Is your Homemade Bread causing more harm than good?

Mmmmm....Homemade Bread.

I grew up on Homemade Whole-Wheat bread and let me tell you, that stuff was better than cake.  Okay, maybe not better than cake...but pretty dern close I would say.

Fresh, hot steaming bread from the oven with butter & honey?

Yes, please!

But, trying to recreate that heavenly concoction when I became the Mom wasn't as easy as I'd thought.  Let's just say I was handicapped in the homemade bread department.  Severely handicapped.  

After a couple of lessons from my Mom & Grandma I was finally able to produce a pretty good loaf of bread.  It was half whole-wheat flour & half white flour, but hey, I was just happy I made something that didn't look like a thick rectangle pancake.

Three years ago when my quest for health began, I started to make some changes to my diet.  Implementing whole grains into my cooking at first was hard, but over time we all became used to the flavor of whole-wheat and other whole grains and all was well.  

Up until about 6 months ago, I was still making homemade bread with whole-wheat flour, honey, real salt, & coconut oil twice a month for my family.  It was something I felt good about and was proud of.  Here we were, eating all this delicious whole-wheat bread that was THE HEALTHIEST thing ever!  I mean, you can't get any HEALTHIER than homemade bread, right?

Well, actually I'm here to tell you, you can.  And it's in fact VITAL to you & your family's health.

Yeast: A History

For thousands of years, when our ancestors made bread, they used wild sourdough yeast also known as natural yeast.  This is the yeast that grows on leaves, grapes & berries in the wild.  Our ancestors knew wild sourdough yeast would make their bread rise and drinks ferment.  They also knew preparing gluten grains this way made their digestion more efficient and provided their bodies with high amounts of nutrition. Using the wild sourdough yeast, our ancestors had to wait 6-8 hours for their bread to rise.  

Then, in the late 1860's Louis Pasteur (yes the same dude that promoted the pasteurization of milk, wasn't that guy a gem?) discovered that yeast was a living organism.  He found a way to isolate the yeast in pure culture form, and found a way to make bread rise in only 30 min.! This new yeast gave the commercial bread making industry it's rise to success (pun intended).  They called it commercial yeast, and you probably use it today.  Heck, everybody uses it!  Whether it be Fleischmann's, Red Star, or Saf, it's probably sitting in your pantry right now.

The problem with commercial yeast is that since it is the isolated version, it only rises bread without breaking down any of the phytic acid or anti-nutrients to aid with digestion.  

The eternal problem with grains:

Grains have a special protection on them called phytic acid.  This phytic acid PREVENTS the grain from being digested.  You see, inside the grain there's amazing stuff like fiber, nutrients, minerals & enzymes.  I mean, that's WHY we eat whole grains, right?  To get all the amazing goodness inside! BUT, we can't get very much of that UNLESS the phytic acid is broken down BEFORE we eat it.  

When a whole grain is ground into flour, there are SOME nutrients that are released.  So we do get a little benefit from eating whole grains plain.  BUT, all that phytic acid that you eat with that whole grain that you didn't prepare properly becomes like a little demon in your digestive tract.  You see, phytic acid's job is to "hold on to nutrients" until it's death.  It simply won't release all that fiber, nutrients, mineral & enzymes your body so desperately needs.  The little phytic acid demon also goes a little crazy and starts snatching up ANY AVAILABLE nutrients it can find.  It will even steal nutrients from other food currently in your digestive tract.  We become nutrient deficient and our digestive system starts to throw a tantrum from all the chaos phytic acid created.

Is it no wonder that today 1 in 133 Americans suffer from Celiac disease and that 1 in 21 suffer from gluten intolerance?

Everybody (including me at one point) is going bat-shizzle crazy over gluten-free products thinking this is the HEALTHIEST way to go.  

The REAL Solution:

USE WILD SOURDOUGH YEAST! (also known as Natural Yeast) **NOTE: Storebought sourdough is NOT the same.  Just ask the bakery how long it takes their bread to rise, then you'll have your answer.**

Before we get into how to start making bread with natural yeast, let's go over the benefits one more time to convince you.  Here's what Melissa Richardson from The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast: Breads, Pancakes, Waffles, Cinnamon Rolls and Muffins says,

NATURAL YEAST has several health benefits that you can't get from commercial yeast:

1. Natural yeast breaks down harmful enzymes in grains.

2. Natural yeast takes the nutrition in grains-- the vitamins & minerals our bodies crave-- and makes them easily available for digestion.

3. Natural yeast converts dough into a digestible food source that will not spike your bodies defenses.  It predigests sugars for diabetics, breaks down gluten for the intolerant, and turns calcium-leaching phytic acid into a cancer-fighting antioxidant.

Using a Traditional Method in a Modern World:

I know what you're thinking. "DaNelle, are you SERIOUSLY telling me to use natural yeast and wait 6-8 hours for my bread to rise?"  I'll admit it, the first time I'd heard about natural yeast & read this book I thought,...

And I'm sure that's what you're thinking too!  

But, you guys, it is SO EASY!  I literally spend like 2 min. feeding my yeast and 10 min. mixing bread.  The rest of the time it's just rising.  All it takes is a little planning!

My Experience with Wild Sourdough Yeast:

Eventually I was enticed by the ability to bake bread with whole-wheat again.  For about a year I had been using Spelt, the original wheat, and it was getting expensive!  Mr. Frugal was more than happy for me to make the switch back to whole-wheat.

Remember all the trouble I had with making bread??  GONE!  This method somehow makes the bread rise and turn out SO MUCH BETTER than any loaf I've made before.  And the flavor?  It tastes just like sourdough, and makes amazing toast! If your starter get's too sour, just follow these tips to prevent a "sour" sourdough.

I got my wild sourdough starter (it was free by the way) and I started "feeding" it.  You see, because it's a LIVE organism, it needs to be fed.  Like your own little pet.  You can even name it.  Awwwww.  

YOU can get your own FREE yeast starter by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

(for a mild tasting starter)

ORIGINAL FAST FOODS

1221 N 1270 E

American Fork, UT 84003

**UPDATE** Original Fast Foods now sells their starters on their website.

You can also buy a starter from Cultures for Health! They have starters for yogurt, kefir, cheese & sourdough (which is the same as natural wild yeast)

(for a sour tasting starter)

OREGON TRAIL SOURDOUGH

P.O. Box 321

Jefferson, MD 21755

Here's how I feed and use my wild yeast starter:

Wild Sourdough Yeast

NOTE: Yeast stored in the fridge will become dormant.  Yeast stored at room temperature will become active.  I keep mine in the fridge until I am ready to use it.

• Feed once a week - Feeding means I measure the amount of yeast I have in my jar in the fridge, and then I add equal parts water and whole-wheat flour.  For example, if there's 1 cup of yeast, I add 1 cup of water & 1 cup of whole-wheat flour. 
• IF I don't want to make bread that week, then I REDUCE it & FEED it.  Otherwise I'd have too much yeast.  This is a great opportunity to share with friends or make something simple like waffles or crepes or muffins. (the yeast replaces baking powder) Most the time though, I just measure out 1/4 c., throw the rest away, then add 1/4 c. water & 1/4 c. flour to my 1/4 c. yeast. 
• IF I want to make bread, then THE DAY BEFORE, I FEED it 3 x's a day at room temperature to get it nice and active. (Not as hard as you'd think.  Just sit it out somewhere in the kitchen where you'll see it and try to feed it around breakfast, lunch & dinner.  You don't have to be exact with this)

Now, for the recipe. This recipe comes from the book,The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast: Breads, Pancakes, Waffles, Cinnamon Rolls and Muffins, by Melissa Richardson & Caleb Warnock.  They have some really great recipes in the book and I highly suggest you purchase it, it's only $12 on Amazon!  This book is SO informative and user friendly!  

(NOTE: Melissa recommends a slightly different method of feeding and maintaining her yeast and you can try her way or mine and see which works best for you.)

Grammy's Bread

(condensed version)

Makes 2 loaves

1/2 cup wild yeast start (stir before measuring)

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

2 tsp. salt

1 TBS. coconut oil

5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Combine water, start, salt & coconut oil in mixer. Add 5 cups of flour, then continue adding until the dough "cleans" the most of the sides of bowl.  Now, allow to knead for 10 minutes.  Lightly water a working surface and your hands.  Place the dough on the surface and hand-knead until texture is uniform.  Place dough into a large bowl and cover with a wet dish towel or greased plastic wrap. Leave bowl on counter top 6-8 hours or overnight.

Wet surface and hands again to form into loaves.  Place in pans and let rise another 2 hours or until doubled in size.  Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. 

So, is Homemade Bread really causing more harm than good?

By making homemade bread without Natural Yeast you are definitely avoiding all the chemicals and preservatives found in store-bought bread.  But, if you are already making homemade bread, I would definitely suggest you try to make bread with wild sourdough yeast!   (For those who can't tolerate yeast, or if you just don't like sourdough, you can used sprouted flour to make bread and use commercial yeast)

I have to end with saying that I am NOT PERFECT.  But I also don't take the time to make homemade bread anymore unless it's with Wild Sourdough Yeast.  Honestly, it's not worth the trouble unless I'm making it perfect.   I have a local bakery that uses all natural ingredients.  They definitely don't use Natural Yeast, but it's a good compromise for those busy times when I can't get around to making bread.

I think it's also important to mention it's NOT ABOUT BEING PERFECT.  It's about knowledge.  We need to educate ourselves and learn ways to eat healthy, but Rome wasn't built in a day and we can't expect to be perfect instantly.  Life is a journey!  Enjoy the ride!  And enjoy your bread!

UPDATE:  If you get a starter, be sure to purchase this ebook called Sourdough from A to Z.  You won't regret it!

Sources:

http://www.naturalnews.com/031696_phytic_acid_whole_grains.html

http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid

I was not compensated in any way for this post :)