Infidel - Book 7

I listened to this book on audio in my car.  It was read by the author.  Infidel is the absolutely riveting account of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's life from her earliest days in Somalia, to just after she is booted out of Holland's parliament.  She is a wonderful writer, and her memory of her often brutal and sometimes loving but unsettled childhood, first in Somalia, then moving around to Saudi Arabia, Kenya with intervals back in Somalia.

Her father was a leader in the rebel government against the first dictator of Somalia after it won independence from Britain.  But the leader (I didn't get most of the names in this books.  I needed to actually read them rather than just hear them) allied himself with the Soviet Union and imposed a sort of communism.  Ayaan loved her father who was often away and indeed did eventually abandon her mother altogether.  The clan life of Somalia is incredibly complicated and holds a strong sway over the culture.  Islam played into this as well, but as Ayaan grows up the type of Islam pushed by the Muslim Brotherhood begins to take a firm hold over society.  Ayaan grapples with the brutality of her life, with frequent beatings from her unstrung mother, hers and her sister's genital mutilation forced on them as little girls by her tradition-minded grandmother, the fact that Allah seems to think so little of girls and women, who existence is only to be obedient to the men in their lives and to Allah; they are never think for themselves.

Ayaan manages to flee a forced marriage to a Somalian from Canada.  Instead of going to Canada, she escapes as a refugee to Holland.  She immediately loved this new world of order, dialogue, respect, reason, freedom and rule of law.  She eventually gets refugee status but she lied on her application because she feared being found.  In fact she was found and had to endure the Somalia clan ruling on her divorce.  With the help of many people she manages to go to university and eventually gets a masters in political science.  She becomes a Dutch citizen, begins to work for a think tank and gets dragged into the spotlight because she begins to speak out against the brutality Muslim women suffer that she sees as integral to Islam.  There are death threats and an associate she worked with on a short provocative video is murdered.  This throws Holland into a panic.

The book is beautifully written and Ayaan Hirsi Ali reads it herself and you can feel the emotion as she relives her tumultuous, surprising life. So much tragedy and pain, yet real love and connection too.   I was completely engrossed.  She is a brave, brave woman.  I don't agree with some of her conclusions, but I found her to be a lovely woman, possessed of a mind that wants truth and justice to prevail for all, no matter how frightening and dangerous that might prove to be.  She is her father's daughter, even though her father disowned her for rejecting Islam.

I want to read Ayaan Hirsi Ali's other books.  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Some Recipes - Day 10

Doing without.

These really are just recipes I've used before, but I am rediscovering how well they work for going plastic free.  I am not a sophisticated chef, so you may find these way below your level!  Since I am only buying produce from the CSA (which is infrequent in winter) or the plastic free produce at the grocery store, I have to think in terms of what's available.  For instance in two recipes, I've had to do without carrots because I could only find them already in plastic, except for some very expensive carrots that were skinny and mostly carrot tops and pricey because they were organic.  I didn't bother.  Carrots are a mainstay for us, especially those baby carrots in bags.  We miss those.  I did have some bagged carrots already in the fridge but I used them up right away.   I can't wait to get more from my CSA this Sunday.  However, it turned out that doing without carrots is ok in some recipes.

Vegetarian Chili
This is always a winner.  I wish I could remember where I got this recipe, but it is really more like a formula than a recipe.

 Saute chopped onion in olive oil in a big pot, throw in whatever other chopped vegetables you have, add garlic, 2 cans of tomatoes (I like the fire roasted with green chilies) and 2 cans of black beans (each can is about 14 or 15 oz, I think).  The important thing is to add 1 tablespoon of cumin seed.  To me this makes all the difference!  I also add in 1/2 tablespoon chili powder (I don't like things too spicy- put in more if you do) and add in salt and pepper to taste.  Let it burble on the stove for a while (an hour?).  Stir frequently so it doesn't burn on the bottom.

The veggies I had hanging out in my pantry and fridge for my most recent rendition of this were:  1 sweet potato from my CSA - this is a weird variety of sweet potato that is white inside but tastes like sweet potato!  2 rather small baking potatoes that were beginning to sprout, 1/2 of a big red pepper beginning to wrinkle, 2 turnips from the CSA, 3 stalks of celery (still working through a big bag of celery from TJ's in plastic).

I usually put in some frozen corn at the very end, but frozen corn is in plastic.  So I served this chili feeling apologetic because of the mishmash of veggies and . . .  it was scrumptious!  We had this for dinner for two nights served over rice the first night.

We also grated up some of that expensive wheel of cheddar cheese to serve on top - a delicious addition!

One day, I'll cook my own beans and have frozen tomatoes from the summer in my freezer and I'll be even more plastic free - zero waste!

When I searched images for celery, I could not find one that was wrapped in plastic, yet I am finding it is really hard to find unwrapped celery.  When you see it naked like this, my advice is snap it up!

Roasted Veggies
Chop up any veggies you have hanging around that still seem edible.  (Lately we've had acorn squash, sweet potatoes, turnips (from CSA), mushrooms, bell peppers and onions.)  Toss them in olive oil and garlic salt in your biggest roasting pan.  Make sure every bit is coated with oil.  I use my hands to mix, so vital is it to make sure everything is thoroughly coated!  I think the veggies roast better if you spread them out a bit.  Stick them in the oven (I've done this at all different temperatures!  Let's say 350 just to give a temp.) until they look done to your liking (30 minutes?  45?  Maybe a tad longer.  Depends on what you've got and how small you cut up the veggie bits)  Eat these with your main dish (sausages I bought plastic free at the meat counter, along with applesauce).  Save leftovers to make frittatas.

Frittata
Take any leftovers out of your fridge (potatoes, rice, noodles, roasted veggies)  Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and put your leftovers in to saute.  You can chop and season them up however you like, maybe with some garlic and oregano.  Mix some eggs like you are making an omelet, pour over the pan and cook like an omelet but don't flip it.  Instead just keep tilting the pan so that the uncooked egg runs to the side and under the already cooked egg (lift up the edge of the egg 'pancake').  Make sure the pan is well oiled so the bottom of the egg doesn't stick too much.  Keep it moving in the pan. When most of the egg is cooked, turn off the fire and put a lid on it to hold in the heat for a couple of minutes.  This should finish cooking the egg on top.  Sprinkle cheese over it.  Cut and serve like a pie.  (A lot of recipes say to bake the frittata but I find there is no need for that. This can be nice to make in the summer when you don't want to put the oven on.  Then you can use leftover veggie kebabs or zucchini, tomatoes, etc)

I stole this pic from The Pioneer Woman.  I served mine with cucumber and bell pepper slices and slices of bread.

Bread Pudding
I found myself with a lot of bits and pieces of the various breads I've been buying.  I didn't want to waste any so I made bread pudding.  I got the recipe from Allrecipes.  I had bits of french bread, a challah roll, a wedge of Irish soda Bread.  I cut it all up, poured eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and a bit of butter over it all and baked for 45 minutes at 350.  It was a nice supper dish (though I think it is more of a breakfast casserole).

Pot roast
I was able to order a pot roast over the counter sans plastic.  I roasted it up with celery and onions.  I did not have any carrots, which I usually include, but you know what?  It was still delicious!  I made baked potatoes (not bagged!) and fruit salad (apples, bananas, jarred peaches, raisins (I was still working through an old box) and a can of Mandarin oranges.  It was a nice hearty meal, with practically no plastic!

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Personal Hygiene - Day 9

I am in the process of figuring out how to avoid plastic when it comes to personal hygiene.  This is tough!  Everything is in plastic bottles.  Apparently, the key seems to be making a lot of these things for yourself.  I am planning to use the summer, when my schedule isn't so tight, to experiment with that kind of thing.  I haven't been including costs in my blog posts, and some people have complained that I should as they are on a tight budget and budget constraints can really effect one's ability to avoid plastic.  From now on I will try to be more aware of costs).  Right now, I am looking at various products that might fit the bill.

The Heavenly Harvest Co. that sells this seems really neat!  

Toothpaste - I am still working my way through a Tom's plastic tube of toothpaste.   While doing some research on this, I discovered that some folks are going back to old fashioned tooth powder instead, which used to be packaged in tins.  I ordered some called Country Gent's Tooth Powder.   It came in a little tin (with a plastic seal around it - can't seem to get away from that!).  I've been alternating it with my Tom's toothpaste.  I pick up a pinch of Country Gent (open the tin carefully so the powder doesn't spill everywhere!) and put it on my wet toothbrush.  I still have powder on my fingers so I rub them on my teeth to use it up!  Then I brush.  It doesn't foam like regular toothpaste and I admit I miss the foaming!  It also doesn't leave the breath nice and minty.  But it does clean the teeth, which feel smooth and look shiny and brighter.  I think I need to find a mouthwash (probably something I'll make myself) to finish things off so I can have nice minty breath. ($3.55, but I am sure I paid more than that for shipping.  It came without plastic packaging. Woot!)

Speaking of dental care - I usually buy the Preserve brand of toothbrushes, sold at Trader Joe's and Harris Teeter.  These are made from recycled yogurt cups.  However, I plan to buy some toothbrushes made from bamboo and give some to everyone in their Easter baskets (right next to their annual  chocolate bunny!)  You can get these toothbrushes here.

Shampoo - We are approaching the bottom of the plastic bottle for my favorite shampoo, Trader Joe's Tea Tea Tingle Shampoo.  In one of my foray's into my area's organic stores, I found a bar of J.R. Liggett's Shampoo bar shampoo.  I haven't tried it yet.  It is patiently waiting for me on the counter by my sink!  Stay tuned! ($7.49 plus shipping. I bought it at an expensive organics store.  I don't remember what I paid, but at least I didn't have to also pay for shipping.)

Razor - A while ago someone gave my middle son a box of shaving items (he had just reached the point where he needed to shave regularly) from The Art of Manliness.  This was great except he preferred my husband's electric razor and eventually got one of his own.  So one day I stole his old fashioned steel razor.  I had kind of abandoned it recently because I couldn't find  new blades, but with my reignited interest in avoiding plastic, I nixed buying disposables and bought new blades.  It works really well, as long as you soap up before you shave. (This kind of razor, which lasts years, is much cheaper in the long run than buying disposables).

Switching from manliness to womanliness . . .

Menstrual pads - I'm too old to worry about this anymore, but I've got others in the household that are dealing with this.  I found a brand at Harris Teeter that is made from cotton and is packaged in paper instead of plastic.  My guinea pigs here are willing to test the product and report back to me on its quality.  (If you buy this from Thrive which seems to be a great on line place that might help you avoid plastic for some items, if you glean carefully, this costs only $3.65 at their discounted price.  But again you have to pay for shipping.)

I am not currently attempting to replace my deodorant.  I did try a couple years ago to use baking soda and coconut oil.  However, the baking soda made me break out in an ugly rash.  I still have my Secret solid to use up anyway.  I have to cross each bridge as I come to it!

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Snacks - Day 8

My family noshes all the livelong day, it seems to me.  This has led to buying lots of plastic wrapped junk like chips and cookies in the past.  So how to have snacks without the plastic?

Look at the mountain of plastic that will never go away!  Just so we can eat badly but conveniently!

• Fruit - all kinds that come without plastic at the produce aisle/farmer's market/CSA - bananas, apples, oranges, pears, kiwi, mango, are just some of the fruit that comes without plastic in the store near me.
• Veggies - carrots sticks (cut up yourself), celery sticks, cucumber sticks/slices, bell pepper slices, and any other non-wrapped produce you can find that makes for good snacking.
• A glass of milk or chocolate milk (milk in glass bottle with chocolate from a tin - I think these still exist in specialty markets but I still have to check this out.  We've got leftover chocolate making supplies so I haven't had to deal with this yet.)
• things from bulk bins - usually you can find trail mix, various kinds of nuts and dried fruit, sesame sticks, sometimes popcorn or pretzels.  Bring your own bag for this stuff and remember to write somewhere what the number is or the price.  That's a new step for me that keep forgetting.  I get to the cashier and oops! 
• bread and butter (homemade bread or from bakery in your own bag or the bulk bin in a paper bag)
• bagels (from bakery or bulk bread) and cream cheese (I don't know about the foil wrappers though)
• bake your own cookies or crackers 
• make a bunch of hard boiled eggs
• yogurt (homemade or sold in glass jars) and fruit
• ice cream in a cone - when you are out
• make your own popsicles - apparently there are stainless steel popsicle molds!

Note the plastic bags the guy is filling!  Bring your own bags instead!

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Taking Stock - Day 7

I know I am the middle of discovering how to be as plastic-free as I can get, but the amount of driving I'm doing now really bothers me.  I'm already driving all over kingdom come, being the chauffeur for two teens and a carless mom and child.  Also, where I live, in the 'burbs, everything is set up so that one drives daily just for the basics.  One nice thing is that I can walk to my CSA, which is just blessedly wonderful since most people can't.

Today I went sleuthing at Mom's Organic.  We have a couple of these stores around but neither are really close enough to justify my driving there all the time.  It did have the biggest selection of bulk bins, more than Whole Foods.  I still didn't see any liquid bulk stuff, like in Beth Terry's book (and Kavinda, my friend who used to live in Oakland, talked about).  Beth Terry's book is great but she has no kids, lives and works in the San Francisco area which is miles ahead of where I live in Virginia in terms of environmental awareness (and I live in a wealthy, trendy place).  At Mom's I did find tons of plastic packaging, but also some things that weren't packaged that way.  I also found a couple of items I'd been looking for (a shampoo bar to forgo always buying new plastic bottles and soap berries or nuts that apparently you can using for washing clothes and dishes.)  But driving home I realized that I can't make it a regular thing.  For now I'm going to stick to the places that are close and right on my way anyway.

I drive near or by the Harris Teeter up to three times a week.  It is nothing to stop and pick up something.

The Whole Foods, Great Harvest Bakery, Maple Avenue Market, Giant Food and Fresh Market are all walking distance from each other, up and down the main area of my town (maybe within 7 or 8 blocks?)  I think I need one of those rolling carts.  I really could park in a central location and then go to the various places.  On top of this, there is a farmer's market held on Saturdays until noon I think, from something like May to October in a Baptist Church parking lot a couple blocks up from the Whole Foods.  Also the library is right there as well, as well as the dog wash place!  I could get so many things done in one Saturday if I planned it well!

I'd be happy with one of these to do my grocery shopping with around town.  Probably has plastic parts though!

As I said I am walking distance from my CSA.  It takes about 15 minutes there and then I haul the stuff back.   I always feel so good afterwards, I've exercised and supported local agriculture!  I pick my stuff up on Sunday afternoons.

So I think that within these parameters, I will try to be as plastic free as possible, but I can't run to the far flung edges of my world here.  I have to be practical.  Also, I am trying to do this all at once, which is hard.  In Beth Terry's book she emphasized that it took her years to figure out some sensible alternatives to plastic.  Her book includes quotes from other people trying to reduce their plastic consumption and one person wrote that they just took one habit a month and worked on that.  That is probably a good pace for a lot of this stuff.  I think remembering to bring your own bags when you go shopping and keeping a water bottle and/or travel mug with you to avoid plastic cups, lids and straws are the habits that are fairly easy to swing into right away, even though it can be frustrating at first when you find yourself forgetting to bring the darn bags/cups with you.  But eventually, I'm finding it does become habit.  The key for me on this, is putting the bags or cups right by the garage door so I'll remember when I go out.

Here's a video that shows a little bit of the vast amounts of plastic pollution in our oceans.  One of the ladies strikes me as a bit kooky.  She talks about how the ocean is trying to communicate with us through plastic.  At the end she says something I don't understand about how we are evolving?  But aside from her wigginess, you can see just a tiny bit of the damage being done.  It really has to stop.

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 6 - Dairy

Butter - this is pretty easy to avoid plastic.*  Just don't buy the tubs!  I love Kerry butter myself.

Milk - Around here there are two stores I know of where you can buy milk in glass bottles.  One is Whole Foods and the other is a local market that is also a CSA and a place where locally produced foods can be bought.  You return the bottles to the store.  Whole Foods will give you $2 back for each gallon bottle.  I'm not sure what the other store gives back.  Glass bottles can be scary because they do seem highly breakable and a potential hazardous mess!  I carefully prop mine among the various grocery bags in my trunk.  When these glass bottles came out years ago when I had young children, I have a vivid memory of dropping one in the parking lot and it smashing all over the place.  I had to go back into the store and tell someone to clean it up.  I just couldn't juggle wiggly children needing to be buckled into carseats and glass milk bottles.  So I have just recently returned to using them again, now that my youngest is 15!

The caps and handles are plastic.  The handles seem pretty permanent though.

Yogurt -I wish I was the type of person to make yogurt.  I even bought a yogurt maker a couple of years ago, but alas it is too many steps from my ADD brain to latch on to and I've just never screwed up courage to try.  I waste so much money (and plastic!) on my aspirations to be more of an Earth Mother type.

Alas, there is a plastic seal around the lid.

So absent making one's own yogurt, how do we get yogurt not in plastic?  Yogurt really is one of the prime offenders anymore, it is packaged in so many forms of plastic from tubes to tubs to great big containers.  I love plain Greek yogurt for breakfast.  I mix in fruit and honey and it's delicious.  I also use it instead of sour cream in chili or on potatoes.  In my search, I have discovered White Mountain Bulgarian yogurt in glass jars which I can find locally at The Fresh Market and Whole Foods.  I am still using up my old yogurt, so I haven't crack the plastic seal on this baby yet.  Stay tuned for further developments!

Cheese - I thought cheese was something that I was going to have to give in on.  You can not get cheese without it being wrapped in plastic!  I'd check out every cheese section of various grocery stores and so. much. plastic!  I did my research at Beth Terry's blog and she said she could get wheels of cheese in wax.  She'd buy a big wheel with friends to share.  Wheels are very expensive!  And it is hard to keep the cheese fresh.

  I looked into finding a specialty cheese shop to help me.  As luck would have it just up the street from where my son takes his flute lessons, there happens to be  gourmet wine and cheese shop.  So on Saturday, S and I went sleuthing.  We were the first customers in the shop when it opened.  The owner was a friendly, smart-aleck kind of guy.  I liked him but he thought I was nuts asking for no plastic with my cheese, please.  I said to him, mankind has been eating cheese for thousands of years, and we've only used plastic for the last 60 or 70.  There's got to be a way!  He said I'd have to go to Europe and that U.S. regulations and the issue of affordability played into it.  But we did find a big wheel of brie cheese that was wrapped in some kind of coated paper.  I don't think the coating was plastic because the paper tore really naturally like paper does.  The whole wheel was over $100 plus we'd never eat that much Brie in a week!  But I did get 1/4 of it.  He said to me: "Don't look!"  while he wrapped the remaining 3/4 of the wheel in plastic.  It was a little bit absurd. So for Saturday night dinner we had brie and french bread.  And for breakfast on Monday we had Brie with jam and crackers (crackers are another hard thing to get without buying plastic.  But I had a lot left over still to eat.)

My expensive crazy experiment in plastic free cheese. (I took this picture from the Lady Gouda blog)

Frustrated by my strike out at the specialty shop, I went home and did more research.  Someone in a comment somewhere mentioned that Whole Foods has some cheeses that aren't wrapped in plastic.  Whoa!  I decided to check this out.  I had promised to take our house guest and her little son to the library on Saturday, and it is right next to the Whole Foods.  So I dropped her off and went sleuthing again. This encounter was better. The guy behind the counter right off the bat said, are you trying to avoid petroleum based products?  I said yes.  He got it right away.  I could have kissed him. I've been getting so many weird looks lately!

They did have three cheeses that are shipped to them in wax, two from England which are cheddar cheeses and one from Spain, a Machego cheese.  I love Machego but the wheel was huge.  Also, practically speaking my family eats cheddar the most.  We have it in grilled cheeses, we grate it up and sprinkle it in our chili and soups, sometimes I cut it up into cubes and we just eat it straight like that.  We eat mac cheese at least a couple times a month.  I probably buy a brick of cheddar every week.  We go right through it.  So I really wanted the cheddar.  One of the cheeses was actually on sale and I got 8% off for buying the whole wheel!  But because it was a speciality cheese imported from England it was extremely expensive to begin with.  I bought it, dear reader, for $66.00!  I figure it will last us 6 weeks at least.  The hard part is going to be figuring out how to keep it fresh that long.  I've got some ideas culled again from Beth Terry's comment section.

The other kind of cheese we regularly eat is parmesan usually grated over spaghetti, soup or salads.  I despaired of finding that anywhere not wrapped in plastic.  However, at Harris Teeter I did find it already grated without the cellulose in a glass jar!  They also had jarred pub cheese in glass.  Maybe one day I'll try that too.

My two other thoughts on cheese are this:  1) Learn to make cottage cheese.  I've heard it isn't hard.  To me cottage cheese is the perfect summer lunch served with fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market.  Maybe I can try it at least once?  2) I've also heard that it may be possible to buy cheese directly from farmers at their markets and some do make goat cheese that is not packaged in plastic.  So when farmer's markets start up again in my area, I will have to check this out.

*Alas, I am learning that many things are coated in plastic.  I am hoping these foil wrappers aren't.

P.S. I have noticed I use the word 'alas' three times in this post.  Apparently, avoiding plastic makes me sigh melodramatically a lot.

Slaying the Plastic Dragon - Day 5 - Bread

Now that I am thinking so much about plastic, grocery stores look different to me.  If you walk the aisles they are nothing but long rows of plastic, plastic, plastic!  How the heck did we feed ourselves before plastic?  Yet, somehow we did!

Bread is a problem.  It all comes in plastic wrappers.  You want some nice soft sandwich bread?  Plastic wrapper.  How about some English muffins for breakfast?  Plastic.  Tortillas to make wraps and quesadillas?  Plastic.

Some people make their own bread.  At various times, I have tried to do this, but alas I really am ADD and have no baking genes at all.  I've tried and failed countless times.  I have a wonderful bread machine that has been collecting dust in my closet.  I even bought a wheat grinder because I was going to buy fresh kernels and make my own.  Hah! Hah! Hah!  I am delusional sometimes.

Either I spent a lot of time and energy making bread that was a flop, or I spent a lot of time and energy making bread that was successful and eaten up in 5 minutes - rendering us breadless once again.

My biggest quest for my particular family is to find acceptable white sandwich bread not in a plastic wrapper and also tortillas for wraps and quesadillas.  I know that whole wheat is better for you, so I do try to buy that kind as well.  My 15 year old, like me, actually prefers non-white bread, but my husband and sons are incorrigible.  How did I wind up with these bumpkins??? (But I love them anyway.)

This will be an on going exploratory process, I can tell.  Here's how I've tackled the problem so far:

I went to an excellent local place, the Great Harvest bakery and sadly their nice white loaf was already in a plastic sleeve.  But for some reason they had not wrapped the 9 grain loaf or the rosemary garlic.  So I got both of those, put them into a cloth bag, brought them home, got out an old huge empty Christmas tin that had once held holiday popcorn and stored both loaves in there.  The bread stayed fresh!  Now this loaf bread is not the right shape for a toaster, but we've been snacking on bread and butter and we've had soup twice this week and I just served nice thick slices of bread with the soup.  The bread, by the way, is extremely yummy and satisfying.

But I needed sandwich bread!  On Friday a.m. I went to Whole Foods and asked over the counter which bread was considered white bread.  The lady told me the Italian.  I said, I want a loaf, please, sliced and here is a bag you can put it into.  No plastic please!  And it worked!  Still not the right shape for toasters, but it was nice and fresh so it didn't really need to be toasted to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I do think, at some point soon, I am going to take my bread machine out of storage and try to make some sandwich loaf shaped bread again.

One morning I made corn muffins for breakfast.  Jiffy has these cute little cardboard boxes of corn mix.  The inner sleeve is old fashioned wax paper.  They have not changed at all in my lifetime.  I remember my mother buying this brand.  Just add milk and an egg, bake, and you've got some tasty corn muffins.  So Jiffy, thank you for being a keeper!

Continuing my quest for bread without the plastic, I stopped by Harris Teeter which is near where I take my 15 year old to her math tutor.  Lo and behold, they have bulk bread rolls!  You probably can also buy whole loaves over the counter and bring your own bag too.  I didn't bother with that, but I did pick up some of those delicious pretzel sub rolls and some challah rolls.  Harris Teeter provides nice paper bags to put your rolls in.  Other stores don't give you the paper bag option - only plastic.  So thank you Harris Teeter for providing the paper bags.

I still don't have a solution for tortillas.  Maybe we can attempt to make our own?  I think I should talk my teens into attempting it.  The corn tortillas need a tortilla press apparently, but you can make the flour ones without that.

So stay tuned for our ongoing adventures in plastic free bread!