Soaked-Grain Bread

When I was making bread the other day, it crossed my mind that somebody might be interested in my quasi-soaking method. And then, lo and behold, Kristi asked about it today.

I tried making sourdough according to the instructions in Nourishing Traditions. But we didn't care for it. I suppose it's healthier for us. But we like our nice, fluffy, "regular" bread that I make.

So I've developed my own method to go halvsies. I take most of the liquid in my bread recipe and about half the flour, and stir them together and let them sit for about 6-8 hours. For my recipe, I use a little more than a pint of liquid (either 1/3 cup buttermilk and 2 cups water, or 2 cups water plus 1 Tbsp whey or raw apple cider vinegar). Then I stir in 3 cups of ww flour.

When it's time to make bread, I take another 1/4 or 1/2 cup of water for the yeast, salt, flax, sugar, oil, etc. I stir that combo into the wet goo of flour/water that's been sitting overnight. Then I continue adding the 3-4 cups of flour left for the recipe, and make the bread just like any other bread recipe.

This gives us the benefits of having half our flour soaked, which makes for easier digestibility and fewer allergy problems. It also gives us the benefit of having bread that is not so heavy and dense that it's hard to use for sandwiches or toast or French toast or hamburger buns.