Soaked Grain Bread Recipe

This is my whole food, freshly ground, soaked grain bread. It's as healthy as Ezekiel bread, but much yummier! I use a grain mill and a Bosch mixer, so my flour measures a bit different and I don't need to let it rise twice. If you try it, tell me what you think!

Lymeade Lady Bread

12 (to 13) c. freshly ground whole wheat or whole Kamut flour

 ¼ c. apple cider vinegar
3 ½ c. water

Add liquid gradually to flour. Mix in Bosch on low speed and leave to soak for 12-24 hours. Cover with plastic wrap on dough to keep moist.

Add:

7 ½ TBL ex. virgin coconut oil (4 TBL= ¼ cup)
7 ½ TBL honey
2 egg
1 TBL salt
3 ¾ TBL yeast

Mix on low speed until moistened (break into pieces with hand if needed). Then knead on medium speed (3) for 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic ball. If it is too liquid-y, gradually add more flour. Grease pans while waiting.

Shape loaves and/or other breads (approximately 6 loaves)***. Don't let dough dry out--keep covered. Let rise in greased loaf pans for 30 minutes or until doubled. For the fluffiest loaves, be sure to let it rise enough in the pans before baking.

Do the Touch Test:
1. Press the dough on the side with the tips of two fingers lightly and quickly about 1/2 inch into the dough, and;
2. If the impression you made stays, the dough has doubled. If the indent quickly disappears, it needs a little more time; cover and let rise longer.
Don't over rise; or it will flatten out in the oven. You want just the right point where it has risen all it can or should, but not too much.

Bake in preheated 350 oven for 30 minutes.

Remove from pans and cool loaves on their sides on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

**Dough can be made into various types of bread. Here’s what I often do: Shape 3 portions of dough into loaves (filling a bit less than half the bread pan).

Shape another portion of dough into a ball and press down to make a pizza crust. Work from inside to outside, leaving a thicker edge as a crust. While waiting prepare sauce, cheese, and toppings. Cook about 12 min without preheating or 9-10 with preheating. Crust should be cooked, but not brown. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings and cook another 10-15 min. until crust is brown.

Use remaining dough to make a small stuffed crust pizza. First I make crust and cook 10-15 min. Then, I put on topping and top crust and cook another 10-15 min. OR use remaining dough to make a dessert pizza with honey, cinnamon, and diced apples.

Grains...a few more thoughts....

I want to add a couple last things.

First, though I mentioned the freshly ground grains, I failed to explain the how. In Sue Gregg cookbooks, she has a special way of putting whole grains in the blender that grinds them up! (See the recipe link from last post.) But if you have some money to invest, a grain mill and a Bosch mixer are the way to go for making bread. A grain mill grinds whole grains into flour. And the Bosch mixer then makes the dough so efficiently, you can skip the rising and punch down process, so it only takes a few minutes!! I've seen it done, but am still saving my money for this personally. A great site for both of these appliances as well as information about how to make and soak bread is www.urbanhomemaker.com .

Secondly, I want to pose the what is "natural". For most of mankind's existence, the grains had to be hand-ground and then soaked and then the bread made (no Bosch to knead for them!) So, how much bread should we have? Well, I know if I had to make bread that way, we would probably eat less of it. So, be sure you watch that you don't let your grains replace your fresh fruit and vegetables!

How do you get soaked or sprouted grains?

So, your considering how to soak and sprout your bread, but you don't know how to do this.

If you'd like to buy bread this way you can find sprouted bread at most health food stores and many grocery stores. My favorite is "Ezekiel 4:9" bread and tortillas. I've found where I can get it locally for only $2 a loaf, though it is often more expensive. You can check out their website at http://www.foodforlife.com/ for more info. or to find a store. I especially like their cereal (all other cereals are banned from our house since I find out puffed, flake, and shaped cereals are basically not digestible.) I like all their bread products, but haven't like their pasta. Their bread is maybe tougher and drier than you are used to, but that can be helped by warming the bread and adding butter or olive oil.

Or you can make it yourself! The advantage here, is that is tastes as good or better than if it were not soaked! Soak your flour in buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, or water with 1 Tbsp whey lemon juice or vinegar per cup of water. Then cover and let stand on the counter. The minimum time is 7 hour and up to 24 is best. Don't add your eggs or milk yet and it really is good to leave it out. (Takes some mental adjustment for some of us!) Then add the rest of your ingredients and your ready to cook it. This can be applied to rice, beans, oatmeal, muffins, pancakes, and on and on. Some of the breads come out better b/c of this process. Note: there is no point in doing this with white flour, as there aren't more nutrients to release!

My explanation is a bit simplified. I highly recommend Sue Gregg's cookbooks, which are being edited to include this process. (Even the books not yet updated come with information on how to convert the recipes.) Meals in Minutes is a great book that has been updated. I've found her cookbooks to be the best I've ever seen. She doesn't assume you know what your doing (which I sometimes don't!) She gives you lots of instructions, adaptation tips, and even helps you put menus together. Try her pancakes/waffles by visiting http://www.suegregg.com/recipes/breakfasts/blenderbatterwaffles/blenderbatterwafflesA.htm

Of course if you want the full lesson you can read Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, but when I borrowed it, I was disappointed in both the recipes I tried. The instructions were not good enough. BUT the information on diet and nutrition (half the book) is excellent. So, I will own it as a resource, not really a cookbook.

What you really need to know about grains...

I'll assume you've gotten the basics of avoiding white flour like the plague. (And I mean as an ingredient called "wheat flour" not just as white bread.) Let's talk about why people are tossing out grains, for the latest health trend or even b/c of allergies.

Let's go back to the beginning and think what grains might have been. According to my world view, there were gardeners in the first generation of people, and farmers by the second. SO, I don't buy that grains were not what our early ancestors ate (the basis of some diet philosophies.) But according to research by Weston A. Price, native populations all either soaked or sprouted their grains. AND they ground the grain shortly before they made it. The closest the modern diet comes to this is sourdough bread, which is usually white bread.

This process neutralizes the phytic acids and start breaking down tannins and gluten, and increase the amount of nutrition the body can absorb. For my husband it has helped with his grain sensitivities. But many don't know about the difference of simply soaking grain before cooking. Others don't want to do the work of planning ahead or cooking from scratch.

So, next time you hear about avoiding bread, remember that this because most Americans have white flour even in their "wheat bread". And breads and grains include: muffins, pancakes, pasta, croutons, corn chips, tortillas, and on and on.

Come back soon for how to make this ideal a livable reality. In the meantime, those of you research oriented people might want to read more details at: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/be_kind.html
Or if you are not quite ready for all this, you can read more on white flour: http://www.westonaprice.org/transition/whiteflour.html