As I type this, I’m sitting on a beach in Santa Cruz soaking up the sun + the vibes, which is most of what I do when I’m in California…either on a bike, or on a beach. The rest of the time, full disclosure, I’m basically hunting bakeries. (Ok, and produce, and great pizza, and oysters, and fruit to hoard back in the van.)
But bakeries – truly great bakeries using GREAT flour and practicing artisan craft – are a very big deal for me. Not just because I’m a pastry chef, not just because I’m obsessed with flaky croissants with delicate layers, sticky buns that aren’t too sweet, and all the different ways you can make an epic scone, cookie or cake. Bakeries like this represent a nearly lost art for me. Using your hands, and science to craft something pleasing, harnessing nature in each baked bite, is the most complete pleasure in my opinion. And anyone who is practicing this magic, or enjoying it, is kindred.
And California is crawling with incredible bakeries just like this. Perhaps it’s the ease of baking at altitude, the amplified microbial strength that being by the sea offers. But either way, I lose my ever loving mind when I’m here, weighing down the pantry, bags and baskets in the van with special crackers, cakes and cookies, plotting treats for breakfast and snatching up whole-grain loaves sometimes faster than I can eat them.
Long before this trip began, I was making my lists and checking them twice, practically building the entire trip around where our next artisan carbohydrate haul would be heaved out of the oven and into the car. And then, in class the other day, in the company of Dr. John Doulliard I learned a fact that made me want to double down my efforts, and set up a campaign office for my beloved gluten to run for president: those of us that eat gluten have 80% more “good gut” bacteria than those that choose not to consume gluten.
In a 2017 study published in the Oxford University journal Nutrition Reviews, researchers studied the hormetic effect of the Mediterranean Diet. Many of the foods in the Mediterranean Diet, like gluten-rich wheat, lectin-rich beans, nuts, and tomatoes, are considered hormetins and provide protection against inflammation.
The study concluded that food stressors, as well as exposure to bacteria and viruses, were the major selective forces for the evolution of the human immune system. Hormetins like wheat, grains, nuts, beans, tomatoes, olive oil, and alcohol act as intestinal stressors that trigger an immune response (they also play a role in decreasing the risk of numerous chronic health concerns).
You read that correctly – eating gluten- an ingredient that is more challenging for our bodies to digest, is important for the microbiome, just the same way that training as an athlete is important for improving our strength, agility and resilience. When the microbiome falls into disbiosis (out of balance,) this is when celiac disease can present.
While these hormetic foods (like gluten) can cause indigestion, Ayuvedic wisdom makes the case that re-teaching the body how to consume these foods (of course non-processed, organic, and unrefined) will support immune strength, healthy aging, and years of vitality, as seen in Mediterranean countries.
This is to say that a gluten-free anything is not “healthier” than one with wheat or gluten. In fact, if we look at our health – in both the short and long term – we could say the precise opposite.
So! Making yourself a batch of these whole-grain Coconut-Lemon Poppyseed Breakfast Buns is the most lovely activity you can get up to this weekend because they’re delightful, delicious, festive and fast. But also because diving into one will help to provide your body with the most lovely kind of low-glycemic joy, in a little package that stresses your gut just the right amount. (Oh, you thought I meant baking while stressed? WELL, they’re good for soothing that too.)
Gluten, as well as other harder-to-digest foods, like lectins or dairy, have an immune-boosting hormetic effect on the human body.
Hormesis is based on the principle that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” It’s something we practice all the time as athletes in training – pushing the body just a bit to become more adaptive. The same practice is true for the gut and the microbiome. Eating challenging foods is one of the reasons humans have developed a mostly robust immune system. Yes, these foods act as mild irritants to the digestive system, but they also trigger a natural immune response that makes us healthier (70 percent of the human immune response originates from the microbiome inhabiting our guts). When our digestive systems are balanced and strong, this immune response becomes something we can easily overcome with regular digestion. When our digestive systems are weak, these irritants become much larger problems in the body.
In the same way the human immune system becomes stronger after being stressed with certain hormetic foods, plants become stronger when their systems are stressed. When humans consume that stressed plant and its benefits, it’s called xenohormesis.
There are many of us that are no longer able to consume gluten, because they cause a dangerous immune response in the body. For the rest of us, purposefully taking care to heal and bolster our digestion is a better path to wellness and immune strength instead of taking all the hard-to-digest foods out of your diet, which will leave your immune system compromised over time.
Before I let you loose on these tasty buns, one more comment on Ayurveda and digestion, and why I would even bother sharing such a boring (read: important) topic with such a lovely recipe as this one. Ayurvedic medicine suggests that 85 percent of all disease starts in the digestive system. And what science has long known is that viruses primarily infiltrate the body through the protective lining of the respiratory and intestinal tracts. However, healthy gut and respiratory linings are linked to robust immunity. Better immunity means better strength, more vitality and better performance.
When imbalances and weaknesses in the intestinal tract surface, this alters the microbiome and compromises our immunity. The microbiome depends on a specific environment to stay healthy and well and when the mucosal linings (in the sinuses and digestive tract) get too dry, too wet, too irritated or inflamed, we start to diminish the health of these immune-boosting flora.
The health of these systems starts with upper digestion. If you have a food intolerance, undigested proteins and fats enter the intestines and act as irritants to the intestinal lining, working to break down its defenses. From there, they enter the bloodstream and lymphatic system, which is also linked to healthy immune response. Overwhelming the lymphatic system, along with the intestinal lining, with undigested foods will, in short order, overwhelm the body’s immune system.
Rather than treating the invader (these troublesome, undigested proteins) Ayurveda works to strengthen the defenses of the host, which is why I talk so incessantly about digestion, poop, and taking care of the digestive system and the microbiome in this newsletter. Whether it’s weight gain, performance loss, chronic disease or discomfort or other bodily inconsistencies, a weakness in the body is the problem and often this stems from the digestive system. Creating a healthy, stable colony of beneficial bacteria can be a golden ticket. Instead of blaming foods, which are the invaders, we’ll have better success bringing our internal environments back into balance. Before we eliminate foods like gluten from the diet, it’s a good idea to work on digestive health. So let’s make a batch of these Coconut-Lemon Poppyseed Breakfast Buns, yeah?
These breakfast buns! Are tender, sweet, crunchy on the edges and soft in the middle. I’ve got no beef with cream cheese frosting but the coconut butter frosting really lands these for me with more flavor, and for that gooeyness that breakfast buns need, but without the extreme sweetness that can be cloying.
The technique here makes these buns more of a southern-style treat than a California-style breakfast bun, that’s crispy through the center. When you slice into your buns with a fork, you’ll reveal the toasty coconut layer which contrasts with the cake-like crumb.
This baked treat is a lovely dish to make for the upcoming holiday weekend, but you don’t need an excuse to make these at all. The recipe invites you to leave them overnight to proof, but if you’re in a rush I’ve dropped some directions for how to bake straight away, and also for how to freeze your buns if you want to bake your gluten-y goodness one at a time.
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