Ancient wheat and healthy bread

cyndi193
cyndi193 Posts: 14
edited September 2018 in The Homestead: DIY
I use cassava flour and usually make tortillas.  It's so long since I've used bread a lot that I find it reduces taste when I eat it now and I was a bread junkie.  I have a jar of dry ingredients next to the stove and make them fresh by adding water and oil.  This way I can make one or enough for everyone, relatively quickly.  My kids love them too and they are picky about the bread I make.

I buy my cassava flour from Azure Standard (they have a truck delivery once a month in many areas) because I can buy bulk and it's cheaper.

https://downshiftology.com/recipes/cassava-flour-tortillas/

Comments

  • ArianaRose
    ArianaRose Posts: 2 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Einkorn is an ancient, non-hybridized wheat. My family primarily uses Jovial's Einkorn flour ordered through Azure Standard. I have seen Einkorn flour sold elsewhere, but ordering through Azure is currently the best way for us.

    Azure also sells their own starter, which my family has used and loved, but for some time now we have simply been making our own.

    To make our starter, we put 1 part water to 1 part flour into a glass measuring cup (which makes it easy to gauge how much of each ingredient we need), use a rubber-band to attach cheese-cloth over the top, and then let it sit by the window for a few hours (typically 2-6).
  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    we make flourless bread from almond flour
  • Angela
    Angela Posts: 42
    edited September 2018
    You can soak organic raisins in water for a few days, squeezing and stirring occasionally, then strain out the raisins and use the water as your starter.  The natural yeasts on the raisins will transfer into the water, and you can use the "raisin tea" like ArianaRose mentioned with the water and flour mix.

    Personally I don't participate in the no bread diet/lifestyle, mainly because I can not tolerate almonds and coconut, so for me the most successful alternative low carb flours are out, but I do think most of the bread available for consumption is crap.  Maybe invest in a grain mill so you can soak, dry and then mill your own grain flowers?  I don't know much about the keto diet but I don't think it is supposed to be followed forever. So when you are eating more carbs, making your own flours and breads should give you the quality of bread you desire.

    I live in France and bread is a way of life. I can't say that the French are the most health conscious (considering how many people here smoke cigarettes), but they would probably give up their cigarettes faster than they would give up their bread.

    And who doesn't love a good croissant?
  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Angela the problem we have here in the US is its almost IMPOSSIBLE to get wheat that is not contaminated and 2 our gut health is declining because of the contaminated wheat. I know many people who are sensitive to wheat who go overseas and have no issue with the wheat on that side of the pond. So, its not really the wheat in its completely natural form grown in healthy soils thats the problem, its what the contaminated and genetically modified wheat has done to our digestive system and gut health.
    Keto isnt even supposed to be followed for more than a week at a time, it should be cycled, the body needs a break, many keto diet people have a day each week they carb up. Limited and no carbs arent good either and to be frank most people who follow a keto diet arent even in ketosis.

    I am a big fan of simply eating a diet balanced with foods that are raised naturally and grow naturally from the ground without chemicals or modifying.
  • Angela
    Angela Posts: 42
    edited September 2018
    I think the problem with bread isn't just the contaminated wheat.  Yes it is part of it, but it is just a piece of the problem.

    In France the wheat is sprayed, roundup is approved to use in wheat fields, but it is not approved to be sprayed at the final stage of growth to speed up the harvest, so the amount of chemical  residue on the wheat is less compared to the US.

    Wheat intolerance, celiac disease and digestive problems are becoming more common, but not as prevalent as in the US.  What is rapidly changing here is that more people are buying processed foods and not cooking from scratch.  People are eating poorer quality foods on a regular basis, and the obesity rate is also increasing.

    If you look at traditional French cuisine, the French eat a much more varied diet, they eat all cereals regularly, not just corn and wheat, and they take time to enjoy their meals.  They eat raw beef, seafood, heirloom vegetables, and they love their dairy.  Small dairy farms are normal here, you will not find the concentrated milk cow prison camps like is common in the US.  Cheese is consumed every day, the soft stinky kinds being the most popular, usually at lunch time, which gives a good daily bacterial boost to the digestive tract.

    But things are changing, the westernized soft power is strong, and France is adopting Americas bad habits.

    I am not French, I am an American who lives here, so I have lived in both regions and understand the problems that each area presents. I buy local meat, dairy, cheeses, produce, seafood, mostly organic and directly from the producer.  Here, I am not the common consumer, many people are buying the majority of their foods from large supermarkets, and the health of the french is shifting to follow the trend of sickness in the american population.

    Going back to bread, most people buy their bread from bakeries, who make the bread fresh everyday.  The ingredients are simple, flours, salt, yeast, water, seeds...depending on the bread.  The bread quickly goes stale, and needs to be eaten within 2 days or it will be too hard, because it is not loaded with preservatives and dough conditioners.  This is why people can better tolerate the bread here, it is simple, real food.  The bread in packages at the supermarket are not good, they are loaded with crap to keep them on the shelves longer, just like the majority of bread in the US.  This is why I think the problem has more to do with the synergistic effect of the unnecessary ingredients, it is not just the wheat, but the agro-chemical laced wheat is a part of the problem.
  • Jens the Beekeeper
    Jens the Beekeeper Posts: 651 admin
    edited September 2018
    I am producing my own bread from organic whole spelt, rye and wheat mixed 25/25/50 with yeast or a sourdough bread with 25/50/25 or even without the wheat.

    I have gotten the sour dough starter from a neighbour and just done a reproduction step and with 3/4 of the starter made the bread with some additional yeast as I am not that good in waiting ;-).

    You can use sourdough alone but it will last longer for raising but will have converted more of the not so good subtances into something more digestable this way.
  • Desire’
    Desire’ Posts: 31 ✭✭
    edited November 2018
    @cyndi193  When I do keto I make cloud bread or almond flour bread.  They don't really compare to real bread, though there is an almond flour dinner roll recipe that is really good.  Let me know if you want the recipes.  On the days I eat higher carb I make a peasant bread from white and brown rice flour, and potato starch.  Its still a processed food product but its gluten free and it tastes like real bread! I'm gluten sensitive but I did make a fermented sourdough from organic einkorn flour from Jovial and had minimal symptoms.  For anyone who can tolerate gluten, that is the route I would suggest because its minimally processed and the most natural.  And really, you can't beat the taste of homemade sourdough!