L'altre dia buscava en el llibre magnífic de Linda Collister
Pan. De la chapata al pan de centeno (Barcelona: Acanto, 2007) una recepta per fer pa, per fer un pa que no hagués fet mai abans i que em resultés atractiu per una raó o altra. Vaig anar a parar al pa Grant, i em van cridar l'atenció tres coses: (1) és un pa que no es pasta, (2) el temps de fermentació és molt curt, tot just mitja hora, i (3) el pa és el resultat d'un error. La recepta tenia tots els ingredients --mai tan ben dit-- per resultar atractiva, i m'hi vaig posar.
Un cop fet el pa i comprovat que era boníssim, molt gustós, vaig sentir curiositat per saber quin era l'error que havia portat a la recepta. Després de voltar una estona per internet, no només vaig aclarir això, sinó que vaig descobrir que al darrere del pa Grant hi havia una dona excepcional, valenta i --potser per això-- avançada al seu temps: Doris Grant, que va defensar quan encara no ho feia pràcticament ningú els avantatges dels aliments sense refinar, del consum de fruita i verdura crua, i de no barrejar aliments de diferents tipus (això últim és dur de mantenir...).
L'error que hi ha al darrere del pa Grant és tan humà... Un bon dia, fent pa a casa, Doris Grant es va oblidar de pastar el pa, i arran d'això va fer un experiment: va fer tastar als amics la versió pastada i la versió sense pastar, i hi va haver acord que el segon era millor.
En fi, aquí teniu la meva versió de la recepta (a internet n'hi trobareu unes quantes més). I a sota, l'obituari que va publicar el diari
The Telegraph arran de la mort de Doris Grant, un excel·lent resum de la seva vida.
pa Grant
Ingredients
- 700 g de farina de blat integral*
- 1 culleradeta de sal
- 15 g de llevat fresc
- 1 culleradeta ben plena de mel
- 600 ml d'aigua tèbia
- llavors de sèsam (cru o torrat)
* (millor ecològica; jo en vaig combinar 500 g amb 100 g de farina blanca per fer pa i 100 g de farina de civada; segur que es poden fer altres combinacions on predomini la farina de blat integral, s'ha de provar!; també es pot fer, segons la recepta canònica, amb 700 g de farina d'espelta ecològica)
Elaboració
1. Desfeu el llevat en un bol petit i barregeu-lo amb uns 100-150 ml d'aigua tèbia; afegiu-hi la mel.
2. Deixeu-ho reposar uns 10 minuts, fins que faci moltes bombolles.
3. Barregeu en un bol gran la farina i la sal, i aboqueu-hi el llevat i la resta de l'aigua. Feu una massa amb la mà durant uns 2 minuts, des de les vores cap al mig, fins que estigui elàstica i se separi de les parets del bol. Quedarà més humida i tova que una massa de pa normal.
4. Aboqueu la massa en un motllo de plum cake engreixat i enfarinat, tapeu-la amb un drap humit i deixeu-la en un lloc càlid mitja hora.
5. Mentrestant, escalfeu el forn a 200 ºC (amb turbo, si en teniu; si no, amb foc a dalt i a baix). Fiqueu-hi un plat o un bol vell amb aigua.
6. Tireu les llavors de sèsam per sobre de la massa i fiqueu el motllo al forn. S'hi ha d'estar uns 35-40 minuts. Per saber si ja està cuit, traieu el pa del motllo i piqueu-lo per sota amb els dits: si sona buit, ja està; si sona pesat, coeu-lo 5 minuts més.
7. Un cop cuit, traieu el pa del motllo i deixeu-lo refredar en una reixeta.
(Si voleu veure les altres receptes d'aquest blog, pitgeu l'etiqueta
receptes que trobareu a la columna de la dreta.)
Aquí teniu
l'article del Daily Telegraph, que es va publicar fa deu anys amb motiu de la mort de Doris Grant, als 98 anys. M'ha semblat un miracle que, passat aquest temps, l'enllaç de la Wikipedia encara m'hagi portat al text, i per això goso reproduir-lo aquí sota.
Doris Grant
12:01AM GMT 29 Mar 2003
Doris Grant, who has died aged 98, had an important influence on public attitudes to diet as a champion of fresh, natural ingredients and minimal processing of the food we eat.
Over a period of 60 years, she maintained a running battle with the major food companies by criticising the use of refined carbohydrates, particularly in white bread and white sugar, and dismissing their claim that these were all that the public would eat. At first they ignored her.
Then there were a series of responses by doctors pointing out her lack of medical qualifications. A professor of nutrition wrote to one newspaper claiming that the issue of white or brown bread was no more than a matter of colour prejudice.
But in writing a weekly column in the Sunday Graphic during the mid-1930s, and then a series of best-selling books, Doris Grant pulled no punches.
In attacking agene, which was added to flour to make the bread easier to bake, she declared: "If you love your husbands, keep them away from white bread . . .If you don't love them, cyanide is quicker but bleached bread is just as certain, and no questions asked."
One of her most celebrated achievements was the "Grant Loaf". To produce three of these loaves required 3 lb of stone-ground wholewheat flour; two pints of water; two teaspoons of salt; three teaspoons of Barbados sugar (or, alternatively, a tablespoonful of honey); and three teaspoon measures of dried yeast.
But the key element in the Grant Loaf was the result of an error which she made when she started to make her own bread: after several months Doris Grant realised that she had forgotten to knead her dough. She then conducted an experiment, using kneaded and unkneaded dough, in which her friends confirmed that the latter tasted best.
A farmer's daughter, she was born Doris Margaret Louise Cruikshank on January 25 1905 and was educated at Banff Academy. Young Doris went on to Glasgow School of Art, where she won a scholarship to study in Rome. But when she became engaged to Gordon Grant, whom she met through their mutual interest in music, it was withdrawn and given to the next best candidate.
After marrying in 1927, the couple moved to England, where Gordon Grant set up the London office of his family firm, William Grant, the distillers. But the early years of Doris Grant's married life were overshadowed by arthritis, which became so bad that she found herself climbing the stairs on her hands and knees.
The usual medical remedies failed. A cousin, who was also a doctor, then gave her an unusual prescription, consisting of three columns of proteins, starches and acid fruits with the instruction, "Don't mix foods that fight!"
After finding her health restored within weeks, she looked into the origin of the list, which lay in a book by Dr William Hay, an American who had adopted healthy eating after suffering from Bright's disease.
When Doris Grant met Hay, he told her his golden rules. These included not eating concentrated starches and proteins in the same meal; ensuring that raw foods, such as salads and fruits, made up the major part of a diet; eating proteins, starches and fats in smaller quantities than is customary; and making sure that an interval of at least four hours elapsed between meals of a different character.
Doris Grant became a keen supporter of these ideas on compatibility, but there have been others who have been sceptical, pointing out that there is no scientific proof to support them. Nevertheless, there is some substantial anecdotal evidence of people feeling better as a result.
Hay suggested that she write a book for the British market, and this was published in 1937. After the outbreak of war, Doris Grant wrote
Feeding the Family in Wartime (1942), which emphasised the importance of a balanced diet in a time of severe restrictions, and offered a selection of recipes.
Two years later she published
Your Daily Bread, the first of her bestsellers. In addition to supplying recipes, this cited a wide variety of evidence about how beri-beri became prevalent in such places as Norway, Labrador and Java after white flour and other "civilised" foods became fashionable. Refined white bread, from which wheat germ had been removed, was a "murdered food", she concluded.
Doris Grant continued to campaign into old age.
Food Combining For Health, written with Jean Joice, came out when she was 79, selling some 250,000 copies and being translated into six languages; 10 years later another edition was published.
At the same time, she linked up with other whole food campaigners - such as Lady Eve Balfour, of the Soil Association, and the Henry Doubleday Research Association - who were slowly changing attitudes to methods of mass-produced food. She also clashed with the Ministry of Health by criticising the use of fluoridation in drinking water.
This did not mean that Doris Grant had no time for other interests. She became an expert on flower arranging and, after the war, when there was a shortage of costume jewellery, taught herself to make brooches, necklaces and ear-rings, which the Queen's dressmaker Norman Hartnell sold in his London boutique.
She and her husband had two daughters, with whom they formed a string quartet. Doris Grant played the cello; their daughter Elizabeth took the viola; while Gordon Grant and their other daughter Anne were on violins.
When Gordon Grant retired to Bournemouth in 1962, she took navigation classes so that she could help him when they sailed off the Normandy and Brittany coasts.
In old age Doris Grant was delighted to see that many of her ideas were being accepted by the medical establishment; even her daughter Elizabeth, who had been a sceptic on qualifying as a doctor, had become a convert.
When Doris Grant, at the age of 90, was interviewed with her husband by The Food Programme on Radio Four, Gordon Grant explained how he now made the family's bread, and had become "pretty well a hundred per cent believer" in his wife's ideas; however, she placed rather more emphasis than he on the necessity for moderation when taking whisky as part of a diet.
Doris Grant, who died on February 27, was predeceased by her husband. Their two daughters survive them.
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