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Soaked Grain Recipes: A Gallery from Everywhere!

February 25, 2011 (UPDATED: May 12, 2020) by Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship® 41 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

image

I’ve done a lot of poking into the subject of soaking grains, and through it all I’ve continued soaking, sprouting, and souring my baked goods.

The most common question when people first hear about the idea of “soaking grains” isn’t usually “why?” but “how?” People get this funny image in their heads – and I did too, at first – of drowning flour in water and then somehow, making a great mess but with some miraculous method, getting the flour back out of the water and proceeding with the recipe.

Luckily for all of us, that’s not how it goes.

The purpose of this post is to be a go-to resource for everything soaking grains: a basic how-to primer, links to resources for the “why?” science geeks among you, quick notes on sprouting and sourdough, and recipes.

Basic Soaking Techniques

healthy pumpkin muffins

Flour Based Recipes:

  1. Mix the flour with whatever liquid is called for in the recipe, preferably warmed to about 100-110 degrees F. I do often use room temperature water…you do what you can.
    • Sometimes include the sweetener and fat if needed to get everything wet enough just to mix.
  2. If the liquid is water or milk, replace 1 Tbs per cup with an acidic medium:
    • vinegar, lemon juice, whey
  3. If the liquid is something cultured already, you can just mix it up with the grain:
    • yogurt, buttermilk, kefir
  4. Cover and allow to rest at room temperature or above for 12-24 hours.
  5. Add remaining ingredients and proceed with recipe.

Now that’s a bit of a simplistic explanation. If you’d like more details, including special considerations for yeast bread, please read How to Soak Flour in Whole Grain Recipes. You can also find a brief explanation for the “why?” question at Why Soak Whole Grains?

Whole Grains: Quinoa, Millet, Oat Groats, Barley, Spelt Berriesspelt salad GR Press

To cook whole grains in their whole form, you can simply soak in warm water with 1 Tbs acidic medium per cup (same as above).

  1. Allow to rest 12-24 hours at room temperature.
  2. With whole grains like quinoa,  millet, and spelt berries, you can drain off the water and proceed with cooking as you normally would.
    • I recommend measuring the water you soak with and the water you drain off the first couple times to see how much liquid was absorbed. You’ll have to adjust your cooking water accordingly if volume is important to recipe success.
    • For example, a cup of brown rice absorbs 1/2 cup of water. When I add new water for cooking, instead of the usual 2 cups, I only add 1 1/2 cups. However, when I cook spelt berries for a cold salad, I’m only looking for “done” and I don’t measure the water. I drain it off the berries after cooking anyway, so this wouldn’t be important.

Rolled Oats/Oatmeal

image

Because oatmeal soaks up almost all the water, it’s nearly impossible to drain the soaking water. Follow the directions for how to soak oatmeal, and please take note of the extra wheat flour needed. Use that information any time you’re soaking a recipe using oats.

For oatmeal cookies or granola bars, you may need to soak and dehydrate oats before you begin. (My soaked granola bars)

Brown Rice

image

There’s a special and really nifty, well-researched method for soaking brown rice that knocks out 96% of phytic acid. Accelerated fermentation feels a little bit like keeping a sourdough starter, but much easier. Check out the directions for soaking brown rice – I promise, it’s just as easy as the other ways.

Sprouting is Awesome Too

sprouted lentils

Yesterday’s post on soaking vs. sprouting surprised me when I saw how long the list of advantages to sprouting became. You can sprout whole grains like quinoa and rice, any legume, and wheat berries for flour as well.

Sprouted flour does take a special touch, which is why it’s nice to find recipes that call specifically for sprouted flour. I’m so pleased that the free eBook is sponsored by Shiloh Farms, maker of Essential Eating sprouted flours and some recipe books using the product. Also check out Kate’s tips for baking with sprouted grains.

For the frugal crowd, two DIY resources for you:

  1. How to Sprout Beans and Whole Grains
  2. How to Make Sprouted Flour (in bulk!)

And for the science geeks, here’s the health benefits of sprouting.

Sourdough is my Favorite

IMG_8996

Health-wise, sourdough preparation has the most research and the most historical tradition when it comes to nutritious preparation of wheat baked goods. You can make almost anything with sourdough, as I learned to my great surprise in the sourdough eCourse at GNOWFGLINS (enrollment ongoing).

To get you started, here are some more resources:

  1. How to Make a Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter
  2. The Health Benefits of Sourdough
  3. Sourdough Crackers
  4. Sourdough Pizza
  5. Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Why Bother?

I’ve written extensively on the subject of grains, and you can find the whole series at the exploration of soaking grains.

 

 

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Filed Under: Real Food Geeks, Real Food Recipes, Understanding Your Food Tagged With: baking, Carnivals, grains, Real Food Recipes, soaked grains, soaking grains, sourdough, sprouted flour, sprouting, traditional foods

« Previous Post Soaking Grains vs. Sprouting: Which is Best?
Next Post » Seeking the Perfect Homemade Whole Wheat: King Arthur Flour’s 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (no. 8)

About Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship®

Katie Kimball, CSME is a trusted educator and author of 8 real food cookbooks. She is passionate about researching natural remedies and making healthy cooking easier for busy families. She’s been featured on media outlets like ABC, NBC and First for Women magazine as well as contributing regularly on the FOX Network.

See more of Katie Kimball, CSME in the Media.

Over the last 10 years, Katie has spoken prolifically at conferences, online summits and podcasts and become a trusted authority and advocate for children’s health.

Busy moms look to this certified educator for honest, in-depth natural product reviews and thorough research. She often partners with health experts and medical practitioners to deliver the most current information to the Kitchen Stewardship® community.

In 2016 she created the #1 bestselling online kids cooking course, Kids Cook Real Food, helping thousands of families around the world learn to cook.

Certified Stress Mastery Educator BadgeA mom of 4 kids from Michigan, she is a Certified Stress Mastery Educator and member of the American Institute of Stress.

See all blog posts by Katie Kimball.

41 Bites of Conversation So Far

  1. mindy says

    April 21, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    Newbie soaker here…How does milk not go bad sitting at room temp all night? Does the acid medium keep that from occurring?? Just want to double check that I’m understanding this correctly 🙂 Thx! PS I’m *obsessed* with your blog 😀

    Reply
    • Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says

      April 22, 2013 at 9:45 am

      Hi Mindy!
      This is best with raw milk, since raw doesn’t “go bad” it just “sours” which is exactly the action we’re looking for. I used to soak with pasteurized milk, though, and never had a problem. The acidic medium must keep good bacteria in and bad bacteria out. 🙂 Katie

      Reply
  2. Kaarin Puhala says

    February 14, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    Eager to try soaking – going to try tortilla recipe and Kelly’s bread recipe in the Bosch. Question: does it matter what temperature the room is when you soak overnight? It’s winter, and our house got down to 62 degrees F last night. Will that be a problem?

    Reply
    • Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says

      March 11, 2013 at 12:15 am

      Kaarin,
      sorry I missed your question for so long! Soaking is better at warmer temps, but my house is 62 at night, too. Technically, you could just soak for a longer time. 🙂 Katie

      Reply
  3. Charlotte says

    June 27, 2012 at 7:19 am

    I’ve been soaking our grains for a couple years now in the straightforward way that I’ve seen everywhere. But I have a couple cake and muffin recipes that require you to gradually add the flour mixture alternately with the liquid, and I keep wondering if that flour can be soaked. It seems like it needs to be dry in order to work. I’ve been making them as treats less often than other recipes, but I’d love to make them as healthy as the others! Is it worth trying to soak them, or would it ruin the whole batch for sure???

    Reply
    • Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship says

      July 8, 2012 at 12:04 am

      Charlotte,
      I hear you on that one- I’ve made a few cakes that do the alternating thing, and I’ve never been bold enough to try soaking. I would think you’d lose a LOT of texture by mushing all the dry together at once instead of following the directions, which have to be there for a reason, right? 😉 You could always try to adapt for soaking and see what happens, but wasting ingredients on a fail is a big risk! Personally, I’d say just make, enjoy, and forget you know anything about soaking for the day. 😉
      Katie

      Reply
  4. tommy1222 says

    May 19, 2012 at 4:37 am

    I am longing this post and thinking of it’s theme and trying to know what is this post about. adsfasdf

    Reply
  5. Maxbet212 says

    April 25, 2012 at 8:07 am

    Nice infoo, Keep Share tyakk

    Reply
  6. Julie says

    January 13, 2012 at 11:55 am

    Are the recipes no longer up or am I missing something? I can see a few recipes linked through the comments section but that is all. I’m new to this whole reading blogs thing so I could just be doing something wrong. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Katie says

      January 19, 2012 at 12:30 pm

      Julie, I broke my own site. (smacks forehead) I fixed it now, so come on back! 🙂 Katie

      Reply
  7. Alissa says

    August 24, 2011 at 9:35 am

    What about wheat bran? I know you have to soak it in hot water anyway, to soften it before adding it to a recipe, but should you do the 24 hour soak for it as well? I haven’t been able to find any information on it.

    Reply
    • Katie says

      August 24, 2011 at 11:42 pm

      Alissa,
      It’s the bran that causes all the phytic acid problems anyway (that we’re combating with soaking), so honestly, I wouldn’t add bran to anything. Eat the whole grain or take out the bran, but don’t take it apart and put it back together in different proportions. I hope that helps! 🙂 Katie

      Reply
  8. Katie says

    April 19, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    We can squeeze you in! Could you please email me the link(s) to your recipe(s)? I’ll reply with the link for the form where you can enter the other info we need.

    Reply
  9. Katie says

    April 14, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    is it to late to add?

    Reply
  10. Jacquelyn says

    March 8, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    Fun idea! It is nice to have a collection of soaked recipes all in one place : )

    Reply
  11. LeAnne says

    February 28, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    I’m in with my delicious Soaked Peppery Cheese Bread! Thanks for doing this Katie – it’s going to be such a great resource!

    Reply
  12. [email protected] says

    February 27, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    I’ m in and sharing my recipe for Brown Rice and Zucchini Casserole. Thanks Katie!

    Reply
  13. lisa says

    February 27, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    Hi, I linked up a recipe for soaked snickerdoodle cake and sourdough chocolate peanut butter cookies. I’m wondering if it’s OK to share these recipes on other carnivals or should this be exclusive? thanks for the opportunity to be a part! 🙂

    Reply
    • Katie says

      February 28, 2011 at 4:38 am

      Lisa,
      Sorry I’m so late to reply – your recipes are yours, and of course do with them what you please! 🙂 Katie

      Reply
  14. Joanna says

    February 26, 2011 at 11:41 pm

    I’m in 🙂 These breakfast brownies are outta this world.

    Reply
  15. Nicole says

    February 26, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    Thanks for all these great resources! Does anyone have a soaked whole wheat bread recipe that doesn’t use a mixer?

    Reply
    • Alaina says

      May 18, 2013 at 9:11 pm

      Nicole, I use this sourdough recipe when I want to make something without the mixer:

      http://insidethepeanutgallery.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/no-knead-whole-grain-sourdough-bread/

      Reply
  16. Christy says

    February 25, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    Fun! I just added my link for baked oatmeal. 🙂

    Reply
  17. Shu Han says

    February 25, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    Thanks Katie for hosting this! I’m sharing a few of my favourite soaked recipes (I wish I could share more, but I haven’t gotten down to blogging about them ><), a couple of which I find very special to me, because they're soaked recipes for Chinese favourites/ comfort food!

    Reply
  18. AmandaonMaui says

    February 25, 2011 at 6:29 pm

    Might need to do some link cleanup. Some people have multiple posts of the same link. Ooops. I’ve totally done that before.

    Reply
  19. Melissa at Dyno-mom says

    February 25, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    I think this will be a great resource for everyone, particularly since it is free. It can be an easy introduction for the commitment-phobic.

    Reply
  20. Ashley Barrett says

    February 25, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    Thanks for the great resource all in one post! I really get a lot out of this blog, thanks for all your hard work!

    Reply
  21. Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama says

    February 25, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    I left you my favorite sprouted recipe — waffles. They are SO good. 🙂

    Reply
  22. Kelly says

    February 25, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    P.S. I posted a link to this page (your carnival post) on my FB page, so my readers will come visit your blog. Thanks again! 🙂 kel

    Reply
  23. Kelly says

    February 25, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Oops, should read from my FB page … typing too fast! 🙂

    Reply
  24. Kelly says

    February 25, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Thank you so very much for the opportunity to share some recipes. I am eagerly trying to get my blog up, but hope you will accept these recipes that are posted on my B page for the time being. I would LOVE to be included in your e-book, and appreciate you considering my recipes. It sounds like you would like us to email you with a bio? I will do that as well. Blessings, Kelly from The Nourishing Home (www.facebook.com/TheNourishingHome)

    Reply
  25. Adrienne @ Whole New Mom.com says

    February 25, 2011 at 11:04 am

    Katie,
    Well, looks like others have had similar issues w/ the carnival. I also thought I’d already commented, but somehow it didn’t take. So much for technology 🙂

    Anyhow, here is my email. I’ll look forward to all of this moving forward .

    Reply
  26. Kara says

    February 25, 2011 at 10:50 am

    This is going to be great! I’m really looking forward to the book…I’d love to expand my soaked recipe collection! Thanks for doing this, Katie. 🙂

    Reply
  27. KerryAnn says

    February 25, 2011 at 10:49 am

    I am so sorry everything is showing up twice. I have no clue why that is happening.

    Reply
  28. Kelly the Kitchen Kop says

    February 25, 2011 at 10:27 am

    Hey I didn’t know there was a character limit on my summary! Ooops…..

    Reply
    • Kelly the Kitchen Kop says

      February 25, 2011 at 10:34 am

      Hey Katie,
      One more question: when are you going to start compiling the e-book? I need to go take a look to see if my post needs some tweaking before then!
      Kelly

      Reply
      • Katie says

        February 28, 2011 at 4:27 am

        Potentially within a week, hoping to be finished in 4-5 weeks. ???

        Reply
    • Katie says

      February 28, 2011 at 4:28 am

      Ug, I know, I forgot to put that in the instructions. shucks.

      Reply
  29. Jill says

    February 25, 2011 at 10:09 am

    Whew! After making my Soaked Buttermilk Biscuits 3 times this week, I think I finally have all the kinks figured out!! Thanks for this opportunity, I look forward to seeing everyone’s contributions!

    Reply
  30. Joanna says

    February 25, 2011 at 9:55 am

    Hi Katie, maybe I missed this -but I’m wondering what the deadline is for the soaked grain recipes? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Katie says

      February 28, 2011 at 4:31 am

      Joanna,
      You’ve got time – at least a week before we email folks to get bios and such. 🙂 Katie

      Reply

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