Soaked Whole Wheat Bread - A Journey

Why soaked grains?  Since our son was 10 months old and came to live with us from a foster care situation, he has been sick.  He has suffered from asthma, recurring staph infections, perpetual ear and sinus infections and gastrointestinal issues including reflux, continual diarrhea and vomiting when he ate.  Coming from a foster care perspective, I really didn't have a choice but to explore every medical option available to us.  He had ongoing appointments with a pediatrician, gastroenterologist, pulmonologist, internal medicine, immunologist, allergist and an infectious disease specialist.  Countless tests, vials of blood work, endless paper work, exhausting daily medications and a lot of waiting and tears later, all we were told is that his immunities were low and not functioning but there was no definitive reason as to why.  The answer was always the same...take this new medication, it will help or one more sinus surgery to clear out excess tissue in his sinus cavities and all will be good.  But what we witnessed was the opposite.  He was still sick! Four sinus surgeries and five daily meds later, I was done.  This could not continue. The side effects of his daily meds alone were enough to make me crazy.  All of this for a 5 yr old that still felt terrible and was not gaining any weight; in fact, had dropped off the growth chart completely.  Something had to change.

During all of this, I found myself overwhelmed with life.  Five kids, five years of foster care, nine years of homeschooling, endless doctors appointments, I had lost myself and turned to food for comfort.  Fast food to be accurate.  I was 40 yrs old and weighed my heaviest and felt terrible!! I found a book on the internet called Real Food, What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck.  I had always dabbled in creating meals from scratch, living a more natural and holistic life but it was it seemed to "hard" and constant.  I would give it a good go for a few weeks and then fall back to my old convenient foods for ease and comfort.  But this time it was different, I devoured this book.  It was not only easy to read but made so much since.  Whole, natural, in season, raw all sounded scary and foreign to me before I read this book.  All I could do was focus on the daily grind of living a more simple life, eating simple foods and it seemed anything but simple to me.  The author told a story, her story in this book.  Not just facts and statistics or scare tactics about chemicals and preservatives.  She struggled with just like me.  She loved bad food too!  I love this! It inspired me but most of all, it made sense and was practical.

I was inspired and I started committing to the whole food way of life back in March of 2015.  A few weeks after my sons fourth sinus surgery.  He looked at me from the hospital bed after a very bad night and asked me sweetly if he could be done with hospitals and having his "sinuses out".  How could I refuse? He and I were both done with all of it and I had a renewed determination to try something new.  After all, if it didn't work, what harm had we done?

I started out slow and decided to not throw out everything but slowly incorporate whole foods into our diet.   But more of an all or nothing personality, I tended to go all in, get overwhelmed and then give up.  I started with soaked grains and raw milk( I will talk about raw milk later).  With all of Evan's digestive issues and his lack of gaining weight, I thought we should address this issue first.  We had in the beginning tried elimination with his diet thinking he was allergic.  We were dairy free, cassein free, gluten free, soy free, etc... but no significant changes occurred.  We had food allergy testing and Celiac blood work done but all were negative. But still he suffered from diarrhea and no weight gain at all; he had actually lost a little weight.

In my reading I discovered "soaking" grains.   In the book Nourshing Traditions (referenced in an earlier post) the author talks about how soaking grains overnight in an acid medium such a vinegar, yogurt, kefir, etc. breaks down phytic acids that naturally occur in plant seeds, legumes, grains and nuts.  Phytic acid directly affects mineral absorption iron, zinc and calcium and so is considered a anti-nutrient.   Although phytic acid has been proven to have some antioxidant properties, it is considered hard on your nutrient absorption.  It made sense to me that my son who was not gaining weight and by the immunologist own admission had a nutrient deficiency may greatly benefit from this way to prepare bread, cereals, nuts and beans.  And since most everything processed has some sort of wheat or nut in it, it fit together in my mind.

So my soaking experiments began:  It started with biscuits, whole freshly ground wheat bread, waffles and pancakes, oatmeal, cereals, almonds and pecans and of course beans which have to be soaked anyway.  I have experimented with milk based acids but my favorite by far is apple cider vinegar.  And everything I tried was really good.  My kids didn't even notice the difference in the taste so loved it all as well.

So through this journey, I have discovered my favorite soaked grain recipes.  Mostly I get my recipe ideas from the blog and cookbook from "The Elliot Homestead".  But I have tweaked and modified for our own taste.

Ingredients:

Freshly Ground Whole Wheat
Celtic Sea Salt
Raw Milk
Apple Cider Vinegar
Filtered Water
Yeast
Baking Soda
Honey (or Sucanat)
Butter

The night before you need to prepare the soaker and sponge:

Soaker:
3 1/2  Cups Freshly Ground Wheat
1 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1 1/2 Cups Raw Milk plus 2 tsp Vinegar

Combine in a bowl, cover with a clothe and set aside until the next morning

Sponge:
3 1/2 Cups Freshly Ground Wheat
1 tsp Yeast
1 1/2 Cups Filtered Water plus 2 tsp Vinegar

Combine is a stand mixer.  Mixed on low with a dough hook for about 4 or 5 minutes, rest for 4 minutes and then mix again for an additional minute or two until wheat is sponge-like. Cover with clothe until next morning.

The next day, combine soaker and sponge with 4 Tbl of honey or 5 Tbl of Sucanat, 2 Tbl of butter, 2 1/2 tsp of yeast, 1/4

tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of Celtic sea salt.  Mix together in stand mixer for about 4-5 minutes.  Mix until sides are pulling free of the mixer but still a "sticky" consistency.  You may need to add a little more flour.

Transfer mixture to an oiled bowl, I like coconut oil, and let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours.  After it has doubled in size, remove from bowl, divide into two pieces.  Roll each piece of  dough into two rectangles.  Gently fold the dough into it forms a loaf.   Place loaves into oiled pans and allow it to rise for another hour or until the loaf has formed to your liking.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when thumped.

Enjoy!