Last time we talked about the nutritional benefits of soaked grains. If you missed it, start here. Today we will talk a little bit about how to soak your grains.
In her Introduction to Whole Grain Baking Cookbook, Sue Gregg states, "As little as 7 hours soaking will neutralize a large portion of the phytic acid in grains. Twelve to 24 hours is even better with 24 hours yielding the best results. Brown rice, buckwheat, and millet are more easily digested because they contain lower amounts of phytates than other grains, so 7 hours soaking is sufficient. Other grains, particularly oats, highest in phytates of the whole grains, are best soaked up to 24 hours."
Besides improving the texture to make it light, and fluffy, one of the wonderful advantages to soaking your grains is that you break things up into two shorter stages. If you put things together after lunch or dinner, you can wake up the next day and have delicious waffles or muffins in just minutes. No more bumbling around the kitchen trying to figure out why on earth you are awake in the first place, let alone what you are going to eat. Now you have a bakery in your kitchen, and you don't even have to get the sleepy out of your eyes to do it.
Sue Gregg goes on to say, "Many people are overwhelmed by the thought of the two-stage process. This is because it is a paradigm shift, something completely foreign to our normal way of doing things. For decades it has never been part of cookbooks with whole grain recipes..." Don't worry too much about how to do it. Just follow a few two-stage recipes and you'll have it down in no time.
My favity-favorite whole foods cookbooks are a series written by Sue Gregg (the lady I quoted above). I use them nearly every day. No really. Not only does she give doable recipes without strange ingredients only obtainable with a trip to an exotic land, she gives extensive information on why certain ingredients are good to use, how to use them and where you can find them. If you have already converted to a whole foods diet the ingredients are likely already in your cupboard. If you are in the process of changing over, the ingredients are easily obtainable either at a good grocery store or at your local health food store. The individual cookbooks aren't terribly expensive, ranging from about $10-20 each. Or you can buy them all at once. If you decide just get a few at a time, I recommend starting with the following: An Introduction to Whole Grain Baking with Blender Batter Baking & The Two-Stage Process Introducing Whole Foods Cooking for Health and Hospitality More than Breakfasts with Blender Batter Baking & Allergy Alternatives Main Dishes for Health & Hospitality
You can find her cookbooks here. Even if you don't plan to buy her books, her site is worth checking out. There you will find recipes and a lot of good information.
Tomorrow I will give you a few recipes to try for yourself. Have a great day!
