Delving into Traditional Eating for the first time inevitably uncovers the fact that modern methods for preparing grains and legumes can be extremely damaging to health over the long term particularly if numerous servings of these foods are consumed on a daily basis as recommended by conventional dietitians and nutritionists.
Even if you take the time and care to make your own bread at home with freshly ground grain, if you do not follow the centuries-old traditions for eliminating anti-nutrients and maximizing the nutrition in the grain prior to baking, you could, in fact, be doing yourself and your family more harm than good.
In the video below which I filmed as part of a Beginner Video Series for the Weston A. Price Foundation, I show you the basics for soaking grains and legumes so that you can enjoy these wonderful foods in your home and experience health benefits from doing so rather than health depletion.
Following these guidelines makes food more digestible and more nutritious as vitamins and minerals become more bioavailable.
As a huge bonus, preparing grains properly results in more satisfaction per bite. This translates into easier portion control which makes eating less and losing weight more attainable.
For a complete transcript of this video which is translatable into any language, click here.
Soaking Grains and Legumes Video How-To
This lesson describes the very important traditional practice of soaking legumes and grains. Note that in the past few years, the use of chickpea cooking water, called aquafaba, has become popular in vegan circles.
Note that while legumes are a traditional food, using the cooking water as an egg replacement is not. In fact, it is quite dangerous to gut health as it is loaded with anti-nutrients.
So enjoy your legumes and grains, but be sure to toss the soaking and cooking water!
More Information on Soaking
These articles contain more information on soaking once you get the hang of grains:
- How to soak raw nuts
- Soaking raw seeds
- How to soak beans before cooking
- Soaked lentils
- Does white rice need soaking?
Do you cook the grains or legumes in the soaking water? Is it possible to strain the soaking water in order to use stock for the cooking process? Would you recommend using stock in this way? Thanks for all of your help.
Thanks for the great video! I’m wondering if there is a way to properly soak quinoa?
Hi Sarah, do you soak white basmati rice?
Thanks
I found a recipe on America’s Test Kitchen for whole wheat bread. It calls for making a biga with white bread flour and then soaking the whole wheat flour with milk for up to twenty four hours. Their reasoning for soaking the whole wheat flour was to soften the particles. I did this, but used buttermilk instead in order to have an acidic medium. The flavor was wonderful, but the dough was much stickier than the video showed, so I am working on adjustments to that. It makes great toast. Check it out at America’s Test Kitchen. From Season 12: Soup and Bread from Scratch