Soaking grains and flours for bread

[meganjane]

Following on from the other thread, where Chelsea talks about soaking grains and soaking flour before making bread, I have a query about a recipe I found on Anne Elliot's site using soaked flour:


Soaked Whole Wheat Bread

Yield: 1 two-pound loaf

2 cups raw milk
5 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
In a bowl, mix flour and milk with a wooden spoon until stiff dough forms. Cover with a towel and set in a warm spot overnight (12-24 hours).
Add flour and milk mixture to your Bosch mixer. Add the following ingredients:
3 tablespoons honey or sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons wheat gluten
4 tablespoons melted butter or olive oil
2 teaspoons yeast

From here, proceed as normal with any bread recipe, mixing all the ingredients until the gluten is well formed. Let your dough rise somewhere warm until doubled, then shape. Let rise for another 30 minutes, then bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes

I would like to know if you can swap out the raw milk for one cup water and one cup diluted yoghurt (to provide the acid medium). I'm also wondering what is the purpose of wheat gluten in the recipe? Does soaking upset the gluten in the wheat?

I'd also like to know if this works, or is even necessary with white flour. I don't use wholegrain as my DH doesn't like it.

Any comments or ideas from knowledgeable people appreciated!!

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

I'm not quite sure about the recipe MJ.  I wonder if it was designed to soak for the purpose of making the wholegrain bread lighter (another good reason for soaking wholegrain flour).

To remove the phytic acid from the bran of the grain a tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cidar vinegar in the 2 cups of milk should do the trick (or yoghurt and water should also be fine).  Also it needs to soak at a cool room temperature (I use a shelf in our wardrobe as our bedroom is the coolest room in summer).  Don't use your fridge though as that's too cold and the soaking won't work.

If you are using white flour then you won't need to soak it as the bran is mostly removed (and the bran contains the main nutrients and sadly the phytic acid).

Hope that helps a little MJ.  I'm just learning too. 

[meganjane]

Thanks Chelsea, that does help. I'm very interested now and will get hold of some wheat from the farm to try this. I haven't actually ground any of our grains yet! I gave a heap to the Perthies when we got together, but haven't got any for myself!

[quirkycooking]

I would just use my homemade rice-almond milk with 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, for a dairy free version.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Thanks Chelsea, that does help. I'm very interested now and will get hold of some wheat from the farm to try this. I haven't actually ground any of our grains yet! I gave a heap to the Perthies when we got together, but haven't got any for myself!

Let us know how you go.  I have had success with converted soaking recipes for pancakes and muffins, but not so good with cakes and bread. 

[achookwoman]

Very interesting recipe.  note the small amount of yeast,  I'm thinking that the extra gluten is necessary because of the small amount of yeast.    Sour dough ,  in its own way ,  while standing for 18 hours also soaks the grain.   Would be very interested to know how it goes.

[Thermomixer]

Interesting recipe - not sure, but hopefully the grain would start to ferment with local yeasts, but not sure why they need the extra gluten either, unless they have lower protein wheat that they are using ?  Like matthew Evans in the Gourmet Farmer episode

[cathy79]

I just found this article from rawpleasure.com - I think it explains the benefits quite simply.

[achookwoman]

cathy,  thanks for that,  very interesting.

[quirkycooking]

The problem with adding gluten to the recipe is too much gluten, not enough of the enzyme needed to digest it (which is in the germ), especially with wheat!!!  Wheat's been hybridized and altered too much, so there's too much gluten and too little of the enzyme in it as it is, without adding more gluten to the mix!  Hence the rise in wheat intolerance and allergies and coeliac disease ever since refined flour from hybridized wheat took over the western diet.  I try to keep my gluten intake as low as possible.

[andiesenji]

I posted in the "Types of Flours" thread about using sprouted grains. 
Check the site I referenced and linked. 

[meganjane]

The problem with adding gluten to the recipe is too much gluten, not enough of the enzyme needed to digest it (which is in the germ), especially with wheat!!!  Wheat's been hybridized and altered too much, so there's too much gluten and too little of the enzyme in it as it is, without adding more gluten to the mix!  Hence the rise in wheat intolerance and allergies and coeliac disease ever since refined flour from hybridized wheat took over the western diet.  I try to keep my gluten intake as low as possible.

That's what I thought when I saw that extra gluten in the recipe. I don't plan to try it, but am interested in the theories behind the soaking of whole grains.