Wild Yeast Sourdough Bread - Introduction
The Goddess of Wheat reigned for thousands of years. In ancient Greece she was called Demeter, and in Roman times her name was Ceres, the root word for cereal.
Wheat, spelt, barley, and rye contain resistant fibers that humans cannot digest. We developed a symbiotic relationship with saccharolytic bacteria at the dawn of agriculture, which increased human health by an order of magnitude. Bacteria such as lactobacillus do have the enzymes necessary to break the bonds of this special class of complex carbohydrates, called oligosaccharides.
The third largest ingredient in mother’s milk is human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which the baby cannot digest. HMOs are there not to feed the growing infant, but to feed the growing microbiome in the infant gut.
Every few years it seems, remains of another human-like species are uncovered from ancient sediments. Why did Homo sapien survive, while so many others went extinct? Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that some populations of big game hunters began eating large quantities of oligosaccharides in the form of honey, grains, and fermented vegetables.
The yeast and bacteria that ferment our favorite foods produce not only marvelous flavors, but also many vitamins, indoles, and short-chain fatty acids that have important functions throughout the body.
While it is true that wheat has been heavily hybridized to make it easier to harvest with modern machinery, GMO wheat is illegal to grow in the United States and most other countries around the world.
Wheat is a vital human food and there are a large group of regenerative farmers working to keep it that way. We can help by sourcing only organically grown wheat, spelt, and other whole grains. Wholewheat sourdough bread is one of the most healing foods we can eat, especially for those who have ruined their digestion on low carb, high animal protein diets. The process is extremely simple.
Simply combine fresh-ground, wholewheat flour and warm, filtered water in a large ceramic bowl to the consistency of pancake batter. Every morning and evening, add 1/2 cup or so of flour and an equal amount of warm water, and stir well. Cover the bowl with a clean bread towel and place in a warm spot in your kitchen. In seven days you’ll have sourdough!
A hundred and fifty years ago, every village had its own flour mill, and people ate stoneground wholewheat bread on a daily basis. Today, we have access to high-tech home mills that produce fine, stoneground flour at the flip of a switch. Homemade sourdough bread is unlike anything you can buy in a store. Every ecosystem on the planet contains a collection of local life forms. Ecological principles require that everything in the system interacts with everything else. My husband and I have access to some of the best bakeries in the world, yet we never feel quite as well when we eat bread that is not our own. We love it so much that we make sure we never run out.
Come with me into the kitchen and I’ll show you how easy it is to prepare your own version of the very best bread in the world. For subscribers only, click here to watch the video.