Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

My Current Thoughts About Soaking or Not Soaking Grains

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Since we started the week here talking about what healthy eating really means, I thought this might be a good time to discuss the many questions I receive about the idea of soaking grains. There is definitely conflicting information on this subject. If you’re wondering what I’m even talking about when I say “soaking grains“, you may want to read this post.

If you’ve been reading here long, you know that I’ve done quite a bit of struggling with the idea of soaking grains for better digestion. I learned so much several years ago from reading Nourishing Traditions about eating real, whole foods and the importance of healthy fats and well balanced nutrition. Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions, feels very strongly after much research that it is important to soak oats, wheat flour, and most other grains in something like whey, yogurt, kefir, cultured buttermilk, lemon juice, or vinegar for at least seven hours to allow the enzymes to break down and neutralize the phytic acid so that our bodies can digest the grain.

My initial reaction after reading Nourishing Traditions was to feel that I absolutely had to soak all of our grains before I made any breads, muffins, pancakes – everything! – otherwise I was being a horrible mother. The book wasn’t condemning, I just took everything I read in it straight to the heart, and had a huge desire to do everything right as I transitioned our family into healthy eating. I never really came up with a soaked bread we liked and many of the soaked muffins and such just had a funky flavor, but I kept trying anway. I had to soak – I had to soak – I had to soak. And if I didn’t soak, I felt guilty – like I was feeding my kids junk food. Sounds extreme, but that’s how I felt about it.

As time went on, I began to feel very overwhelmed by the need to soak all of our grains. Was anything really wrong with me simply stirring up and baking some muffins without first soaking the grains? Why did healthy cooking have to be so difficult? On top of that, my family didn’t really love the taste of my soaked grain baked goods. Truthfully, neither did I. Keeping up with soaking became a tedious chore for me, especially as my life became more full with my family and with keeping up with the work on this site.

Somewhere in there, I read this article from Bread Beckers, detailing why soaking grains is not necessary. It is a well researched, well written article. And it made me question so many things I’d learned about soaking grains.

As I’ve wrestled with this through the years, I received many questions about soaking grains from you, my readers. Here I am wavering on my conviction on this subject and you are wanting my thoughts and opinion on the matter. I don’t want to steer anyone wrong! I don’t want to be the authority on this subject! I’m not saying soaking grains is right. I’m not saying soaking grains is wrong. Shucks, I don’t even really know what I’m saying.

I’m saying I’m tired. I’m saying I’m a little overwhelmed by all the conflicting information out there about what it truly means to eat a healthy diet where grains are involved. I’m saying that I give up on trying to have all the answers about grains. Soaked grains, sprouted grains, no grains at all? I don’t want to cop out, I just want simplicity and balance. I wish I could provide you with something more solid.

For our family, at this point I have landed on eating whole grains, mainly freshly ground grains, and trying to work in a nice variety of them. For the most part, I am not soaking my grains right now. And I don’t feel guilt over it. Mostly. ;)

I’m doing the best I can for my family and I feel peace with this decision.

So what are your thoughts about soaking and sprouting grains? I’d love to hear where you have landed on this subject.

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How Many Cups of Flour in a Pound of Wheat

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How many cups of flour in a pound of wheat? Figuring this out is not as easy as one would hope!

You would not believe the amount of wheat measuring-flour calculating drama I’ve had here during the past few days. And here I thought that I was decent at math. In addition, I was under the impression that my brain still had at least a little bit of function-ability left. But wowza, figuring out how many cups of flour in a pound of wheat just about threw me over the edge. And unfortunately for you – you had to read my posts and deal with me giving you all kinds of weird information all week.

I think I have now figured this thing out. And I’m posting it here because, for the life of me, I could not find any answers when I did any internet searches. And believe you me, I did some big time internet searches. To the best of my knowledge, the following information is accurate, or at least it is as close as I could figure with what was left of my brain reserves after this week. I used Montana Gold, Chemical Free, Hard White Wheat in my calculations. Typically I order my wheat through Azure Standard. They offer great quality wheat at a reasonable price!

How many cups of flour in one pound of wheat?

1 pound of wheat = 2 cups of wheat
2 cups of wheat = 3 cups of flour
1 pound of wheat = 3 cups of flour

For me, since I currently pay about $1.00/pound of wheat, this breaks down to:

3 cups of flour = $1.00
1 cup of flour = $0.33

And now, I shall go take a long, long nap, because even though it shouldn’t have been nearly that complicated for me to figure out this information, it sent my brain into a crazy tailspin. My apologies to every one of you who got pulled into my confusion this week. I’m planning to continue sharing more of my Real Food – Low Cost calculations next week – after my nap.

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What Kind of Wheat Flour is Best?

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I get lots and lots of questions about which wheat flour I use and about which I feel is best for baking. I decided to take a few pictures to try and show you the differences and to explain my favorites.

As you can imagine, the grain and flour picture taking thing was fun. We all know that my fanciest and finest accessory is flour in my hair and on my jeans. This gave me opportunity to look my best at a soccer game Saturday afternoon. Yes, somehow I managed to get freshly ground flour at the bottom of my left pant leg by my shoe. It takes talent, people.

I’ve talked bunches about how I love grinding my flour in my Nutrimill. You can read through all of the posts in my Grains and Grain Mills section to learn more about whether or not a grain mill saves money, which grain mills I prefer and how to grind flour in a grain mill.

There really is no comparison between store bought whole wheat flour and freshly ground whole wheat flour. I have found that all of my baked goods taste best when made with freshly ground hard white wheat. I also discovered, after I saved up and purchased a grain mill six years ago, that I made my money back on it within six months. It’s very cost effective to grind your own wheat, not to mention the fresher the flour, the more nutrients it contains.

If you still aren’t ready or able to buy a grain mill, I suggest that you try to find whole wheat flour at the store that is made from white wheat. I’m just starting to see this flour pop in up local stores, so this is encouraging. (Before, I only saw them if I went out of town to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.)  I’ve used and recommend King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour or better yet, try to find an organic variety like this one.

Okay, now a few pictures to show you some differences between red and white wheat, and the flour they each produce.

First, a lovely picture of wheat kernels (or berries). On the left you will see Hard Red Wheat – on the right you will see Hard White Wheat:

See, they are both whole wheat kernels, they are just a different variety. This should answer all those questions about whether white wheat is as healthy as red wheat. The answer is yes. They are both good for you. They are just different kinds of wheat. Red wheat produces a darker, heavier, stronger flavored flour. Some like it – I don’t prefer it. White wheat produces a much milder, easier to work with flour. In many recipes, when I use Hard White Wheat, it’s hard to tell that the baked good is even made with whole wheat flour. I love hard white wheat.

Next, I ground both some red wheat and some white wheat. It may be difficult to tell the difference in the two pictures that follow, but if you look real closely, I think you’ll see a difference.

First you will see a picture of my beloved hard white wheat flour. Notice that it is white in color with a few specks of light brown throughout. It almost looks like white flour, but nope – all of those wonderful nutrients are all still there in the flour.

Second, we have the Hard Red Wheat Flour. Do you see that the brown in this flour is darker and a little more reddish brown in color? This will produce a darker, whole wheat baked product. It’s still tasty and obviously still very good for you – just a little heavier tasting. I had happened upon a great deal on some red wheat, which is why I have any at all! I occasionally mix my red and white together to make it easier for our family to eat the red wheat.

One more thing:  You can also purchase Soft White Wheat. Once ground, this becomes “whole wheat pastry flour” which can be used in any baked good that does not require the use of yeast. You must use a hard grain for yeast breads. Pastry flour is great for muffins, cookies, quick breaks and cakes. However, since my hard white wheat still works fine for these products, I usually just use it for all of my wheat baking. It’s easier that way!

What kind of wheat flour is best? Find out in this post! #wheat #wheatflour

(You can read this post to learn great sources for purchasing grain.)

Your turn to share:  What’s your favorite kind of wheat flour? Have you taken the plunge to grind your own grain yet? Ever found yourself at a soccer game with flour on your pant leg?

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What it Means to “Soak Grains”

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It’s a funny term isn’t it? “Soak your grains.” It sounds like you need to dump a bunch of water into your bucket of hard white wheat kernels and give ’em a good soaking. But don’t do that.  You don’t want soggy wheat berries.

For those of you who are new to “soaking grains” and have emailed me with questions of confusion as to what this means exactly…I thought I would take the time to explain it a little bit better, and to show some pictures of what a bowl of “soaking grains” looks like!

First, let’s talk a tiny bit about why soaking grains is important. Because I’m not good at remembering big words and how to use them, here is a quote from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook about soaking grains:

Phosphorus in the bran of whole grains is tied up in a substance called phytic acid. Phytic acid combines with iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in the intestinal tract, blocking their absorption. Whole grains also contain enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion. Traditional societies usually soak or ferment their grains before eating them, processes that neutralize phytates and enzyme inhibitors and, in effect, predigest grains so that all their nutrients are more available.

In Laura’s terms:  When you soak your grain, your tummy will feel better and the nutrients in the grain will be better used by your body.

If you’ve been reading here long, you know that I’m a little bit on the fence when it comes to soaking grains. Sometimes I’m a soaker…sometimes I’m not. It depends on the day and what recipe I’m using, but I do try to soak my grains if I can. There are different schools of thought behind soaking grains and you can read my thoughts about it (and other people’s ideas and comments) here. Matt and I have come to the conclusion that we don’t need to go into panic mode if I don’t get around to soaking our grains. Right or wrong…that’s where we’ve landed. I really like the pressure this has taken off of my brain.

Now, having said all of that…I would like to share what “soaking grains” really means. Ultimately, it means that you are soaking the whole grain that has already been ground into flour . (You can/should also soak oats or cornmeal. Oats are soaked the same as flour. Cornmeal requires a different variety of soaking, which I’ll discuss in a separate post.)

The soaking of said flour or oats needs to be done in an “acid medium liquid” for 12-24 hours, or at least overnight. This means, you can soak your flour or oats in:

The flour doesn’t need to “go swimming” in the liquid. It simply needs to be wet. In any of my recipes that give soaking instructions, I will share the exact measurements of flour and/or oats and liquids needed for soaking. On my site, I have instructions for soaking:  Whole Wheat Waffles, Simple Soaked Pancakes, Breakfast Cookies, Breakfast Cake, Poptarts, Pizza Pocket dough, and others that I’m likely forgetting at the moment. :)  I also describe how to soak my Whole Wheat Tortillas in my Totally Tortillas ebook.

Here is what my Simple Soaked Pancakes look like in the morning after I’ve stirred together the flour and buttermilk the night before. See the little bubbles that formed? That means we’ve accomplished kind of a “sourdough” effect. Perfect! Next, I mix in the remaining ingredients and make the pancakes. (And then the fam will eat the entire triple batch before I have a chance to grab one if I’m not on top of my game.) 

This is what my Whole Wheat Tortillas look like once I’ve mixed them up and left them to “soak”. This recipe with soaking instructions is so simple because I put them all together, they soak, then they are ready right away for me to roll them out and cook them!

Soaking grains isn’t difficult at all…it just requires a little bit of planning ahead!

Some other frequently asked questions about soaking grains include:

Do I need to soak my flour even if it isn’t freshly ground in a grain mill?

Yes, even if it is store bought whole wheat flour, it is best to soak it if you can.

Do I need to soak my white flour?

Nope. The reason it’s white flour is because the bran and the germ have been taken out. The bran is what needs to be soaked in the first place. Since that’s not there…no reason to soak!

What other questions do you have about soaking grains? Are you a soaker?

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My Great Big Wheat Order

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You know that 500 pounds of wheat I had ordered? I picked it up yesterday. (And by picked it up, I literally mean that I picked-it-up. Lifted it. Fifty pounds at a time. Over and over.)

Actually…I picked up 1,000 pounds of wheat because my friend Anne went with me and she was also crazy enough to have ordered ten – 50 pound bags of wheat.

So there we were, heaving twenty – 50 pound bags of wheat into the back of my husband’s truck. We looked really cute. I’m sorry you missed it.

Matt and the boys weren’t home when we got back, so Anne and I got to lift them all over again while we carried them into our house (and then into her house).

bagsofwheatsmHere are all twenty bags stacked in the back of the truck.

I had so much fun interviewing myself back on this post, I thought I’d interview myself again, based on any questions you might have concerning my 500 pounds of wheat:

Me:  Wow, Laura.  500 pounds of wheat?  Are you crazy?

Me again:  Do you even have to ask?

Me:  Why did you order 500 pounds of wheat?

Me again:  Because I heard of a local gal ordering a big truck load of Wheat Montana. Apparently if you get enough people together to divide a truck load of their wheat, you can save a bunch of money. I usually order my wheat from Azure Standard, but sometimes it doesn’t come in. I never like running low on wheat. It’s not like I can just run to the store and get more, you know? So I ordered…a lot.

Me:  So, what in the world are you going to do with all that wheat?

Me again:  I grind my own flour and make from scratch all of our bread, tortillas, pancakes, waffles, bagels, cookies, brownies, quick breads and anything else that requires flour. I LOVE baking with freshly ground flour. It tastes incredible and is SO much healthier for us.

Me:  How long will 500 pounds of wheat last you?

Me again:  I’m thinking it should last about one year. I ordered 10 bags based on the fact that we go through almost 50 pounds each month.

Me:  You go through almost 50 pounds of wheat in a MONTH?????

Me again:  Well, there are six in our family. Five out of six are male. Four out of six eat like grown men. Plus, we have a LOT of company. Plus, I love to bake for others. Plus, we almost never buy any grain products from the store. Plus, no…that’s all.

Me:  Will the wheat keep that long, or are you afraid it will go bad? Where are you storing it?

Me again:  Wheat will keep for YEARS. As long as I keep it dry, it’ll be fine. I’m keeping it in a room that was once a garage, and is now just a storage room.

bagsofwheat2smSee? It doesn’t take up THAT much space.

Me:  Can we see the rest of your storage room?

Me again:  Are you kidding? That room is by far the scariest in my house. Nobody gets to go in there. They’d lose all respect for me if they saw that mess.

Me:  How much did 500 pounds of wheat cost you?

Me again:  I paid $210 for all of it.  That makes it about 42 cents per pound. A great price for organic wheat!

Me:  What kind of wheat did you get?

Me again:  It came from Wheat Montana…and I ordered Hard White Wheat. I LOVE that stuff!!

Me:  Why wasn’t Matt there to help you with all of that terrible, back breaking labor?

Me again:  Oh, he offered. He actually had the day off when I needed to go pick it up. But, I really wanted him to have some time with the boys. Plus, I hadn’t spent time with my friend Anne for months. I kinda wanted the get-away. Besides, I’m much stronger than I look.

Me:  No you’re not.

Me again:  Okay, I’m not. But it really wasn’t that hard. I got a good workout.

Me:  Will you keep us posted on how long the wheat lasts you and what all you’re making with it?

Me again:  I’ll tell you more than you ever wanted to know.

Speaking of which…what else would you like to know?
 

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The Promised Letter to Your Husbands about Why They Should Buy You a Grain Mill

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Dear Husbands of Heavenly Homemakers Readers,

First and foremost, let me tell you that you all have fantastic wives. They are among some of my most favorite people ever. Way to go and congratulations on choosing such a fine woman to be your help-meet.

And now I’d like to take a moment to encourage you to strongly consider purchasing a Grain Mill for your wife (for Christmas, or tomorrow would also be fine). I know how much she’d like one. I know how much she’d use it. 

And the best news for you…I know how much you’d like the breads and other foods she’d make for you with the freshly ground flour her Grain Mill produces.

What? You don’t like whole wheat? I understand. But listen…the whole wheat flour that your wife’s new grain mill creates is like NONE other you have ever had. You’re likely to not even recognize that your bread is whole wheat. I promise.

Just think. After your wife serves you some hot homemade bread straight from the oven, she can experiment with other delicious whole wheat recipes like these whole wheat pretzels…whole wheat cinnamon rolls…whole wheat donuts…cinnamon swirl bread…

And while you think that you couldn’t possibly love your wife more than you do at this very minute…I think you will fall even more in love with her (even if she does have streaks of flour in her hair) after she bakes these delightful treats for you.

One of the best parts of owning a grain mill is how much MONEY it saves. Your wife knows how much you love to save your hard earned money. She’d be happy to use her new Grain Mill to help you save money.

Don’t know where to start looking for a Grain Mill or which Grain Mill to get? No problem.  Just go read this.  Don’t know where to buy the grain for your Grain Mill? Gotcha covered. Go read this.

Have more questions? Email my husband (coppinger6 at gmail dot com). He will tell you everything you need to know. He’s really, really happy that we got a Grain Mill. I think he also thinks I look cute with flour in my hair. 

Or maybe he’s just used to it.

Sincerely,
Laura at Heavenly Homemakers

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Grain Mills Pt. 3: What Grains to Use and Where to Find Them

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In this little Grain Mill Series, we’ve talked about whether or not you should buy a grain mill…and if so…which one should you get and where should you get it? Now we’ll talk about which grains to use and where you can find them!

Which Grain to Use:

  • I try to find organic or chemical free grain.
  • My very favorite grain to use is Hard White Organic Wheat. I like it much better than Hard Red Wheat. It has the same nutritional value, but when you use hard white wheat, it hardly seems like you’re eating whole wheat at all! Hard red wheat seems to make my recipes a bit heavier.
  • You can use Soft White Wheat to make pastry flour (for use in cookies and muffins) and Hard White Wheat for yeast breads. BUT I just use my hard white wheat for everything. It’s just simpler…I only have to have one kind of wheat on hand…and it just tastes good.
  • I also love kamut and spelt…but don’t use them as much, usually because they cost a bit more.
  • I grind my own corn into corn meal. This makes the BEST cornbread and cornbread muffins. I love freshly ground corn!
  • You can grind rice and make rice flour if you like. It is actually recommended that you grind a cup or so of rice every few months through your mill just to clean it out! (I’ve GOT to remember to do that!)

Where to Find Good Quality Grains:

  • First check around locally. Check out Local Harvest to find out if there is a good source of grains near you.
  • I almost always order my wheat, corn and rice from Azure Standard. If you live in an area where there is an Azure Standard co-op delivery, I highly recommend purchasing this high quality grain from them. You can still order independently from Azure Standard, but shipping may be high.
  • Tropical Traditions has several varieties of very high quality grains. Watch for “free shipping” days and take advantage!
  • Paula’s Bread sells a few different varieties of grain on her site. She’ll ship it to you, or you can go pick it up if you live near her in Oklahoma.
  • Pleasant Hill Grain happens to be right up the road from me!! I was excited to see the shipping is FREE on orders over $99!!!!
  • Wheat Montana has great prices on wonderful wheat (I used to be able to get their wheat from Wal-mart for a great price). Shipping from their site is pretty pricey.
  • Healthy Food Mall is worth checking into. Their costs are higher for the grain, but shipping seemed more reasonable.
  • Don’t forget Amazon. I’ve never bought grain from them because shipping is high, but I keep checking there to see if there’s a reasonable option.

Grain will last for a long time. If you come upon a good resource for wheat, I say buy a LOT. It will store safely for years without going bad!

Okay everyone with a grain mill!! Share where buy your grain and where you live so that others in your area can learn from you!
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This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.

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Grain Mills Pt. 2: Which Ones Do I Recommend? Where Should You Buy One?

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If you missed the first post of this series where I try to convince you that you SHOULD buy a grain mill because it saves a lot of money and is more nutritious and all of your baked foods taste better, go here. For fewer run-on sentences…keep reading. :)

Now…IF you decide to invest in a grain mill…which one should you buy? There are all kinds of varieties out there. Here are a few that I know something about:

I have a Nutrimill.

I’ve never had a different kind of grain mill, so I don’t have much to compare it to…but I LOVE my Nutrimill. Everyone I’ve talked to that has one LOVES them. The only complaint I’ve ever heard about Nutrimills is that it is a bit hard to clean them. My answer to that is:  Clean them?

While I do clean mine occasionally…I find it hardly worth the effort. I use mine almost daily and while I sort of wipe off the outside a bit after each use…I don’t find it necessary to thoroughly clean it very often. (Also, if you run rice through them occasionally, that will clean the inside!)

While the Nutrimill grinds the flour it does not heat the grain in the process, preserving all of the nutrients in the grain. I’ve ground wheat (hard and soft), spelt, kamut, buckwheat, rye, corn and rice with my Nutrimill. It does give the option of grinding at a finer or coarser setting…although I’ve never found that changing the setting makes much difference. My flour is usually quite fine and I love it.

A friend of mine has a Whisper Mill.

If you own a Whisper Mill maybe you can offer a different opinion about it, BUT my friend really DOESN’T like it. She says, “It takes up a LOT of space. The two pieces make it hard to store… you have to hook up the ‘bucket’  with a plastic arm that breaks easily. Mine has never ground anything bigger than wheat very well.” Anyone else have an opinion on the Whisper Mill?

If you have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, you can purchase this attachment for it.

Any of you grind your flour this way?

I’m also very interested in investing in a hand grinder…just in case we would ever need to grind grain without electricity. Here’s one I’m looking at. Do any of you have experience with hand grinders and want to recommend one?

Several of you mentioned a Vitamix on this post.

Sounds like there are mixed reviews on this one. It seems that if you grind a large amount of flour, it takes too long in the Vitamix. On the other hand, you can do other things with the Vitamix, making it a more multi-purpose investment. Read the comments here if you’re interested in learning more about the Vitamix.

Where should I buy my Grain Mill?

I would recommend looking at your options of grain mills at Amazon (you can maybe even find a used one) OR check out Paula’s Bread.

Paula’s Bread has ALL kinds of great kitchen products and several varieties of grain mills. Read about Paula’s family here and consider supporting her business if you’re looking to purchase a grain mill! Her prices are very reasonable. I’m very impressed with all of the products she carries. (Side note:  Paula’s Bread is a sponsor of mine, but she did not pay me anything extra to write this. I just really love her site and wanted to point you there in case you hadn’t seen her ad on my sidebar!)
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If you have a grain mill, please share what kind you have and why you like it or dislike it!!!

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Grain Mills Pt. 1: Should You Buy One? Does it Save Money?

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I’ve been grinding my own flour for about four years now and I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! I can’t say enough good about freshly ground whole grain flour. The taste is NOTHING like store bought whole wheat flour. The freshness is unbeatable. Because it is fresh, the nutritional value is much higher. I love my grain mill!

If you do a lot of baking and you want to bake with whole grains…I very much recommend saving up for a grain mill. (I sold baked goods at our farmer’s market one year to pay for mine!)

Here’s the investment payoff I calculated:

I have a Nutrimill, which cost me about $250…

I buy organic hard white wheat berries, 50 pounds for about $33.00, which lasts me about two months. I make all of our bread, tortillas, muffins, rolls, pretzels, crackers, cookies, cakes…everything that requires flour.

If I were to go to the store and buy the amount of bread and tortillas our family of six needs in two months, my rough calculating tells me that I would spend about $56.00. JUST ON BREAD AND TORTILLAS. That doesn’t include all the muffins and other grain products I make with my $33.00 bag of grain in two months.

AND…the products I bake are a bajillion (scientifically proven  :) ) times healthier than what I can buy at the store.

Looking at those figures…it would seem that my grain mill paid for itself in about 10 months…although it’s really much less than that because again, my figures only included the cost of bread and tortillas and I get MANY MORE baked goods out of my bag of grain than just those (plus I was being conservative in my calculations).

So, I would say my grain mill paid for itself in about six months…and the savings just keep on keeping on! In fact, while I had my calculator out I figured out that I’ve saved approximately $552 in four years by grinding my own flour and baking whole grain food from scratch for my family. THAT was exciting to calculate!

There now. Would you like me to write a letter to your husbands, convincing them to buy you a grain mill for Christmas? I’d do it. :)

This post begins a short little series on Grain Mills and grinding and baking with whole grain flour. Coming up I’ll share about:

  • Different kinds of grain mills, which ones I recommend and where to purchase them
  • Where to buy grain and what kind to buy
  • Tips on baking with whole grains
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More About Soaking Grains (or not)

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Thank you all for a wonderful discussion on this post and through emails about whether or not soaking our grains is necessary. 

Talk about confusing. :)

After reading all of the comments, did any of you reach any conclusions?

I’m not sure if I’ve reached any definite conclusions, but I’ve been researching it more and talking with my husband about it.

I also decided to try emailing Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions. Guess what? She wrote me back!

Here’s the main part of my email to her:

Recently on my blog I posted about whether or not it is necessary to soak grains in order to break down the phytic acid and aid in digestion. There are differing ideas out there and I’d love to help my readers be well informed.

This is the post I wrote. Because of reading Nourishing Traditions, I’ve believe that it is important to soak my whole grain before cooking. However, I’ve never found any other
information that recommends soaking grains (aside from Dr. Mercola who simply recommends not eating them at all!). I even found an article suggesting that soaking is completely unnecessary.

And here is Sally’s reply:

Before yeast became available, the only way to make bread was by fermentation–sourdough fermentation. Also, if you look at Handbook of Indigenous Fermented Foods, you will see that the practice of fermenting grains–for breads, porridges and beverages–is practically universal.
 
Fermentation/Soaking not only neutralizes phytates (which DO block mineral uptake), but also tannins, enzyme inhibitors, etc, all things very irritating to the digestion. Also, there is recent research on gluten intolerance, showing that sourdough fermentation makes bread tolerable to those with celiac disease.
 
Personally, I get very sick if I consume unsoaked/unfermented whole grains, but do fine when they are properly prepared.

Best, Sally

I felt it interesting to note that some of you mentioned that healthier or not, soaking whole grains can help breads to have a nicer texture. 

Here’s where I think I’ve landed on this issue:

As much as I can, I will soak my grains. I truly can tell a difference in the way my stomach responds. I love my soaked pancakes and waffles and biscuits. Soaking homemade tortillas is easy. Soaking my breakfast cookies and breakfast cake adds great flavor and isn’t any trouble. I’m working on perfecting my sourdough bread which is the most traditional way of baking bread. 

But, if I don’t get around to soaking every single muffin or cookie, I’m not going to sweat it. It’s still whole grain (since I use freshly ground whole wheat flour) and it’s still better than white flour. 

One thing I’m going to work on is simply not eating as many grains in the first place. Fruits, vegetables, grass fed meats and raw dairy give us more nutrition and should be more of a focus than grains in our diets. 

I’d love to hear where you landed on this issue. What do you think will be best for your family?

Now, regarding all of this talk about grains, I’ve received TONS of emails asking me to recommend a grain mill. That post…coming up soon.

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