Why Sour dough Bread? Are you trying to get drunk...and other reasons...

I tell ya, some people kill me....or at least my funny bone....

A wonderful woman in my neighborhood came to my door to visit, after telling me I looked horrible and I needed to get some rest....(obviously my morning three hour nap was not good for me...or was it because I had no make up on and was still in my exercise/lounge wear, because let's get real here....other then going up and down my stairs and chasing after the mctwins, I have sworn off exercise!)

I laughed, and then as she was walkin into my home, she asked,

"What is that smell?"

I was hesitatant to answer her, for fear of what she would say, but I said...

oh just some fermented sourdough bread......

(weird look of disgust)

"well hell there are easier ways to get drunk then that.......hell, I'll go pick you up a beer if that's what you need!"

I still don't know if she was joking, I didn't dare ask......

I will just assume she was desirous to serve......or maybe she wanted one for herself....

but that got me thinking that maybe I needed to explain just a little more of the reasons that I am so crazy about sour dough....

maybe you don't care....

but again, I am going to assume...and yes, I know what assume spells out....

that you want to know!

Grains have been called the bread of life, duh? huh?

But we are now living in a modern era where our food is no longer pure and in a natural state,  In Dr. Natasha  Campbell-McBride book Gut and Psychology Syndrome she states it best;

"The more food is processed the more nutrient  depleted and chemically altered it becomes. Apart from loosing its nutritional value process food loses most of its other properties: taste, flavor and color. So to compensate for that various chemicals are added; flavor enhancers, colors, additives and preservatives.  many of these chemicals have been conclusively shown to contribute to hyperactivity, learning disabilities, psychiatric disorders and other health problems. Natural foods do not keep very well, so the industry has to change them to prolong their shelf-life.  Natural foods get subjected to extreme heat, pressure, enzymes, solvents and countless number of various other chemicals, fats get hydrogenated and proteins get denatured."

I don't know about you, but when I really start thinking about the idea of where my food came from (if it is purchased in a store it most like came from a huge farm factory that is more worried about keeping cost down then supplying nutrient dense foods!) and what was being done to it to preserve it.....it makes me double my efforts to live as closely to farm life as possible...farm life around the turn of the last century....producing my own food, and meat, exchanging with neighbors that I know have the integrity to produce food form eating and enjoyment and not for a profit.  Food after all should be enjoyed because we will spend


6 years and ten months EATING!!!

And for a few of us, that might be more...ok ok I have already had my allotted time...but I am working on that!

My first and easiest choice to make was to make homemade bread!  Not only becasue it is divine, but because I can control what goes in it.  Now I know I have a bread recipe that includes white flour and vegetable oil on this here blog.  that was before I knew better, and I intend to leave it up becasue some of you won't believe what I say, and that is okay..and some of you will just tweak the recipe like I did.  I use it all the time for sour dough bread.

I just use the sour dough as some of the liquid, replace the white with sprouted or soaked wheat, only use honey and butter....and I have been using a little white flour to knead it in.....NO MORE VEGETABLE OIL!!
But I wanted to take it a step further, and try to use only natural products, the whole grains and leave out man made leavening agents.  I searched and found the recipe for naturally fermented sour dough bread.  FABULOUS!  It makes my taste buds dance while it was still warm and to make it into toast...and slap a couple of tablespoons of butter on was divine!  If I must say so myself.

The reasoning behind sour dough is that it naturally breaks down  the grain that our bodies have a hard time breaking down for themselves.  It is a help to our digestive system.  So many people today think that they have gluten intolerance are being labeled as having celiac disease ( don't get me wrong here...there are very real cases of this)  but as a whole, doctors are saying this is a fact, when with a little further research, people would come to understand their bodies and that their bodies are not digesting the grains as well as the could or should.

Quoting form Nourishing Traditions; " Phosphorus in the bran of whole grains is tied up in a substance called phytic acid. Phytic acid combines with iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in the intestinal tract, blocking their absorption.  Whole grains also contain enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion. Traditional societies usually soak or ferment their grains before eating them, processes that neutralize phytates and enzyme inhibitors and, in effect, predigest grains so that all their nutrients are more available. Sprouting, overnight soaking and old-fashioned sour leavening can accomplish this important predigestion process in our own kitchens. many people who are allergic to grains will tolerate them well when they are prepared according to these procedures."

So there you have it, I am sprouting, soaking and fermenting my grains because it has been done for thousands of years...and those people were far healthier then we are....as long as they avoided the occasional bear, mastodon or other tribes trying to kill them.

And to be plain honest, it just tastes better!

Now there are some really good breads out there that are made with out the oils, preservatives and additives...they are just plain expensive...and for our family that could go through two loaves a day..if I let them....is too much for our budget.

Today I will be experimenting with Buttermilk bread that has been fermenting overnight ( I know a few of you just gasped....thinking that it has been out all night!)  BUT IT HAS! And the dutch baby pancakes that we made this morning that had sat out overnight with the ground wheat flour and yogurt was delish...and I am still alive! I will post the recipe once I have tested it out!

and really, love yer guts, to all of you that read this to the end!!!

signed, secretly trying to get drunk off of fermented sour dough bread!