the salt is on the outside of them. People don't think of a lot of things like bread or ketchup as being high sodium because they don't taste salty to them.

 
The reason this is so is because we eat more bread than potato chips. . .

Se the quote from the article below.

I don't know about you, bit I surely eat more bread than potato chips! smileys/smile.gif

"Breads and rolls aren't saltier than many of the other foods, but they are consumed frequently by many people, says Mary Cogswell, a CDC researcher and one of the study's authors. 'Bread is also one of the top sources of calories because we consume so much of it.'"

 
I've switched to my favorite store-bought La Banderita flour tortillas for making wraps,

scrambled egg/chicken sausage/burger tortillas, etc. and I only use one that I sometimes microwave for 10 seconds. That's one way I'm cutting down on carbs so that I can snack on Chester's Flamin' Hot Fries - LOL

 
You're right Melissa, I keep forgetting to do that but then, sometimes I place some provolone cheese

onto the tortilla to melt.

I can't wait to make my own tortillas on my tortilla maker. I have a chile-black pepper recipe that I want to try. I've made empanada dough on it a couple of times, but the dough wasn't right. Working seven days a week for over two months leaves no time for fun or experimenting - ugh!

 
I hear you sistah! Just made some Italian bread yesterday. . .

or, at least, my version of Italian bread. Shaped into long loaves, wet the loaves skin and patted on lotsa sesame sead.

They sprang in the oven like a dream, nice crust, and the flavor--I didn't realize that the sesame flavor would go into the bread so much. It was absolutely delicious, and I am fighting myself to keep from polishing off a whole loaf (I made three!).

'bout the only commercial bread I buy are sourdough from local individual bakeries, naan from an ethnic market locally and tortillas from SmartNFinal!

 
aw sweetie, I've got 3 failed attempts, a tortilla press, heavy plastic, and masa that prove you

wrong.

This has entered into my Culinary Hall of Shame, defined as one- or two-item foods that I can't make with a high level of consistently.

*coffee
*hard-boiled eggs (including ALL of the following attributes: non-rubbery, non-oxidized, easy to peel)
*sweet plantains
*tortillas

I can manage a tiered limoncello tiramisu with every component hand-made: piped Lady Fingers, lemon curd, my own bottled limoncello, fresh zabaglioni, whipped heavy cream, and keylime melt-away crust....but I can't boil a damn hard-boiled egg with any assurity that it will turn out perfect.

 
if you try tortillas again:

Here's how I do it, FWIW:

Starting with the recipe on the MaSeCa brand masa, add a little more water until the dough is quite moist. If the edges crack when you pinch a little ball to flatten it, it's too dry. I find I need a moist dough to keep it from sticking to the plastic used to line the press. Let the dough rest 30-60 minutes if you have time. Cut the open edge and both sides off of a freezer quality plastic bag (I think a thicker bag works better than a thin bag) so it is just a little bigger than your press. Small tortillas are easier to work with, I use a small walnut size piece (20-22gm) unless I really need a bigger tortilla. Put the ball between the plastic sheets on middle of the press, press gently, rotate and flip, press again, more firmly this time. If I don't rotate and flip, one side is slightly thinner, even if I place the ball off-center. Open the press, peel off top plastic, lay the plastic back down gently, flip the tortilla over, peel off the plastic on this other side, pick up the tortilla and lay the dough side on your hand then on hand, then peel off the plastic (now a little less tightly adhered because it has been peeled off once) and lay the tortilla on a dry, fairly hot cast iron skillet. Cook about 1 minute, flip, cook about 30 seconds. Adjust cooking time and temp of pan to barely get a few light brown spots if you are making enchiladas. You can cook them longer if you are going to fry them later. If I do a really good job with my dough I can skip the peel, replace, flip, peel rigmarole and just peel and place on my hand to peel the other side.

 
re. peeling hard boiled eggs

Since I have been buying eggs at the farmer's market I have have been shocking them after cooking, returning them to the pan once they have cooled a bit, quickly returning the water to a boil then putting them back in the ice water. This technique has drastically improved my peeling success.

 
cyalexa, I've heard of this method but I've had good luck an easier way--first, prick the wide end

of each egg with a drafting pin. They used to make something called an egg pricker for this purpose but a regular push pin is just the right depth. You can prick them in the carton since they're packed rounded side up. This eliminates the air pocket inside and produces a nice rounded egg.

Bring just to a boil starting with cold water, turn off the heat, cover and let sit 12 minutes. (longer can give you rubbery whites and what Julia calls "dolefully discolored yolks."

Drain promptly, fill the pan with cold water, which will get hot, and drain again. Fill with ice water this time and hit each egg against the side of the pan to crack slightly. Let sit a few minutes so some water leaks under the shell. They usually peel easily.

Marilyn, if after all that they are still hard to peel it's their own damn fault and not a reflection on your cooking skills or character.

I've heard really fresh eggs are hardest to peel but that's not usually the case in our supermarkets.

 
What Joe said....my method exactly. I'll give cyalexa's method a try as I've never done that before.

 
na, same problem with flour. I even tried adding a bit of pork lard (ala Rick Bayless)

total fiasco.

Which, in retrospect, is probably a good thing.

 
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