Amaranth, Amaranth Soda Bread

Amaranth is so nutritious that the Aztecs worshipped it and it comprised 80% of their diet. It is nutritionally complete, almost 30% protein, and gluten free. The conquistadors preferred the Aztecs worship Christ so sadly, amaranth was replaced with corn.

Because I am allergic to eggs and yeast I developed this recipe for amaranth soda bread:

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:
- 1, 22 oz bag Bob’s Red Mill Organic Amaranth flour
- 2 Tbsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp cream of tartar
- 1 Tbsp aluminum free double acting baking powder

Optional dry ingredients ( medicinal):
- 1-2 Tbsp organic turmeric
- 1/2-1 Tbsp organic black pepper
- 1-2 Tbsp Ceylon cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp allspice

Optional dry yummies:
- 2-4 handfuls raisins, dried berries, goji berries

Wet ingredients:
- About 18-22 oz plain whole milk Greek yogurt, or whole milk probiotic Greek yogurt, or Kefir

Optional yummy wet ingredients adding very little sugar overall:
- 2-3 Tbsp organic local honey
Or
- 2-3 Tbsp organic maple syrup
Or
- 4 Tbsp fig spread (lightly sweetened fig preserves, this also softens the bread)

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Select a 9”x4” non stick bread baking pan and cut a piece of parchment baking paper to slip into the pan and protect your bread from being contaminated by the aluminum of the pan.

Select a large plastic mixing bowl.

Mix together dry ingredients thoroughly using a metal whisk.

Add in optional wet ingredients, then add about 18oz yogurt. Use a sturdy wooden spoon to mix, pressing the spoon into the mixture to force the dry flour into the wet ingredients. Once the flour is mostly wetted and the mixture is mostly clumps of dough, use your hands to gather the dough into a ball, then repeatedly smash the ball, shearing the dough and folding it over reforming the ball. Do this over and over until the outer surface of the ball becomes wetted to point of being tacky to slightly sticky but mostly doesn’t stick to your fingers. If the dough is too dry add yogurt. If it is too wet add flour.

When the texture is right roll the dough into a smooth ball using the bowl, pressing  together cracks, making the surface very smooth. Then shape it into a cylinder about the length and diameter of the baking pan.

Set the dough onto the parchment paper in the pan.  Take a sharp knife and slit two lines 1/8” deep from end to end near the left and right sides of the top surface lengthwise.

Place on middle oven rack and bake it for 1 hour at 350F.  Outer surface will sound hollow when tapped. Inside will be moist.  Allow to cool an hour or even overnight.  Sliche, enjoy.

Here is some. Nutritional information on amaranth:

Packed with antioxidants:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andreas_Ebert2/publication/272356648_Amaranth_sprouts_and_microgreens_-_a_homestead_vegetable_production_option_to_enhance_food_and_nutrition_security_in_the_rural-urban_continuum/links/54e30ed20cf2c3e7d2d54ea0.pdf

Excellent source of superoxide dismutase (SOD)!:
https://www.ripublication.com/irph/ijgeb-spl/ijgebv5n1_05.pdf

So important some have tried to patent it!:
http://www.google.com/patents/US5186963

Levodopa and Dopamine Circulation Throughout The Body

Levodopa and Dopamine Circulation Throughout The Body

In reading about the kidneys’ production of dopamine, I came to realize that they produce dopamine from circulating levodopa; they do not produce their own levodopa. Where does all that levodopa come from I thought? It turns out that the mesenteric organs produce a large net amount of circulating  levodopa.

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/82/11/3864/2866142

Just like with your sinemet, or mucuna, or fava, some of that levodopa is throttled before it would reaches the brain.

I thought I’d try to make a diagram of all this.

In the diagram below I put a throttle symbol to represent that some levodopa is removed before it reaches the brain by B6 which is converted to AADC.  AADC converts the levodopa to dopamine, which mostly cannot make it through the blood brain barrier. Conversely B6 is removed from the system by the drug carbidopa.  So in a mechanical representation, Since this is done in circulation and there’s no single organ that does it, this is like a throttle, like the accelerator pedal on your car. You step on the throttle and B6 dispatches to the muscles, and out of circulation so it’s no longer converting levodopa to dopamine, And the levodopa makes it into your brain. Synthetically, if you take the drug carbidopa it destroys the B6 temporarily until you eat again, but during that window there is no B6 and the levodopa makes it to the brain. However note that in this case the B6 doesn’t go to your muscles to do it’s job there. It’s just gone in this case. 

Let off the accelerator and some of the B6 returns to circulation trimming back the levodopa that makes it to your brain.

 

So my thinking is that if we can improve the performance of the mesenteric organs and determine strategies to minimize circulating B6, we may be able to reduce or eliminate the need for medication.

 

Here’s my first attempt, comments appreciated: