I have received several inquiries about how to soak grains lately, and I realized I have never fully addressed this topic on my blog, and here I am going off on how to soak tortillas, homemade bread, and pizza, without fully explaining myself. Accept my apologies and read on…
Whole Grains vs. White Flour
Using whole grains in your cooking/baking is the first and one the most significant step you can take towards improving your nutrition. Whole grains include: whole wheat, kamut, spelt, brown rice, oats, any many others. Unlike white flour, whole grains keep the bran & germ together and in tact, which supplies you with all the nutrients. It is important to note that making the switch to whole grains is easier than you think. In fact, many recipes can be switched white flour with whole wheat flour without any difficulty. But, just because you have or are in the process of switching to healthier grains does not mean you are getting all the nutritional value.
Grinding Your Own Flour
Fresh flour contains all the vitamins and minerals missing in commercial flours. It includes the bran which is vital for a healthy colon and weight control. It is economical. Within 24 hours up to 40% of the nutrients have oxidized. In three days up to 80% of nutrients have oxidized, so using freshly grained flours preserves all the wonderful nutrients. Read more benefits here.
I personally use a NutriMill grinder. You can read more about this particular grinder at Pleasant Hill Grain Company online (www.pleasanthillgrain.com). It has worked splendidly for me! They have wonderful customer service as well. This is the one of the best investments you can make towards becoming more healthy and nutritious in your cooking. Check out this article to compare different mills. I store mine on my kitchen counter, because it is small and convenient for easy access. I have ground everything from beans, to grains, to corn in it.
Phytic Acid Prevents Digestion
Unfortunately, whole grains contain phytic acid in the bran of the grain which combines with key minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc and prevents their absorption in the intestinal tract. This makes it more difficult to digest properly. Soaking, fermenting, or sprouting the grain before cooking or baking will neutralize the phytic acid, releasing these nutrients for absorption.
This process allows enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to not only neutralize the phytic acid, but also to break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult-to-digest proteins, including gluten. For many, this may lessen their sensitivity or allergic reactions to particular grains. Everyone will benefit, nevertheless, from the release of nutrients and greater ease of digestion.
How to Soak
1. The first stage of preparation is to soak the whole grain flour in an acid medium and liquid. The basic idea is to soak all the flour with the liquid ingredients and 1 Tbsp of an acid medium per cup of water called for in the recipe.
Acid mediums options include: cultured buttermilk, kefir, cultured yogurt, whey, lemon juice or vinegar. Dairy product acid mediums must be cultured!
- Brown rice, buckwheat, and millet do not have as high of phytate content and thus need only be soaked for 7 hours (these are great last minute grains if you forget to soak, won’t be a big problem - also recommend purchasing brown rice pasta for this reason as well)
-All other grains (whole wheat, spelt, kamut, oats, etc) should be soaked from 12-24 hours, with oats have the highest level and best soaked for 24 hours.
2. Leave your grains soaking at room temperature on your counter. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, or with a plate to prevent it from drying out (especially in the case of a dough). After soaking, you add the remaining ingredients, if required, and proceed with recipe!
Sue Gregg shares two other benefits to soaking: “There are two other advantages of the two-stage process. Several hours of soaking serves to soften the grain, resulting in baked goods lighter in texture, closer to the texture of white flour. The longer the soaking, the less necessary is baking powder. Baking soda, alone,
will give enough rise. Secondly, this is a great step in convenience, dividing the task into two shorter time periods, cutting the time needed to prepare the recipe right before cooking and baking when you feel
rushed to get food on the table.”
Another benefit I have found to soaking is that it absorbs the liquids and expands the grains, making a larger quantity in the end. This is very true especially with my soaking oatmeal. If I forget to soak, it results in a smaller batch, but if I soak it increases the quantity and is more satisfying and filling as well. Don’t quite know why this happens, but it extends the food budget further! Whole grains overall are much more satisfying and fill you up longer than white products…so once again, more value for your money!
Soaking Cereals
Simply soak your cereals in half the quantity of water called for in the recipe with the 1 Tbsp acid medium per cup of water for 12-24 hours. When you are ready to cook, boil the other half of the water before adding the soaked grain. It will be ready in 5 minutes!
For our regular twice a week breakfast of oatmeal, I soak 1 cup of rolled oats with 1 cup of water and 1-2 Tbls of kefir. I let it sit covered overnight. In the morning I put 1 cup of water to boil on the stove. When it is rolling, I add the soaked oats and let it simmer for 5 minutes or so. We then add ground flax seeds, dried cranberries, chopped apples and sometimes a little mashed bananas and there you have an excellent high fiber breakfast.
Soaking Quick Breads
For quick breads (waffles, pancakes, muffins, etc) add 1 Tbsp of an acid medium (best with cultured buttermilk or kefir) for every cup of water called for in the recipe, cover and soak as recommended above. If the recipe calls for buttermilk already, soak in the buttermilk or replace with kefir (which is my favorite!).
I replace buttermilk with kefir completely most of the time without problem. If desired, you can also add all the other ingredients besides the egg, leavenings, and salt in the soaking mixture as well. This helps maintain a moist dough. After soaking, I simply add the egg, leavenings and salt called for in the recipe. Sue Gregg incorporates this idea in all her breakfast recipes. See recipe below. She has other sample recipes on her website.
Whole Grain Pancake/Waffle Recipe - includes instructions on soaking! This is simply delicious!
Soaking Beans
Beans should be rinsed then soaked with 1 Tbsp whey or lemon juice per cup of beans. After soaking, drain, rinse and start with fresh water. Follow the recommended quantities as you would normally.
Soaking Yeast Breads
Soak flour, and 1 Tbsp vinegar or kefir for every cup of water called for in the recipe (leave 1/2 cup of water for activating yeast later). I like to also add the oil and sweeteners to maintain moist dough, otherwise cover tightly with plastic wrap. After soaking, active the yeast in the remaining water with a tsp of honey. Proceed with the recipe.
My Homemade Bread Recipe - with soaking instructions!
Soaking Brown Rice
Combine your rice and all the water called for in the recipe with 1-2 Tbsp of acid medium and let soak for 7 hours. I combine these ingredients in the pot I will cook it in. When ready, simply turn it on and cook as usual. My recipe is to soak 1 cup brown rice to 2 1/4 cup water, with 2 Tbsp of kefir. Heat to boiling and then turn to low heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
For more recipes, view the recipe index. Most of my recipes include soaking instructions.
Soaking is actually quite simple. The key: thinking ahead! Write it in your schedule! Each morning after breakfast and making dinner preparations, I also ask myself if I need to soak anything for the next day. I quickly combine it and let it sit on my counter.
Further Reading
Urban Homemaker articles on Soaking here & here
How I use kefir and the wonderful benefits
Tammy’s Kefir Making Instructions
Two Stage Process - introduction to soaking by Sue Gregg - I drew much of the above information from this article
Sue Gregg’s Breakfast cookbook is my favorite intro to different whole grains and how to include them in your diet. This book shows you how to grind grains in your blender for many morning breakfasts. Works wonderfully!
Be Kind to Your Grains - article by Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions on why we should soak our grains
Coming up next…Soaking vs. Sprouting - which should you choose?
Related Posts
- Q & A: Sprouting vs. Soaking
- Is buying whole grains cheaper?
- Phytic Acid E-Course & Soaking Necessities
- Q & A: Buying Grains
April 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Does soaking the brown rice change the taste? I really like brown rice. I prefer it to white, but my husband really dislikes the taste of brown rice. He says it is too strong and prefers the rice to taste plain so that you are tasting what goes on the rice. If soaking the brown rice makes it less mild maybe I should try it.
Lindsay replied on April 8th, 2008:
I have not noticed any change in the taste due to soaking. If anything, soaking usually makes a more moist and lighter overall texture, including brown rice. I would recommend you try it and see.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
That was a great post.
I have soaked flour and cracked grains before.
My question is- how can I easily modify my favorite recipes to include soaking?
Lindsay replied on April 8th, 2008:
Candace, as described above, take the flour called for in the recipe and the liquids, and add 1 Tbsp of an acid medium per cup of the liquids (unless recipe calls for buttermilk, then that is the acid medium, and you don’t need to add anything else). Cover and soak as described. After soaking, add the remaining ingredients. I have done this on all my favorite recipes with great success. Does that make sense? It might be easiest to start with a few of the recipes I have completed and you will get the hang of it, and be able to incorporate it in your favorite recipes.
Also, you are free to send me one of your favorite recipes and I will map it out for you.
April 8th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Lindsay are you saying if you soak brown rice it won’t be as chewy? I eat brown rice, but it’s more or less choking it down lol because of the chewiness of the rice. And I got away from white rice, sugar, flour, and white potatoes a few years back.
Lindsay replied on April 8th, 2008:
Hmm…I am not sure I would quite say that it makes it less chewy. I think brown rice is naturally more chewy than white, but I love it that way. It all depends on how much water you use as well. If you use more water, the rice will be more wet and I assume less chewy, if you prefer that way. Of course, we very rarely just eat rice by itself. I always serve it under Parmesan chicken or thrown in a stir fry or something.
Tia replied on April 9th, 2008:
Yeah we eat it w/something too. I’m the big rice eater. My dh is more of a bread person. I can take or leave bread.
I usually serve it w/chicken or fish, stir fry definitely. And w/tofu!
Gee maybe I’ve been cooking it wrong all this time! I’ll add more water to it next time. I like my pasta al dente, but I like my rice soft! (not mushy)
April 8th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Do you find that soaked quick breads take longer to bake? I tried doing muffins once but they were a terrible flop! They turned out like nutmeggy cakes of gluey grain! I did use ground grains for part of the recipe (they were “seven-grain muffins”), but they still turned out horribly!
Lindsay replied on April 9th, 2008:
Kathleen, that is something I forgot to mention. I have discovered that with baked goods you usually have to add more flour than the recipe calls for, but you follow the standard baking time. I usually add maybe 1-2 more cups of flour after soaking. My tip is to try your recipe normally, learn what texture it should be, then experiment with soaking and adding more flour to get that same texture.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Great tips! I’ve been grinding my own flour since I got my nutrimill for Christmas, but haven’t tried soaking yet, largely due to the “how”. I will give your methods a try!
April 9th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
This is exciting. Thanks for maping out grain soaking step-by-step. I have just recently received news on a trusted local raw milk source (we live in Alaska, so this is a miracle) and am excited about making kefir and such. Actually, I have a whole slew of questions about how you “schedule” turning your raw milk into kefir, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, butter, and cheese over a month’s time. But anyway, back to the subject of grains.
1. If I don’t have raw milk yet, can I use another acid agent on the flour for bread baking?
2. In reference to your bread recipe what do you make your one cup of gluten flour out of if you never buy flour and the rest is whole wheat?
3. Do you ever have any kefir left over, or does it all soak into the flour?
Thank you. I am humbled by how much good healthy home keeping information you have. Thank you for sharing it.
Lindsay replied on April 9th, 2008:
Glad you found a raw milk source!
In answer to your questions:
1. You can use lemon juice or white vinegar as mentioned above.
2. I do purchase gluten flour (its more of a dough enhancer, than an actual flour) from Azure Standard. I am sure you can get it from other sources as well.
3. Whatever I use to soak with remains in the flour/dough. It definitely soaks in.
Hope that answers your questions fully.
Lindsay
May 5th, 2008 at 4:43 am
I linked to this post on my blog today! Thanks for the inspiration!
http://ahighandnoblecalling.blogspot.com/2008/05/ive-been-inspiredfinally.html
May 19th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
You women truly inspired me to attempt healthy breads again. Yesterday I ground amaranth and quinoa and then soaked them in the liquid with the kefir. When I got up this morning to make my bread, the soaking flour was already beginning to mold! Has anyone else had this problem??? Do I soak them in the refrigerator? I’m used to soaking and sprouting legumes, nuts and seeds; but am unfamiliar with soaking flour, so I appreciate your helpful hints!
Also, has anyone tried to sprout their grains first and then make bread out of them? Just curious as this is supposed to be even healthier?
June 13th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Lindsay, I DO love your site and have been trying to change years of ‘traditional cooking’ with the Nourishing Traditions way. However, I noticed you said to soak grains, flour in CULTURED buttermilk NOT what you get from making butter. I have access to raw milk and have used the ‘regular’ buttermilk I’ve made and thought it was great. Can you tell me the reason to use the cultured?
Blessings,
Sunny
Lindsay replied on June 14th, 2008:
Sunny, I understand your confusion, as I was in the same boat a little while back wanting to use the buttermilk in the butter making process. The reason, to the best of my understanding, is that the buttermilk has not been cultured (gleaned the healthy bacteria in the air from sitting out), and thus will not be able to break down the phytates, as it must be a cultured source. Buttermilk that comes fr making butter is just a run off from the cream.
You can culture your cream before making it into butter and thus solve that problem. Simply let the cream sit for 8 hours before whipping into butter. It does change the flavor though, so you will have to just give it a try.
Hope that helps!
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Your blog is so informative, I’ve been searching for info on soaking grains, and am having a hard time. I’ve had sucess with Sue Gregg’s coffeecake recipe (w/some tweaking), and that’s about it. I’m having trouble figuring how to incorporate this method into my family’s favorite recipes. One big question I have is, what do you do when the recipe does not have a liquid for you to add the acid to, or soak the grains w/? Here’s an example of one of our favorite muffins ingredients:
1 1/4 cups halved strawberries
3 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, melted
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Thanks for such a great website, I’m going to try your whole wheat bread recipe and see how it works out for me.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
First of all, I love your blog and I just found it!
Second, I have a quick question:
When soaking the rice do you let it sit out on the counter? And do you drain it?
Thanks in advance!
Lindsay replied on August 14th, 2008:
Yes, I allow everything to soak covered on the countertop or in a cupboard. After soaking, I normally just cook the rice in the water, because some of the water has soaked into the rice, so the remaining amount works perfectly to cook it. With rice you are soaking in the amount that you would normally cook in (1 cup brown rice to 2 1/4 cups water), just soaking in advance.