Health, Home, and Happiness

(Part 2 is found here: Making the dough)

I find pictures helpful and more interesting when I'm trying to learn something vastly different from what I already know. I think the whole wheat-soaking-to-get-rid-of-the-phytates thing is hard for people to grasp, since it's never heard about in nutrition class or on the back of cereal boxes (which I admit is where I got the majority of my nutrition information for a LONG time!). The phytates are in the outer shell of whole grains, so when using whole grain flour to get all the good stuff that's in the whole grain, you just have to soak them in something acid (lemon juice, whey, yogurt) for 12+ hours to get rid of the phytates, which are 'anti nutrients' and undigestable.

So I took pictures of my 10-minute preparation for soaking the wheat yesterday. I'll update this afternoon with the bread part. (The bread recipe and more of an explanation is here)

This bread is honestly the backbone of our 'new normal' eating. Toast with peanut butter, sandwiches with egg salad, with butter as a side dish; I feel good serving this to my family.

100% whole wheat, GMO free, chemical free, local. I usually buy wheatberries (shown back here), but my dad accidentally picked this up instead of unbleached white flour when he was looking for that.

A lemon since I don't have any whey, and we're mostly dairy free- when I eat dairy, my 7 month old breastfed baby gets eczema (re-confirmed by last week's ColdStone), I get sinus infections, and so does my toddler.

My big breadmaking/soaking bowl.
I just dump the flour in. I fill it generously 3/4 full.
Squeeze the lemon juice into a cup. I ended up using two. Squeezing them into a cup makes it easier to strain. This is our acid for breaking down the undigestible parts of the wheat, think of it as unlocking the good nutrients.
Add generous amounts of filtered water.
Stir
Add more water. I added 2 more of these big Mason Jars full, stirring to mix between adding each.

Goopy dough. It's about pancake-batter consistency. Really moist.

Cover the bowl with a damp clean kitchen towel and leave it alone for 12-24 hours, I keep mine at the back of the counter away from toddler hands. Sometimes the natural yeast will come in and help rise it for me, sometimes I have to help it along with store-bought yeast. This afternoon I'll come back and show you in pictures how to make 2 loaves of yummy wheat bread that even my toddler loves, and save some for soaked wheat pancakes.

(Part 2 is found here: Making the dough)

(this post is a part of Real Food Wednesdays, go check them out for other real food ideas!)