Bread That Heals

If you have never baked your own bread, you may not realize how easy and satisfying it can be. It is one of the few things in life that stimulates all your senses. Kneading the dough and watching it rise, punching down the dough, smelling fresh bread baking, slicing it while it's still warm, adding real butter, and hearing your family's oohhhs and aahhhs. There's nothing like it!

Have you ever read the ingredient list of grocery store bread? Even the so-called "healthy" bread has way more ingredients that you actually need. One of the more popular brands has 21 ingredients. Julia Child's bread recipe only has 5 ingredients.

Let's look at some of these ingredients.

Enriched wheat flour - This is enriched because they have stripped the wheat berry of most of its beneficial parts, the endosperm, the bran, and the germ.

• Endosperm - contains soluble fiber, carbohydrate, protein, iron, and B vitamins

• Bran - contains protein, B vitamins, trace minerals, and dietary fiber (mostly insoluble)

• Germ - contains protein, trace minerals, and more B vitamins than the other parts

One of the greatest benefits of the B vitamin complex is the role it plays in our metabolism. If bread contained these vitamins from the source, instead of having synthetic vitamins added back, it would not make us fat. It would actually benefit our metabolism.

Wheat gluten - gluten is part of wheat, but by the time it shows up in your store-bought bread, it has been highly processed. The reason gluten is added back to bread is to give it the elasticity it needs to be able to handle commercial mixers. Homemade bread doesn't require this. 1 in every 100 people suffer from Celiac's disease and about 13% of the population, approximately 18 million people, suffer from gluten sensitivity.

Calcium sulfate - an odorless, white powder. There are 2 forms of this that are often added to bread made commercially.

1. Anhydrous calcium sulfate, which is also used to make cement and is a filler used in the production of paper.

2. Dihydrate calcium sulfate, which is also used to make Plaster of Paris.

Monocalcium phosphate - a leavening agent that is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and kidney disease.

Soy Lecithin - comes from soy and may affect people with soy allergies. While this product has some health benefits, hexane, which is a neurotoxin, is required to extract the lecithin from the soybean.

Is it any wonder that our society, especially in America, is sick, fat, and malnourished?

Whole grain, with its bran and germ, contains phytic acid. Phytic acid is an antinutrient, meaning it depletes the body of nutrients. It also makes it harder for the body to digest the bread. Strangely enough, it acts as an antioxidant as well, reducing oxidative stress on the cells. When flour is soaked overnight, it deactivates the negative attributes of phytic acid and makes it a beneficial ingredient.

Avoid bleached white flour with your life...literally! Since it has been stripped of the bran and germ, there are no nutrients left. Soaking releases the nutrition from the bran and germ so ALWAYS use a whole grain, preferably organic, flour.

For best results, flour should be soaked in sour milk, buttermilk, or even kefir. Water with lemon juice, yogurt, whey, or vinegar, can also be used. Soaking in any of these acidic liquids activates the enzyme phytase, which breaks down phytic acid.

Sour milk products provide lactic acid, which helps breakdown starches, tannins, and hard-to-digest proteins. It also increases nutrition and makes the nutrients more available for the body to use.

In making bread, use the milk or water in your bread recipe to soak the flour. If you are using water, for every cup of water, add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (acid). Mix the flour, the liquid, and the acid, if needed, and leave on the counter in a warm spot where there's no draft, for 12 to 24 hours. When the time is up, finish your recipe as usual.

You can also soak 2 cups of flour with 2 cups of yogurt (be sure there are no processed ingredients), and make muffins, pancakes, and other baked goods. Soaking makes everything better!

An alternative to soaking flour is to use sprouted flour. Sprouted flour has already been soaked in the germination process. Just like soaked flour, the germination process breaks down phytic acid and makes nutrients more readily available.

Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups of whole wheat flour (organic is best!)

1 1/8 cups of warm water plus 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar for soaking

1/4 cup of water for activating the dry yeast

2 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup

2 tablespoons of olive oil or melted butter

2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt (or 3/4 teaspoon of regular salt)

Add all 3 cups of whole wheat flour to a bowl. Add 1 1/8 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to the flour. Combine, cover, and place bowl on the counter for 12 to 24 hours.

When you are ready to make your bread, add 1/4 cup of warm water, honey or maple syrup, and dry yeast to a bowl. Stir until the yeast is dissolved and allow it to stand for 5 minutes until it's foamy.

Add olive oil or melted butter to the yeast mixture and stir.

Combine salt into the soaked flour.

Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough becomes elastic. If you have a stand mixture with a dough hook, it may not take as long. I don't have one, so use your best judgement.

When the dough is ready, shape it into a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down (yes, literally!) to release the air. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and shape it into a loaf. Place the loaf in a loaf pan, cover it with a kitchen towel, and allow it to rise again for 30-45 minutes or until it rises above the edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Bake for 35-40 minutes until it turns golden brown on top. When you remove it from the oven, allow it to cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then transfer the bread to a cooling rack.

Slice your bread and enjoy it with REAL butter. You will never look at grocery store bread the same again.

Resources

1. Wheat Foods Council. (2019, July 19). A kernel of wheat - Wheat Foods Council. https://www.wheatfoods.org/resources/wheat-facts/kernel-of-wheat/

2. Anatomy of a wheat kernel – Flour.com. (n.d.). https://flour.com/anatomy-of-a-wheat-kernel/

3. CDC - NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards -  Calcium sulfate. (n.d.). https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0095.html

4. Calcium sulfate | Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/academic-and-educational-journals/calcium-sulfate

5. EWG - Environmental Working Group. (n.d.). How do we know what we are eating, really? Find out with @EWG Food Scores! #FoodAnswered  @EWG Food Scores! #FoodAnswered. EWG - Environmental Working Group © 2025. https://www.ewg.org/foodscores/ingredients/7349-CalciumPhosphateMonoDiandTriBasic/

6. Hanna, M., Jaqua, E., Nguyen, V., & Clay, J. (2022). B vitamins: Functions and uses in Medicine. The Permanente Journal, 26(2), 89–97. https://doi.org/10.7812/tpp/21.204

7. The Weston A. Price Foundation. (2016, August 18). Home - the Weston A. Price Foundation. The Weston a. Price Foundation. https://www.westonaprice.org/#gsc.tab=0

8. Shannon. (2025, March 18). How to Convert any Baked Good Recipe to a “Soaked” Recipe. Plan to Eat. https://www.plantoeat.com/blog/2013/03/how-to-convert-any-baked-good-recipe-to-a-soaked-recipe/

9. LaBonte, A. (2024, April 12). whole wheat bread. Girl Versus Dough. https://www.girlversusdough.com/whole-wheat-bread/#wprm-recipe-container-39063

10. Tasha. (n.d.). Soaking flour: the why’s and how’s. https://lifeonpurposemama.blogspot.com/2011/01/soaking-flour-whys-and-hows.html