Making Soaked Flour Buttermilk Biscuits

Soaking Flour

As one of my goals for January, I have been reading the book, “Nourishing Traditions,” by Sally Fallon Morrell. Soaking, fermenting, sprouting were all so foreign to me until I started this journey to healthy, homemade living. Sally writes about soaking flours to reduce anti-nutrients such as phytic acid. This improves the digestibility and absorption of minerals considerably. Helpful link: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-thursday-how-to-soak-flour-for/

So over the weekend I decided to make Sally Fallon Morrell’s recipe on page 484 of Nourishing Traditions, Buttermilk Biscuits. The recipe calls for 3 ½ cups of freshly ground spelt flour. As of this date, I don’t have a grinder for grains. I do have a coffee grinder that I can use for softer grinds like sprouted/dehydrated buckwheat and oat groats. But when I tried to grind spouted/dehydrated wheat berries, the little coffee grinder just wasn’t up to the task. A grain grinder is on my wish list.

Instead I used store bought organic spelt flour for 3 of the cups, then ½ cup of my left over ground sprouted buckwheat. The recipe calls for 1 cup buttermilk as the soaking liquid for the flour. I don’t normally have buttermilk on hand, but we do try to keep heavy cream in the fridge in case Joe wants to make ice cream. His ice cream is awesome, but that’s for another time. So Joe suggested I make my own buttermilk. No problem! I just poured the heavy whipping cream in the food processor, turned it on and before I knew it I had the cup of buttermilk. Joe took the butter, used it to make garlic butter and filled a mini ice cube tray with it and stuck it in freezer for future use.

Before adding the buttermilk to the flour, I did add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the buttermilk since most buttermilk is cultured. Not sure where that logic came from, but it made since to me at the time. I put the buttermilk/flour dough in a big glass bowl, covered it with plastic and put it in a warm place, top of the refrigerator.  That was Sunday evening. Monday, about 4:00pm or 20 hours later, I scooped out the dough and put it in the food processor to knead it for a few minutes, per instructions. And something wonderful happened! The dough became soft and the texture smooth.

Wow! I love the texture of bread dough, in fact, most of the time I prefer to hand knead dough.

I only put it in the food processor as a continued attempt to stick to the recipe. When I use a recipe for the first time, I try to stay true to it.

After a few minutes in the processor, I added the remaining ingredients to the dough and let the processor combine everything. Next I turned the dough onto my marble slab.

Sigh, I have a marble slab. It’s heavy and will crush fingers without much effort in its part, but works so well for so many uses.

I hand kneaded the dough a few times then rolled it out and used a biscuit cutter to make 12 rounds. I put them in a buttered pan and baked. When they came out of the oven, I brushed some melted butter on them and let them cool before we enjoyed them with dinner. Dinner last night was baked chicken and salad.

This morning I used one of the biscuits to make a ham/lettuce sandwich for lunch today. But I was so excited to enjoy it, I ate the sandwich for breakfast when I got to work.

The next time I make this recipe, I think I will mix up the flours. I have some Bob’s Red Mill organic pastry flour I will use for half the flour, to lighten the biscuit up. As good as the original recipe is, we are not used to so much whole wheat. I liken it to being used to taking a casual stroll, then suddenly climbing a mountain. Both body and mind not ready for it.