Nothing Beats Bread!

So I've been reading about traditional cooking and I was surprised about this new technique used to make bread.

Of course I believe that whole grains were better for you, even if some traditionalist don't think so, but wheat was really doing a number to my sweet baby's system. I thought sourdough was the only way to go, and from this post you can hear me complaining about the time and care it took to make one loaf of bread.

Then there was "soaking".

After finding another traditional living website, KitchenStewardship.com, I stumbled on to this FREE gem of an ebook there. All I had to do was sign up for a once-a-month newsletter (no problem!).

In her post here she explained how and why to soak whole grains. Here are a couple of little excerpts I've taken from that post.

The Why:

The Basic Science Behind Soaking Grains

• Grains are seeds. (All this information therefore, pertains to legumes, nuts and seeds as well.)
• Seeds are meant to pass through the system relatively undigested so they can be planted elsewhere (think in nature).
• To make it possible for seeds to pass through undigested, there are some anti-nutrients built in to make them difficult to digest.
• Seeds also need to be preserved until the time is right for sprouting, so they have certain compounds that stop the active enzyme activity of germination.
• These compounds also serve to hinder active enzyme activity in your digestive system.
• Beginning the sprouting process makes seeds more digestible and help your system obtain all the nutrients in the food.
• “Soaking” grains is one way to mimic the sprouting process

Added Bonus: This process begins to pre-digest the grains, including breaking down complex starches and tannins that can irritate your stomach, as well as beginning to break down proteins like gluten. For some, this reduces gluten sensitivity (like it did for Nugget!)..

The How:

Soaking your whole grains…

1. in water (warmer than room temp, ~100-110 degrees or so)
2. with an acidic medium added
3. at room temperature or above
4. for 12-24 hours

Ok that doesn't sound too hard does it?
Heck no, compared to sourdough!

So instead of trying out her bread machine recipe out from the ebook first I decided to reformulate one of my favorite bread machine recipe, Light Whole Wheat Bread (it has a small amount of all-purpose flour that I plan to use unbleached and unbromated flour), from this book:

(find it here)

You can find the recipe on page 69 if you have the book, but here it is and my adjustments:

Light Whole Wheat Bread (Mix Recipe Option)
(I use the Medium size option because it make the best
 size for our family and I believe it will work in most machines)


Mix with a pastry cutter or a whisk real well:

3c whole wheat flour
1 1/3c white flour (unbleached and unbromated)
2t sugar (I used a natural cane sugar)
2T fat (well it was butter but I only had shortening :P)

I then put this in a Foodsaver bag along with a little packet that had two compartments with:

1 1/2t yeast
2t salt

See the little packet of yeast? :)

To use:
Set aside 1/4c of the flour mix and the yeast/salt packet. Stir the rest of the mix in the bread machine pan with -

1 3/4c liquid

It calls for water but because we need to help the soaking process along I have used up to the full amount with buttermilk. If you want a less tangy tasting bread you can use water and only replace at least 2T with buttermilk, apple cider vinegar, yogurt, or even kefir!)

Next put the 1/4c of the mix you set aside on top of the dough. Make a well in the flour and put the salt and yeast in it (we don't want these two ingredients to be in contact with the dough just yet because they will hinder the soaking process)

Fresh bread tomorrow, YAY!

Set it in your bread machine for a least 12 hours or what I like to do is leave it overnight and then in the morning I turn the machine on - use the basic/normal setting and medium crust (I only have the option of light or dark and dark did just fine)

Here is a picture of a loaf that is almost gone -

It slices so nicely once its cooled!

It rises better then a 100% whole wheat bread and I think it has a better mouth feel too. Also I feel that the small amount of white flour (unbleached and unbromated) and its taste and texture is worth it not being 100% whole wheat.

Remember this bread will go bad long before store bought, but I haven't had the trouble of not eating before then! :)

Oatmeal Pancakes and the Future

Oatmeal Pancakes :) Soaked too!
The tasty and warm breakfast treat!

Wait...

(husband)
"Whats in that bowel?"

"Oatmeal pancake batter that is soaking."

"Why do you have to ruin pancakes by putting oatmeal in it?!?"

"They aren't ruined, they taste really good. Trust me I've had them before."

(murmur)
"I hate oatmeal."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Why do I put up with this man?"

Anyway,

because the man doesn't make or bake anything harder then heating a can of soup he didn't have a choice.

(The future part of the post is this: I wanted to do it in this post but I can't yet; I want to write how much it cost me to make all of my recipes. I live in the southeast USA so you might have lower or higher prices, but I want to show that you can eat better and still budget! I'll update the posts as I make the recipe again.)

I found this recipe at multiple websites so I'm not going to link it anywhere.

Oatmeal Pancakes 

Ingredients:

2 cups dry oatmeal

1/2 cup whole wheat, spelt, or buckwheat flour (Yeah! I had a itty bitty tiny bag of ww flour in the freezer!)

2 cups buttermilk 

2 medium eggs

2 tablespoons coconut oil (I used all meat shortening - one day coconut oil, one day!)

1/4 – 1/2 cup whole milk (I just used more buttermilk)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

(optional - I added blueberries! Yum!)

Instructions:

The night before, combine the oatmeal, flour and buttermilk in a large bowl. Stir well. Cover with plastic wrap and set overnight. 

(Now some sites said that you could put this in a blender and liquefy it if you want - I didn't, but I might try it out next time.)

The next morning, add the eggs, oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Stir together. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk till it’s a good pancake consistency. Mix until just combined.

Fry the pancakes on a hot, buttered griddle. They’re ready to turn when the top side is bubbly and puffed up and looks cooked around the edges.

Brown the second side and transfer to a plate. (I kept mine warm in the oven) Continue until all of the batter is used up.

Serve with lots of real butter and maple syrup. 

This recipe serves about six.

The itty bitty bag of ww flour I had!

The batter all mixed up after soaking over night.

Blueberries!

Nugget!

"So Honey how do you like the pancakes?"

"They're ok I guess."

"Would you like them better if you couldn't feel the oats?"

"Yeah."

"Ok next time then. :) "


I saved the extra in the freezer, I just put the pancakes, single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer and once they were hard I vacuum sealed them

What Got the Ball Rolling

What got me searching for healthy recipes and making sourdough and wholesome homemade traditional foods?

One word: Poop.

Yes poo. You see my daughter (who I've been lovingly calling Nugget) has always had a hard time when it comes to her, ahem, voiding.

source

After 6 grueling months of breastfeeding (she had a severe case of being tongue-tied, and I had circulatory problems in my breasts) we started her on baby cereal and commercial formula. Now the Nugget loves food, so much so that she would put away 1/2 c of food in one sitting at 7 months if we'd let her. We were so excited that she was finally gaining weight!

But then it happened. We knew that she usually didn't have a BM everyday and might even go a couple of days, but a few months after starting food and formula she was going less and less.

One day, after 12 days with nothing, which the Dr. said was normal, she started to strain really hard. Oh that was the worst sight - it wasn't a cute little push to get things going, no she was in pain and a lot of it. She even was starting to bleed a little.

After a tearful call to her Dr. and a quick appointment she was given both a stool softener and a suppository. A few hours later and with some help from me a large, hard poop came out. I was relieved, but now I was on a mission to fill her with fiber every time I could!

But even with the increased fiber she would still get a bad day when she'd need some more medicine (The Rx for her softener was a GIANT bottle).

One of those bad days happened when we went to visit my mom in GA. My mom had been having some really bad stomach pains and I believe she had some blood tests that confirmed gluten intolerance. So when she heard about Nuggets troubles and that even with fiber she was still constipated, she told me some interesting things about how a lot of babies who start eating wheat get severe constipation.

Well I kinda blew that off at first, because come on its easier to feed a baby ready-to-eat bread and crackers then find the gluten free kind or make them.

Then a few weeks ago Nugget had a REALLY constipated day, almost as bad as the first time. I was so angry at myself, I had been feeding her regular bread and cold cereal even though I really did think my mom had something right about the gluten.

That self-anger spurred me to search for gluten free recipes. I wasn't going to let my laziness or fear hurt my baby!

Then I found the blog written by The Healthy Home Economist. She had a recipe for gluten free pasta substitute using sweet potatoes.
I started to read the site more, watch some of the videos she had done and even went off on an Internet tangent searching the GAPS diet. (I loved this post about why we should be eating grains, prepared traditionally of course, even after the GAPS diet)

So for the past week or so Nugget (and my self) have had slow rise sourdough bread and buttermilk soaked bread in place of regular bread. No crackers or cold cereal. More good fats with our meals. Less formula and more water. (As soon as I can find "real milk" she's getting it!)

And you want to know what happened? Oh this is a great story.

I had to leave for work a few days ago. Hubby was going to watch the Nugget. Two hours into work I get a distress call.

"She has pooed EVERYWHERE! Did you even check her before you left?!?!? (I left the house early, I did check, she was clean)  It's like she pooed 3 TIMES her usual!"

"Just put her in the shower."

"......"

"I'll clean it up when I get home, I promise."

"K."   click

One more hour later.

"She pooed AGAIN!"  remember he's not used to changing poopy diapers cause she hardly poos.

"Is it diarrhea?"

"No, but she doesn't usually poo this much!"

"She's ok, I've been feeding her healthier."

"gag sounds"

"I gotta get back to work hun."

"more gag sounds" click

Its been a few days since that out-flow and she has now been having a regular, soft BM every morning. :)

I am now convinced that we need to continue to research a more traditional eating lifestyle if only so my baby can poo happy.