Two Bread Things I Learned Today

First off, I decided to try converting my favorite banana bread recipe... I have always known that quick breads should be made with pastry flour, and I just received my food coop order which included pastry wheat berries. Only as usual, when the idea struck me, it was night already and I don't like to grind flour indoors due to the flour dust and noise. And I don't want to grind outside once it's night. Just too noisy.

Anyway, I took out my cook book, La Leche League's _Whole Foods for the Whole Family_ and noticed that I had made a note to myself (years and years ago) to not use pastry flour because the bread came out too soggy. Nowadays I'd just add less liquids to fix that. At any rate, when I saw that I'd made a note to myself years ago to use regular flour vs. pastry, I thought I'd just go ahead and try it.

Bad idea. I did wonder how I was going to mix the bananas, maple syrup, oil, etc., into the glutenous ball of soaked flour... but I figured it would eventually mix in. It wouldn't. I put it in my KitchenAid on high speed using the whisk... all that did was break the soaked flour down into little globs. I ended up fishing through the batter with my fingers, feeling each little bit and pulling out all the flour globs. I put all the globs into my blender and blended them. I didn't want to pour the entire batter into the blender, because I like to leave my bananas mashed and in little clumps.

I also decided to add an extra 1/2 teaspoon baking soda since the batter had been mixed so much. I always try to mix my banana bread quickly and only as much as needed to thoroughly mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients, then pop it into the oven. Obviously soaking the flour first changes that.

The banana bread actually turned out, but I want to try making it with pastry flour next time.

Second thing I learned. This is regarding yeast bread. I have been soaking my flour overnight, using 1 cup water and 4 tablespoons kefir. I decided to soak this batch for 24 hours. This loaf was extremely sour. So I will probably refrain from soaking more than 12 hours. This loaf was a flop. The only saving grace is it will work excellently for Zucchini Custard Casserole. I could also soak it with kefir for the chickens. They always love kefir-soaked failed loaves of bread. :-)

I have renewed my interest in trying to avoid phytates. There is a book coming out in spring of 2007 called Rebuild from Depression and the author has put an excerpt from her chapter on phytic acid on her website. It is a very convincing excerpt, and although I've read about the problems with phytic acid, it never really sank in all that well. Basically, whole wheat flour/grains, etc., contain phytic acid. Phytic acid binds to minerals while in your intestines, moving them out of your body so that your body cannot use these minerals, especially zinc and magnesium. The very first part of her excerpt mentions the vegetarian diet and believes the absorption of these minerals could be doubled by following the soaking methods.

Until next time.