Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The... (132 page)

Housewives of old knew that the most delicious pancakes, muffins and cakes could be made by soaking flour in sour or cultured milk, buttermilk or cream. Our recipes for baked goods follow this format. Those who are allergic to milk products can use water to which a small amount of whey or yoghurt, or even vinegar or lemon juice, has been added, although the results will be less satisfactory. Flour products should be soaked at room temperature for at least 12 hours but better results may be obtained with a 24-hour soaking.

Because they are acidic, buttermilk, cultured milk, yoghurt and whey (as well as lemon juice and vinegar) activate the enzyme phytase, which works to break down phytic acid in the bran of grains. Sour milk products also provide lactic acid and
lactobacilli
that help break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult-to-digest proteins. Soaking increases vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in grains more available. This method has the further advantage of so softening whole meal flour that the final product is often indistinguishable from one made with white flour. Breads, muffins and pancakes that have been made with soaked whole wheat, kamut or spelt flour rise easily with baking soda alone; they do not require baking powder. And they are not characterized by the heaviness that can make whole grain products so unpalatable.

If you do a lot of baking, a home grain grinder is a must. Grains quickly go rancid after grinding, and optimum health benefits are obtained from freshly ground flour. Unbleached white flour may be used for dusting pans, rolling out doughs and kneading. We also allow unbleached white flour for pie crust.

Pancakes, muffins and soda breads are easy to prepare, although it should be noted that these soaked whole grain flour preparations take longer to cook than those made with white flour. For best results, use stoneware muffin tins and bread pans. (See
Sources
.) Sourdough breads take more dedication and time. They must be made with high-gluten flours, such as spelt, kamut, hard winter wheat or rye. While they have a delicious flavor, these breads may seem heavy to modern tastes. (For those who have neither the time nor the inclination for bread making, properly made sourdough breads are now commercially available. See
Sources
.) Soft wheat is better for casseroles and unleavened bread, such as
Zarathustra bread
.

We suggest avoidance of two grain products considered to be health foods—bran and wheat germ. Bran is high in phytates and wheat germ is extremely susceptible to rancidity. Eating the bran and germ separate from the starchy portion of grain presents as many problems as eating the starchy portion of grain separated from the bran and the germ. Traditional populations eat all parts of the grain together, freshly ground or milled and properly prepared.

Allergies to grains are widespread, especially allergies to wheat. Individuals with grain allergies often tolerate wheat products that have first been soaked, sprouted or fermented; but many must avoid wheat altogether even when it has been properly prepared. Older wheat varieties, such as spelt and kamut, are the first choice for substitutes because they mimic the properties of modern hybrid wheat; and no special adjustments are needed when substituting them for wheat in most recipes.

Many alternative flours are also available—not only those that contain gluten, such as rye, barley or oat, but also nongluten flours like corn, rice, millet, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, potato, tapioca, bean and tuber flours. All of these may be used for baked goods, such as muffins, pancakes, waffles and soda breads; but certain adjustments must be made to the recipes because these flours are heavier than wheat flour and do not rise as well. Specific recipes for alternate flours are beyond the scope of this book. However, the following guidelines should suffice.

In addition to baking soda, homemade baking powder should be added to alternative grain recipes in the proportion of 2 level teaspoons per cup of flour. Prepare by mixing
1 part potassium bicarbonate
(available from your pharmacist),
2 parts cream of tartar
and
2 parts arrowroot
. Store in an airtight glass jar. In addition, you may wish to add guar gum to your batter if it seems too runny—often the case with alternate flours as they do not absorb water as well as wheat or spelt. Use ½ teaspoon guar gum per cup of flour.

All flour products should be soaked in an acidic medium, such as buttermilk or water with whey or yoghurt added, for 12 to 24 hours. Baked goods made with alternate flours may take longer to cook than those made with whole wheat or spelt.

We must caution you against using soy flours. Soy contains a high phytate content as well as potent enzyme inhibitors. These are not inactivated by ordinary cooking methods, such as soaking, but only after a long, slow fermentation process that results in traditional fermented soy products, such as
natto, miso
or
tempeh
. The antinutrients in modern soy products and soy flour can inhibit growth and cause intestinal problems, swelling of the pancreas and even cancer. In addition, soy contains a high omega-3 content that quickly goes rancid when the bean is made into flour. Soy flour has a disagreeable taste that is difficult to mask—nature's way of telling us to avoid it. The phytoestrogens in soy have been promoted as panaceas but they are actually goitrogens that depress thyroid function.

PANCAKES

Makes 16-20

2 cups freshly ground spelt, kamut or whole wheat flour

2 cups
buttermilk
,
kefir
or
yoghurt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons melted butter

Soak flour in buttermilk, kefir or yoghurt in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours. (Those with milk allergies may use
2 cups filtered water plus 2 tablespoons whey, lemon juice or vinegar
in place of undiluted buttermilk, kefir or yoghurt.) Stir in other ingredients and thin to desired consistency with water. Cook on a hot, oiled griddle or in a cast-iron skillet. These pancakes cook more slowly than either unsoaked whole grain flour or white flour pancakes. The texture will be chewy and the taste pleasantly sour. Serve with melted butter and maple or sorghum syrup, raw honey,
berry syrup
or
apricot butter
.

Variation: Corn Cakes

Use
1 cup freshly ground corn flour
plus
1 cup freshly ground spelt or whole wheat flour
. Soak in
2 cups limewater (see
Whole Grains
) plus 2 tablespoons
whey
or
yoghurt
.

Variation: Buckwheat Cakes

Use
1 cup freshly ground buckwheat flour
plus
1 cup freshly ground spelt or whole wheat flour
.

Variation: Crispy Pancakes

Let pancakes dry out in a warm oven. These make delicious snacks with raw honey, apple or
apricot butter
or homemade cream cheese
Whey and Cream Cheese
. Small crispy pancakes may be used as a base for
canapes
.

On every continent, mankind has fermented grains, pulses, vegetables, milk, meat and fish. Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the French peasant made his bread, his cheese, his sausage, his sauerkraut (in the east), his olives (in the Midi), his vinegar and often his wine, cider or beer. Each time he directed this fermentation process empirically and by himself. Sometimes it was of short duration, as for his bread; sometimes long and complicated, as for wine and aged cheeses. Fermented foods were prepared by each family—in Russia cucumbers, in Poland sour soups, in Japan
miso
and lacto-fermented vegetables, in Indonesia
tempeh
, in Mexico
pozol
, in Equador fermented rice, in West Africa
soumbala
, to give just a few examples. Without realizing it, everyone put millions of microorganisms to work on his behalf.

Almost everywhere in the world people ate fermented foods on a daily basis. They often ate them for breakfast, no doubt because after a night of sleep the body needs something that is rapidly and easily digested.

The sour taste that characterizes so many fermented foods is found in every culinary tradition. Used in moderation, fermented foods satisfy the palate and fulfill a real physiological need, even if current nutritional practices fail to recognize this.

The practice of domestic fermentation still occurs in the Third World but is largely disappearing in industrialized countries, under the influence of Western life styles and eating habits. Claude Aubert
Les Aliments Fermentes Traditionnels

DUTCH BABY PANCAKES

Serves 4-6

1 cup freshly ground spelt, kamut or whole wheat flour

1 cup
buttermilk
,
kefir
or
yoghurt

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 cup filtered water

4 tablespoons butter

pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Soak flour in buttermilk, kefir or yoghurt in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours. (Those with milk allergies may use
1 cup filtered water plus 2 tablespoons whey, lemon juice or vinegar
in place of undiluted buttermilk, kefir or yoghurt.) Place eggs in food processor and process several minutes. Add flour mixture, vanilla, water and salt and process another minute. Place 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet and cook in a 400-degree oven until it melts and sizzles. Pour half the batter (about 1½ cups) into pan. Bake at 350 degrees until pancake is puffed and browned. Repeat for second pancake. Dust with nutmeg if desired. Serve with butter and honey, sorghum syrup or maple syrup.

Variation:

Fold
1 cup chopped fresh fruit
into the batter. Top with a dollop of
sweet cheese topping
.

I know, too, that the body is affected differently by bread according to the manner in which it is prepared. It differs according as it is made from pure flour or meal with bran, whether it is prepared from winnowed or unwinnowed wheat, whether it is mixed with much water or little, whether well mixed or poorly mixed, overbaked or underbaked, and countless other points besides. The same is true of the preparation of barley meal. The influence of each process is considerable and each has a totally different effect from another. How can anyone who has not considered such matters and come to understand them possibly know anything of the diseases that afflict mankind? Each one of the substances of a man's diet acts upon his body and changes it in some way and upon these changes his whole life depends.

Hippocrates

Celiac disease stems from grain allergies—or, more precisely, allergies to the gluten and alpha gliadin components of grain. Those allergies cause malabsorption and, hence, a massive deficiency of vitamins B
₁
, B
₃
, B
₁₂
, folic acid and the mineral zinc. A serious deficiency in any one of those, if undiagnosed or untreated, can cause dementia. The allergies also cause malabsorption of essential minerals and trace elements, such as calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese. In addition, they allow the absorption of toxic metals, such as aluminum; and higher than normal concentrations of aluminium in the brain is one of the dementia-causing features of Alzheimer's disease.
PPNF Health Journal

WAFFLES

Serves 6

2 ½ cups freshly ground spelt, kamut or whole wheat flour

2 cups
buttermilk
,
kefir
or
yoghurt

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

2-4 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon sea salt

4 egg whites

pinch of sea salt

Soak flour in buttermilk, kefir or yoghurt in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours. (Those with milk allergies may use
2 cups filtered water plus 2 tablespoons whey, lemon juice or vinegar
in place of undiluted buttermilk, kefir or yoghurt.) Stir in egg yolks, syrup, melted butter and salt. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with pinch of salt until stiff. Fold into batter. Cook in a hot, well-oiled waffle iron. Serve with melted butter and maple or sorghum syrup, raw honey,
berry preserves
,
apricot butter
or
sweet cheese topping
.

Note: These waffles are softer than those made with white flour. However, they will become crisp if kept in a warm oven for several hours.

Modern commerce has deliberately robbed some of nature's foods of much of their bodybuilding material while retaining the hunger satisfying energy factors. For example, in the production of refined white flour approximately eighty per cent or four-fifths of the phosphorus and calcium content are usually removed, together with the vitamins and minerals provided in the embryo or germ. The evidence indicates that a very important factor in the lowering of reproductive efficiency of womanhood is directly related to the removal of vitamin E in the processing of wheat. The germ of wheat is our most readily available source of that vitamin. Its role as a nutritive factor for the pituitary gland in the base of the brain, which largely controls growth and organ function, apparently is important in determining the production of mental types. Similarly, the removal of vitamin B with the embryo of the wheat, together with its oxidation after processing, results in depletion of bodybuilding activators. Weston Price, DDS
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration