Soaked crepes

My girls love crepes.  I love them because they contain lots of eggs to fill my girls with protein.  Most of my girls put cream cheese in the middle and pour syrup over top.  If we have fresh berries, we add those as well.  I use this recipe with my freshly milled spelt flour by soaking the flour overnight in the milk with a bit of apple cider vinegar added to make it healthier.  I usually triple this batch to have some to freeze for busy school mornings.

• 3 eggs
• 1⅓ cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoon melted butter, cooled
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• *sugar for sprinkling

In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, milk, flour, salt and slightly cooled melted butter. Add in the sugar and vanilla if making a sweet crepe. If making a savory crepe, leave the sugar and vanilla out.

Mix well with a wire whisk until well combined. Keep the whisk in the bowl and continue to mix the batter occasionally as you make the crepes.

Heat a 8" non-stick skillet to medium heat.

Use a paper towel to lightly grease the pan with butter.

Pour ½ cup of crepe batter into the pan and tilt pan so the batter covers the pan in a thin layer. Cook until the edges start to lightly brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Flip over and cook for a few more seconds until done.

Sprinkle about a ½ teaspoon of sugar over the crepe and roll them up, or fold them into fourths.

Keep them covered with tinfoil to keep them warm until they’re ready to serve.

Serve with fresh berries, powdered sugar, whipped cream or nutella!

Soaked Flour Muffins

I love the versatility of this recipe!  Thanks to Eat Nourishing for a great recipe!

2 cups of whole grain flour, preferably freshly ground (I used whole wheat)

3/4 cup sour dairy, such as buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, or clabber (could also use water + 2 TBS lemon juice, whey, or apple cider vinegar)

1/2 cup melted butter/ghee or coconut oil (lard or tallow might be ok too)

I cup pureed pumpkin, squash, carrot or sweet potato (could also use mashed banana or apple/pearsauce)

2/3 cup sucanat/rapadura or granulated palm/maple sugar

2 eggs, pastured or free-range organic

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Optional add-ins: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, raisons, dried cranberries, chopped dates, coconut flakes, or crispy nuts

Recipe Instructions:

In a glass bowl, combine the flour, sour dairy, and melted fat together. Cover with a clean dish towel or plate and allow this mixture to soak at least 8 hours, or even better, 24. The longer it soaks, the greater the reduction of phytic acid. It is also important that you place this mixture somewhere warm. A good place is your oven with just the light on, or a dehydrator set on low. A cold counter top in the winter is not going to reduce any phytates. You need warmth. 

Once the batter has had a good soak, add in the rest of the ingredients. You will have to give it all a very good stir. Forget what you have learned about making muffins in the past. It’s not going to work here… but it doesn’t matter, they’re still going to turn out fine! I think I may have even used my electric mixer to get everything incorporated really well, that’s ok! Fold in your add-ins at the end, if using. 

Pour into greased muffin tins (preferably not aluminum or non-stick — stoneware is good). Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean and your house smelling wonderful. That’s how I know something is ready, it smells done! This recipe makes about 16 regular sized muffins. 

Allow to cool for a few minutes and be sure to serve with plenty of raw pastured butter. Cream cheese would be good too… Add a tall glass of cold raw milk and you’ve got yourself a decent breakfast or afternoon snack!

Soaked Cinnamon Honey Spelt Biscuits

This is another great healthy breakfast option!  Thanks to gnowlfglins for the recipe

• 
  
• 2-1/4 cups sprouted spelt flour (cannot be warm from grinding or will melt the coconut oil)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 6 generous tablespoons coconut oil, solid
• 1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar, kefir, kombucha, yogurt, OR whey
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons raw milk, coconut milk, nut milk, OR water
• 2 tablespoons raw honey
• 1/3 cup raisins (about a handful)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Then add coconut oil and cut into the mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until coconut oil is the size of peas or smaller.

Add acid of choice, milk, and honey in a measuring cup. Whisk to combine. Add liquids to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Finally, gently work in raisins.

Transfer dough to clean, floured surface. Roll into a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 2-inch squares using a knife or pizza cutter.

Transfer squares to a coconut-oiled cookie sheet, leaving space between. Put sheet in oven. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack. Enjoy! You can also turn them into yummy scones!

Soaked Grain Cinnamon Rolls

I've been looking for a healthy cinnamon roll recipe and this one has worked well.  

4 cups freshly ground hard white winter wheat (I use Prairie Gold)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (homemade or storebought, just make sure the store bought has live cultures/bacteria in it)
3/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
¼ cup warm water
1 Tablespoon dry instant yeast
2 Tablespoons Sorghum  (Blackstrap Molasses, or honey could be used)
1 tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Baking soda
1 (may need a bit more or less) cup unbleached organic white flour

Toppings!

1 to 2 sticks of butter (softened to room temp, spreadable texture)

1/4 to 1/2 cup organic extra virgin coconut oil (also softened)

Cinnamon and yet more Cinnamon

Rapadura, Cane Sugar or anything that you can justify as being healthier than white sugar

Raw Honey

Directions for Assembly:

Warm butter-milk and coconut oil and mix in with Whole Wheat flour.  Save the white flour for later.

Dough should not be super sticky but since this is for cinnamon rolls and not loaf bread. Form a ball and place in the bowl, cover with cheesecloth and leave in a warm place overnight (12-24 hours).

In the morning, combine water, Sorghum, salt and baking soda in a measuring cup and mix well. Add instant yeast and cup of white flour directly to the dough and pour wet ingredients over top. Mix until it is smooth and the “elastic bands” as some call it are visible as the gluten activates. Form a nice ball and again place your dough back into the bowl and cover with cheesecloth. Allow it to rise until it had doubled in size. Pummel dough down, knead it for just about a minute. Lightly sprinkle your “rolling” area with white flour, use a bit more if the dough is still a bit sticky to make sure it doesn’t superglue itself to the surface.  

 Roll roll and roll some more. Once it is all rolled out nice and thin (not pie crust thin but just barely thicker. Keep in mind this will puff up considerably in size and the flavor is better the less dough/bread there is and the more toppings so don’t be afraid of thin!)

Slap dab and smear the butter and coconut oil all over your huge spread of dough.Once a generous layer of fatty goodness has been successfully applied you can move onto the sprinkle and plop phase.

Add Cinnamon.

Follow the cinnamon up with sweetener. Now is the time to roll everything up into one big log of dough. Here is something else that is easy to have go wrong. Make sure you keep even “tension” as you roll and don’t allow loose or floppy areas to get rolled up. Once it is all rolled up a long piece of unflavored floss or double up a piece of heavy duty, good quality sewing thread.

Plop in a pre-greased baking dish of your preference. Spread some softened butter over the tops of my rolls before sliding them into the oven and the butter keeps the tops nice and soft while the middles are baking.Allow to rise to roughly double and slide into the oven to bake for roughly 30 minutes at 350.

Soaked Breakfast Bar

My girls enjoy these for breakfast or snacks.  We like them with either chocolate chips or apple butter inside.  Thanks to Just take a Bite for a great recipe!

Soaked Breakfast Bar

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup kefir, yogurt or buttermilk
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter, melted (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup rapadura/cane sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. honey

1/3 – 1/2 cup jelly, jam or fruit butter

Mix flour, cultured dairy and oil.  Cover and let soak 7 – 24 hours.

Mix in remaining dough ingredients until well combined.  Spread half of the dough into the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven.  Spread an even layer of jam on top of dough.  Spread remaining dough on top.  Bake at 350 for another 25 minutes.

Cut into bars.  Place bars on a separate baking sheet, with space in between bars.  Bake another 5-10 minutes, until dough is baked through.  Allow to cool.

Whole Grain Yogurt Dough

I've been looking for  a versitile soaked dough that I could use for home made hot pockets pop tarts, etc.  This one works well.  Thanks to Keeper of the Home for a great recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup plain yogurt (I've used kefir before too)
• 3½ cups whole wheat pastry flour (also good with spelt)
• 1 tsp fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Cream together the butter and yogurt (or kefir). Slowly add the flour and salt until everything is combined into a nice dough.
2. At this point you can either use it immediately or leave it on the counter for 12-24 hours to soak.
3. When you are ready to use it, roll out the desired amount on a floured surface and use as desired.
4. Depending on what you are using the dough for, it usually takes around 30 minutes to bake at 350 degrees. Adjust your baking temperature and time for what you are making.

Notes

If you put this in the refrigerator to roll out later, it will have to return to room temperature before the dough is workable. It is hard as a rock when it first comes out of the fridge.

Soaked Pumpkin Pancakes

I found this recipe when looking for a healthy pumpkin pancake recipe.  Many thanks to Nourishing Gourmet for this great recipe!

• 2½ cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups whole milk, coconut milk, kefir, or buttermilk - if using a non-fermented liquid such as coconut milk, add in 2 tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar, water kefir, or other live culture liquid (I used raw whole milk)
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoons salt
• Apple Cider Syrup (optional)
• Butter (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large glass bowl, mix your flour, melted butter and milk. Cover with a towel and leave on the counter for 12- 24 hours. (I usually do this the night before.)
2. In the morning in a medium-sized bowl whip the pumpkin puree, eggs, coconut sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
3. Pour the mixture into the flour that was soaked over night. Stir until the batter is smooth.
4. Heat a skillet (I prefer cast iron) over medium heat. You will know it is ready if you sprinkle a couple droplets of water on the pan and they sizzle.
5. Pour batter onto the skillet to create the size pancakes you desire. I prefer about 4 inches in circumference, ¼ of an inch thick.
6. Cook until bubbles start to appear. Flip over and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute.
7. Serve fresh off the skillet or place in a baking dish in a warm oven.
8. Top with butter and apple cider syrup.

A new favorite healthy GF granola!

I recently stumbled upon a great granola recipe!  It is gluten free and soaked to help with digestion and is delicious!  Many thanks to The Nourishing Home for such a great recipe!  You should read her post for some great tips and pictures to help get the perfect texture and crunch :)  She has many other great super-healtthy and delicious recipes on her blog, so please check it out!  I followed this recipe almost completely except that I baked the granola at 350 for 20 minutes before crumbling and starting the dehydrating process.  I've read that oats are very hard to digest unless they are baked or boiled rather than just dehydrated.  I made it with the buckwheat and I have to say that my 5 year old and I absolutely LOVED the extra crunch a texture of the extra grain!  However, my picky 3 year old did not  like it so for my next batch I ground up the buckwheat and my 3 year old never even knew it was there.  The buckwheat or rye is very necessary to help break down the oats to help with nutrition and digestion.  I also just used maple syrup instead of part honey because I could skip the warming step and just mix it in quickly.

Ingredients

STEP ONE: SOAKING
• 6 cups organic rolled oats (use regular or thick-cut rolled oats, not quick-cook or steel-cut oats)
• 2 cups organic rolled rye flakes (if gluten-free, see note below)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup organic unrefined coconut oil, melted
• 1 can (14oz) *Native Forest unsweetened organic coconut milk
• 2 cups filtered water
• 4 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Place butter and coconut oil in a small sauce pan and heat until melted. Pour into a very large ceramic (or glass) mixing bowl and add coconut milk, water and vinegar; whisk to combine.
2. Add oats and rye flakes (or buckwheat groats); thoroughly combine using a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
3. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm area of your kitchen for 24-48 hours. (*I use Native Forest brand because they use BPA-free cans. Please note: This recipe will not work with coconut milk beverages, i.e. Silk or So Delicious brands.)
4. Once oat mixture is finished soaking, you're ready for STEP TWO: BAKING.

Notes

GF Option: If you're gluten-free you can use buckwheat groats for the soak. You can decrease the amount to 1 cup of buckwheat groats and then use 7 cups of GF rolled oats. The reason you need rolled rye or buckwheat groats is because they contain the phytase necessary to help break down the high levels of phytic acid in oats. Oats do not contain much phytase so soaking them without a phytase booster (like rolled rye, or buckwheat for those who are GF) doesn't do much to reduce the phytic acid.

• Step 2:  Baking:
• 3/4 cup honey 
• 3/4 cup organic pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 ½ tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. After soaking time is completed, preheat oven to 200° F. Place honey, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla in a glass measuring cup. Place measuring cup in a small pot of warm water on the stove. Bring water to a gentle simmer, stirring honey mixture until melted and all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Turn off heat and remove cup from pan carefully, using an ovenmit. Pour honey mixture over oat mixture.
2. Using large rubber spatula, combine the honey and oat mixtures, until well combined. 
3. Spread the mixture out over two parchment paper-lined, 12x17-inch rimmed-baking sheets. Place baking sheets side-by-side in oven for best results. If you have to stack them, be sure to rotate them during bake time. Bake for 8 hours, turning the granola every two-hours. Then turn off oven and allow to sit in warm oven overnight until completely cooled.
4. Remove cooled granola from the oven and mix in any “add-ins” you’d like (see suggestions above). Makes 10-cups of granola (without add-ins).

GF Whole Grain Soaked Tortilla

Whew!  I've had quite the time finding GF recipes that my picky 3 year will eat!  Thanks for all of your suggestions and recipes; I am slowly trying them all out!  I've kind of given up on bread and come to the realization that a tortilla must be the way to go for easy lunches for my Karlie.    I tried many recipes online but couldn't find a good one that uses freshly ground soaked whole grain, which is what I prefer for better digestion and absorption of nutrients.  So I adapted my original recipe and finally made one that she likes! Next time I am going to try to use less tapioca flour and more brown rice or buckwheat, but this is what worked well so I thought I should post it before I forget it!

Combine: 
1 cup freshly ground brown rice flour
1 cup freshly ground buckwheat flour
1/2 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 cup water
1/4 cup oil (olive, coconut, or butter)
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

Cover and soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours.  Then:

1. After soaking, add 1/4 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. sucanat, and 1 tsp. salt to soaked flour mixture, kneading in the flour until the dough is workable but not too stiff.
2. Shape into 8 – 10 balls and let stand 10 more minutes. 
3. Roll to form a circle or use a tortilla press.  I found that this dough is a little more sticky than my old recipe so I rolled the tortillas between two sheets of wax paper.
4. Bake on a lightly greased griddle till done (not browned). Toast for about 20-30 sec. per side.

Yield: 8-10 tortillas.

nutbutter cereal

This recipe is very much like my other cereal recipe, but with a nutty flavor. Kind of like a grape nuts but sweeter with a sunflower butter kick. We liked it. It is a little more expensive than my other recipe because sunflower butter isn't cheap (we can't use peanut butter because Karis is highly allergic). But it was fun to change up our cereal a bit! Many thanks to Christian Mommy Blogger for such a great recipe! Check out her blog for some good pictures of the process. Note that this is soaked for better digestion and therefore you need to plan to start the day before.

• 5 cups flour (I a mixture of spelt and kamut, but I think any grain would work)
• 3 cups raw milk or yogurt (I used 2 3/4 cups water with 1/4 cup ACV)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup coconut oil (in its liquid form)
• 2 cups natural nutbutter (nothing in the ingredients but nuts!)
• 1 cup honey (I used maple syrup because we were low on honey)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

First day: combine the flour and milk/yogurt in a mixer bowl. Mix together until well combined. Cover bowl with a plate. Leave on counter for 24 hours.

2nd day: THREE STEPS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix all of the ingredients into the mixer with the batter and blend until well combined. Pour batter into 2 greased 9×13 pyrex pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool until you can handle it.

2. Crumble it onto baking sheets (2 half sheet pans to be exact). You can make the pieces as big as you wish, but my family likes them smaller (like grapenuts).

3. Put in a 170 degree oven for 6-8 hours. Check every hour or as needed to remove dehydrated pieces on the top and shuffle around as necessary.

Serve with raisins, bananas, milk, etc.

The versatile favorite trio

My girls LOVE quinoa, beans, and chicken. Ok, I'll admit, they would be happy without the chicken, but I always add it for extra protein because it doesn't seem deter them. We make many a variation of those three items, so I thought I should blog about it to give you an idea.

1. Beans -- I make a batch once a month of 2 bags of black beans and freeze them in little bags because they are one of our easiest "healthy fast foods." I have no idea why, but my girls love them both hot or cold. If Karlie is fussing for dinner and it is not ready yet, I set her at the table with some cold beans straight out of the fridge and she is a happy camper. And Karis is the same way. It sounds gross to me, but it keeps them happy til their meal is done. Anyways, beans are most healthy when I soak them overnight in a bunch of warm water and about 4 Tbs of lemon juice. The next day I rinse them, boil them, scoop the impurities off the top, and let simmer on the stove til nice and soft (Several hours). Once cooled, I freeze in little bags in small quantities so I always have some on hand.

2. Quinoa -- My girls love the texture of this grain and so do I. It is the only grain that is a complete protein, so I love to feed it to them. I soak a cup of quinoa in a cup of water and a few Tbs. of yogurt, keifer, ACV, whey, etc. The next day I bring a cup of water or chicken stock to boil, rinse my quinoa (don't skip the rinsing or it will taste bitter!) and throw it in the pot. Then I turn off the heat and let it set until it has soaked up all the liquid.

3. Chicken -- cook it however you like it :) I usually boil it in a pot of water so I can make chicken stock to use in all my recipes.

Directions: Mix those three ingredients with a healthy liquid and a cheese and any other herbs or veggies you like :) I switch around the add-ons frequently so the girls never get tired of their beans and quinoa! I usually warm it all together in a saucepan, but they will even eat it cold! It is also good baked in the oven (at 350 for about 20 min) but it is much faster in the sauce pan. You can make it really thick to be easily grabbed by little fingers or put more liquid in it and make it a soup.

Our liquid options:
Butter
ghee
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Chicken stock
yogurt
coconut milk
sour cream
keifer

Cheese options: Pretty much anything will work, but we especially love feta, cream cheese, parmesan, or sharp cheddar

Other add-ins:
Broccoli
corn
crushed garlic
chopped peppers
chopped sweet onions sauteed in butter
cilantra

Super easy, healthy, baked pancake

Passionate Homemaking has given me yet another favorite recipe! I made this for breakfast this morning and everyone liked it! Mark said it reminded him somewhat of a funnel cake :) There is no sweetener in the actual recipe, so you can make as healthy or yummy as you want by topping it with confectioner's sugar and/or maple syrup :) For the girls and I, I just drowned it in coconut oil and a few drops of maple syrup and it was good. But if you want the funnel cake effect, you are going to want to add the confectioner's sugar :) I loved this recipe because it was so easy and took so little time to prepare!

*if you don't want to do the healthy soaking step, it would work fine to just substitute 1 cup of milk for the acid medium after beating the eggs.

1 cup acid medium – whole milk kefir, yogurt, etc
1 cup whole wheat flour, spelt or kamut (as desired)
4-5 large eggs (free range/pastured is our preference), as desired
1/3 cup coconut oil and butter (any combination)
dash of vanilla extract

Combine acid medium and whole wheat flour. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours. When you are ready to serve, heat oven to 425 degrees. Place oil/butter in small chunks in a 15×11 inch glass baking pan. Place pan in oven to melt. Meanwhile, beat eggs in a blender for 1 minute. Add soaked flour mixture and beat again for 1 minute. Add dash of vanilla extract. Pull out the baking pan from oven and rotate around to spread the melted butter/oil around to cover the entire bottom of pan. Slowly pour the pancake batter into the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly brown and fluffy.

Yield: 4-6 servings.

New Tortilla Recipe!!

As I mentioned in my post about my cooking goals for the new year, I've been meaning to try out a healthy recipe for tortillas for quite some time. Well, today I finally did! If you are trying to find healthy recipes, then you really need to check out the Passionate Homemaking blog. Her recipes have worked for me almost every time and she is my "go-to" when I have a recipe need. (Plus, she named her daughter Karis, which I obviously love :)

Anyways, Her tortilla recipe is as good as the rest. It is completely healthy, fairly simple, and yummy. If my toddler hadn't been nosy about the tortilla press and smashed her finger in it, we would have had a completely successful cooking day :) And no, you don't have to have a tortilla press. I am just blessed to have a sweet SIL who lent me hers :)

I'm super pumped about this recipe -- now I can make breakfast burritoes, fried healthy chips for my hubby, and meals in a hurry. I doubled this recipe and next time I will probably triple it to make enough for a month.

So here is Lindsey's recipe:

3 cups whole wheat or kamut flour (I actually used spelt and it worked fine!)
1 cup warm filtered water
1 Tbsp acid medium (kefir, whey, buttermilk, yogurt, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice)
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Combine flour, water, melted coconut oil or butter and 1 Tbsp of acid medium. Cover and soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
2. After soaking, add baking powder and salt to soaked flour mixture, kneading in the flour until the dough is workable but not too stiff.
3. Shape into 8 – 10 balls and let stand 10 more minutes. (I found that I could cook more tortillas at a time if I made smaller tortillas, so I made about 11 per batch)
   
4. Roll to form a 10 inch circle or use a tortilla press.
5. Bake on a lightly greased griddle till done (not browned). Toast for about 20-30 sec. per side.
   

Yield: 8-10 tortillas.

A New Favorite Bread Recipe! (and I'm getting a grain mill!!!!!)

Up until this week, I had not found a completely healthy, soaked, whole-grain bread recipe that I was completely satisfied with. All of my other soaked recipes just made a loaf of bread that was too dense. But thanks to Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking, I've found my recipe! love this bread! It is dangerous, though, because it makes me want to eat bread all the time. And now my husband has informed me that I must make it every week :) But that, my friends, is a huge compliment, because he is super picky about bread! AND I'm excited because he liked the bread so much that he told me to go ahead and order my grain mill! Yay! Oh, and I'm excited because I can cross off another one of my New Year's Resolutions already -- I made big, but flatter dinner rolls out of the dough and they work just fine for hamburger buns! So here is the recipe, but you should really check out her blog post for her tips on making the best bread!

Makes 4 loaves
I make this recipe once a month, and freeze them, and we are set!

4 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 Tablespoons active dry yeast (or 2 packages)
1 tsp honey (for activating yeast)
1 ½ Tbls. Salt
¾ cup coconut oil, butter or olive oil (melted)
1 cup honey
11-12 cups whole wheat flour or combination (I will occasionally throw in some kamut, barley, etc., but I mainly use hard white winter grain and/or hard red winter grain) – You can replace 1-2 cups with unbleached white flour for an even lighter texture, if desired.
2 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup flax seeds, optional
1/3 cup raw millet, optional
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, optional
2-4 Tbsp dough enhancer (4 Tbsp works best for me!) – makes for some wonderfully light loaves of bread! I highly recommend this dough enhancer, as it works very well, but you can also replace with any combination of the following: 3 table­spoons vital wheat gluten, 1/2 tea­spoon soy lecithin, a pinch of citric acid (use spar­ingly!), and a sprin­kling of ginger

Combine yeast, 1 tsp of honey, and 1/2 cup of the total water required. Let sit for 5 minutes or so, until fully proofed. Combine the yeast mixture, remaining 4 cups of water, and all the rest of the ingredients in your mixer. Only add as much flour until it cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until the gluten is fully developed. Remove to a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let sit until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and divide into 4 loaves. Roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle and roll up into a loaf (this makes the perfectly shaped loaves). Place in greased bread bans and rise again until doubled, about 30-45 minutes minutes (the best place is the oven! Just turn it on low 150-170 degrees till heated and then turn it off, prior to putting the loaves in). Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes. Bread is done when it is fully browned on all sides! Remove from oven, rest in pans for 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Benefits of Soaking Your Grains

If you want to add the benefits of soaking the grains to this recipe, my soaking method is as follows:

Combine the following ingredients, cover and soak for 12-24 hours:

1 cup kefir, cultured buttermilk, or whey (for dairy intolerant you can substitute with 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice and 3/4 cup water)
3 cups of water
11 cups of ground flour (you can replace 1 or 2 cups with unbleached white flour for a lighter end result)
2 cups oats
1 cup honey
3/4 cup coconut oil, butter or olive oil, melted
1/4 cup raw millet, optional
1/4 cup flax seed, optional

After soaking, activate the yeast by combining:

1/2 cup water
1 tsp honey
2 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast

After activating the yeast, combine it with the soaked flour and add the remaining ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
2-4 Tbsp dough enhancer
1 cup unbleached white flour, if necessary (usually not necessary)
Sunflower seeds, if desired

Kneed for approximately 8-10 minutes. Continue with instructions as listed above.