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A revolutionary bread-making technique, and two new foodie blogs

"Edible Media" takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web.

This edition of Edible Media will round up several choice morsels.

Well bread

Mark Bittman, the great cookbook writer and author of the indispensable weekly column "The Minimalist" in the NYT, has a provocative one this week on breadmaking.

Bittman reports that Jim Lahey, owner of Manhattan's terrific Sullivan Street Bakery, has taught him a new method for making bread that delivers professional-quality bread with no kneading or special equipment necessary. The result sends Bittman on a decidedly non-minimalist rhetorical jag. The bread is "incredible, a fine-bakery quality, European-style boule that is produced more easily than by any other technique I've used, and will blow your mind."

There's even a sustainability angle: the technique "may yet change the industry. Mr. Lahey is experimenting with using it on a large scale, but although it requires far less electricity than conventional baking, it takes a lot of space and time."

I will be trying this at home; I'll report back.

The producer of the controversial wind-credit cards speaks out

The following is a guest essay from Ted Rose. He is director of business development at Renewable Choice Energy, the company that makes the controversial Wind Power Cards sold at Whole Foods Market.

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We here at Renewable Choice hoped the introduction of the Wind Power Card would spark a discussion. Well, mission accomplished. My only personal regret is that I've been so absorbed with the rollout of the product I haven't had a chance to weigh in on the debate until now.

People have wondered why Renewable Choice introduced the Wind Power Card in the first place. That's easy. The goal of the product -- like everything else we do -- is to provide choices that help move our country beyond fossil fuels.

In the case of the Wind Power Card, we're taking on home electricity. For almost a hundred years, we've been taught that our electricity is invisible, cheap, and harmless. This is an example of what I've started calling dinosaur thinking -- old logic that fits neatly with the interests of fossil fuel companies and hurts just about everyone else.

The truth, as most Grist readers know, is that our electricity is killing us. It's producing air pollution and contributing to global warming. Lots of consumers -- not just hard-core environmentalists -- need to learn this and learn it quick. I believe they also need choices, easy choices, to do something about it. That's why Renewable Choice made the Wind Power Card.

We need your presents

This year, Grist's holiday gift guide will be chock full of recommendations from our staff and readers -- hey, that's you!

Have you come across a snazzy new eco-product? Got a time-tested gift-giving tradition that fits your green lifestyle? Let us know what you're giving this year, and why. We'll include some of the most creative suggestions in our merry little guide. (Yes, yes, we know consumption is evil and wrong, and we'll be sure to point that out as well.)

Thanks for your ideas -- and if you need a little inspiration, give last year's guide a whirl.

It ain’t environmentalists fighting change

Far-right conservatives are fond of claiming that environmentalists use global warming as a cover for their true intent: fight progress! Reverse civilization! Leave us all shivering in a dark room! The idea is that attempts to fight global warming will inevitably slow economic growth and stifle innovation.

That is, of course, exactly wrong. It is the dinosaur companies blocking progress and innovation. They are quite fond of the current playing field, which is skewed sharply in their direction by subsidies, tax breaks, and immense political and social inertia.

It's the little people -- average citizens, small companies, entrepreneurs -- who are trying to free our sclerotic system from the dinosaurs' grasp and kickstart a wave of 21st century innovation.

Want to see what I mean in action? Get this:

Texas size swirling vortex of plastic debris threatens variety of sea life

Truthout:

Doing lots of cool stuff

I don't have time to write a whole lot on it, but travel booking website Travelocity is doing lots of cool stuff, including this:

Webb wins in Virginia

Webb has officially won. Senate called in favor of the Dems.

In San Fran

I'm going to be down in San Francisco tomorrow and Friday, so blogging (from me, anyway) will be light-to-nonexistent.

Hey, have you heard we're having a reader party in San Fran on Friday night? I'm gonna be there, throwin' down, or rockin', or wildin' out, or whatever it is the kids do these days when they drink to excess. I hope some of you regular Gristmill readers are able to make it -- I'd love to put faces with names.

Attendance is looking to be in the multiple hundreds. Should be a blast. If you are going to make it, don't forget to RSVP.

Big enviro endorsements worked out — for the most part

A spin through the endorsements from big environmental groups this year reveals an overwhelming number of successes. Both Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters will probably be sleeping contentedly tonight.

Gotta get all the schadenfreude out before the day is over

There is much to savor today. But one of the things that most pleases me is that if Webb pulls it out in Virginia, as all signs indicate, Marc Morano's wingnut attack screeds are going to be coming from the minority office of the Senate EPW Committee, in service of a master who's suddenly going to have a lot more trouble finding cameras to record his loopy theories about global warming and U.N. world governance. I hope Morano enjoys his return to much-deserved obscurity.