soaked flour

Phytic Acid Breakdown

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Oats.

They’re good stuff.  Insoluble and soluble fiber, complex carbs, b vitamins, phytic acid.

Wait, what was that last one?

Phytic acid…isn’t that an anti-nutrient that blocks the bodies ability to absorb certain minerals?

Yep.

Oats, like most beans, grains, nuts, and seeds, have phytic acid.  This anti-nutrient binds to calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc (and other minerals in lesser degrees) and makes them unabsorbable to the digestive system.

 

I’m a nutritarian and while I get a whole lot of pleasure out of the act of eating, I’m also interested in getting maximum nutrition from my food.  This means that if I can make my morning oats more nutrient dense and still delicious than I’m all for it.

So I soak ’em.

Soaking grains, beans, seeds, and nuts in warm water and a little acid (from yogurt, kefir, lemon juice, whey, or apple cider vinegar) for several hours breaks down much of the phytic acid and voila-the minerals are now available for your digestive system to utilize!

At night I put my oats, warm water, and a teaspoon or two of acid (usually yogurt) into a pot with a lid and let it sit on the (turned off) stove overnight.  In the morning I cook the oats as usual except that they don’t take as long because they’ve been absorbing water all night.

I do this with other grains too; quinoa, rice, amaranth and all of my beans.

There are lots of times that I forget to soak my grains and just cook them the regular way but the majority of the time they are soaked first.  [still working on how to incorporate soaked oats into my dessert crust!]

Many of you are probably already getting the benefits of soaking oats without knowing it by eating Overnight Oats, as long as you add a little yogurt or kefir to the mix.

Soaking grains may also make them easier to digest by neutralizing the enzyme inhibitors so if you have noticed mild digestive problems you may want to give it a try.

You can soak flour too!  Here’s an awesome recipe for soaked English Muffins.

Are beans, grains, seeds, and nuts bad for you if they’re not soaked?  In my opinion, no.  But I do believe that soaking is an easy way to make them even better for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soak It Up

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I want breakfast.  Again.  It was so damn good.

The sun was shining in

The avocado was perfectly ripe and rich

The local eggs were full of flavor

But the homemade english muffins, the english muffins trumped it all!

I saw this recipe for english muffins on Taste is Trump weeks ago and have been gathering ingredients and waiting for just the right time to make them ever since.

The stars aligned this morning because not only did I have ever thing I needed in the kitchen, Tate and I were both home and planning on a lazy Sunday morning.

The ingredient list is short and these are super simple to throw together but they do take some fore-thought because the flour must soak for at least 12 hours.

Soaking flour or grains before using promotes the break down of phytic acid, resulting in increased absorption of key minerals including iron, magnesium, calcium, and zinc.  The process of soaking grains/flour also helps make the gluten easier to digest.

Yesterday evening I mixed 2 cups of whole grain spelt flour with about 1 1/4 cup plain milk kefir (the recipe calls for 3/4 cup kefir but my bowl was still full of flour, not dough, after adding it so I poured in a little more to make a dough ball) and 1 tsp honey.  I covered the bowl with a clean dish cloth and left it on the hutch overnight.

And I awoke to a dough ball waiting for me

Added 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, and a few pinches of rosemary salt and mixing it throughly with my hands.

I divided the dough into 8 balls

At this point I made another little adaptation to the recipe, I rolled each ball in cornmeal before shaping to give it that crusty english muffin quality

Eight little hand-shaped muffins

One hot and dry cast iron skillet

Flip!

Mmmmmmm

I put a lid on my skillet to ensure that the insides got done and cooked each side on low for 8 minutes or so, watching closely to make sure they didn’t get too dark.  The first batch I made took longer because they were thicker, the second batch I flattened out more and it worked better.

The taste was awesome, the texture is doughy with a perfect english muffiny crust but they do lack the air pockets some muffins have.

Overall, I can’t wait to make these again, they are pretty amazing and, of course, I LOVE that they are super nutritious from the spelt flour, kefir, and soaking method.

Next time I’m going to try cinnamon raisin!

Don’t worry Kath, you’re invited! 🙂

It’s a gorgeous day and time to soak up some sunshine!