A few weeks ago, I posted on social media that I was trying a new soaked bread recipe. Quite a few of you commented or emailed asking for the recipe, but I wanted to get it just right first before sharing. Making traditionally prepared bread (as opposed to modern, difficult to digest yeasted breads) can be a bit tricky to master. No one wants to waste quality ingredients not to mention precious time on failed attempts!
To make a long story short, it took me a little trial and error to get the recipe to work, but the results are awesome. You can even slice the loaf for sandwiches! I thought I’d share for those of you who enjoy using soaked flour to bake traditionally prepared bread for your family.
Please note that I have only used einkorn flour to make this loaf so if you want to try making it with another type of flour, it may take you a couple of tries to get it exactly right. My friend Cathi who shared this recipe with me uses spelt flour. Based on our joint experience, it should work the very first try with either einkorn or spelt. Other flours may take a bit of trial and error on your part.
What is Einkorn?
Never heard of einkorn? It is the purest and most ancient form of wheat available.  It is completely nonhybridized (my kids affectionately refer to it as “Jesus wheat”) as it only has 2 sets of chromosomes unlike all other types of wheat which are hybridized and have between 4 (emmer, kamut, durum) and 6 (spelt, modern wheat) chromosomal sets. Moreoever, einkorn contains good gluten. It is different structurally from modern gluten and quite easy to digest even for many who have sensitivity to modern gluten.  The truth is that not all wheat gluten is created equal!
The only downside to einkorn is that it is a low yield crop and hence rather pricey compared with hybridized wheat. However, if you don’t eat a ton of bread in your home anyway and really want to opt for the most digestible wheat flour available when you do bake, einkorn simply can’t be beat.
One other point of note: you must used raw kefir for this soaked bread recipe. The dough does not rise well if you soak using raw yogurt, clabbered raw milk or buttermilk. Â It also does not work well with plain store bought kefir.
The reason? I don’t actually know for sure, but my guess is that raw kefir has many more strains of beneficial microbes compared with other fermented dairy products – up to as many as 30. In addition, raw kefir would have all the original enzymes from the raw milk intact. Pasteurized kefir would not have the same level of enzymatic activity as raw kefir. In addition, clabbered raw milk, buttermilk and raw yogurt would have far fewer probiotic strains than raw kefir.
How to Make Soaked Bread
Onward to the soaked bread recipe! Â I do hope you enjoy it – please let me know the various ways you end up trying it, with gluten free flours and whatnot!
Soaked Bread Recipe
Easy soaked bread recipe that can be sliced and used for sandwiches as well.
Ingredients
- 6 cups flour freshly ground and organic, einkorn or spelt recommended
- 3 cups raw kefir plain, preferably grassfed
- 2 Tbl butter preferably grassfed and organic
- 1.5 Tbl sucanat
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
Instructions
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Mix 3 cups of flour and 3 cups of kefir well, cover with a clean cloth and let sit on the kitchen counter for 12-24 hours. After soaking, the dough should be liquid-y and very bubbly.
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Add baking soda, sweetener, coconut oil or butter and 3 more cups of flour. Stick to 6 cups of flour and don't add more even if tempted to do so based on consistency of the dough.
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Mix well for 3-4 minutes. The resulting dough should be soft and easily workable with your hands.
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Divide loaf into 2 ... put in 2 buttered loaf pans (these are what I use) or make 1 huge loaf with a single large loaf pan.
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Let the pan(s) sit lightly covered with a clean cloth for another 12 hours on the kitchen counter. The dough will rise nicely in the pan(s) so allow for enough room at the top or it will spill over the sides.
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Bake at 350 F (177 C) for 30 minutes for 2 smaller loaves and 350 F (177 C) for 55 minutes for 1 large loaf of soaked bread. Check that a knife inserted in the center comes out clean to ensure that the loaves are done.
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Once cooled, slice into sandwich slices. Enjoy immediately and refrigerate what will not be used up within 24 hours.
Recipe Notes
Coconut sugar may be substituted for the sucanat. Do not use honey as cooking honey is not healthy.Â
Coconut oil may be substituted for the butter.
Do not use yogurt, clabbered milk or water plus lemon juice to soak the flour as the bread will not rise properly. Only raw kefir works based on my experience making this recipe.
Once you’ve made your loaf, be sure to save the crusts! You can make homemade breadcrumbs with them!
I am dairy free. Could I use apple cider vinegar?
You can definitely sub ACV, but I think the bread would turn out too sour.
I just finished making this recipe and it turned out great. I used Spelt flour and homemade keifer. I am unable to purchase raw milk where I live but the Keifer still turns out great and so did the bread. After mixing the Spelt and Keifer together I placed the bowl in my oven with the light on for 24 hours. It was just warm enough to create a bubbly, yeasty smelling mixture. I then added the remaining ingredients and mixed for 4 minutes. The dough was soft so I had to scoop it out of the bowl to put into the loaf pans. I put the loaf pans back in the oven with the light on and let rise for another 12 hours. The dough rose to the top of the pans. I carefully removed them from the oven, heated it to 350F and then baked the loaves. I found I needed to bake the loaves for 45 minutes. (I had read a hint to use a thermometer to test that the centre of the loaf was 200F – no raw middle). Slices beautifully and my husband said he thought it was really good. Nice tangy flavour.
Hey!
I also found the bread in two loaf pans needed 45 minutes. It was still gooey in the middle after only 30 minutes.
May I ask, how long did you wait for the bread to cool before you sliced it?
This recipe worked so well! I wasn’t sure what type of kefir to use, either skim or full-fat, but it turns out my local market only had skin raw milk kefir. Worked great! My only comment is that there is an error in the baking times: should show as 30 minutes for one loaf and 55 min for two loaves (it’s backwards right now). Thank you!!!!
WOW! Just made this bread — so good. I didn’t have a second loaf pan, so I just used a 1.5 quart casserole dish for the second loaf. I also weighed the dough as I was dividing it to make sure the loaves were equal. The dough was not easy to handle (very wet) and so I used two scrapers to mold the loaves and plop them in their baking dishes. I’ve read enough about einkorn flour to know that it absorbs liquids differently and so I did not add more flour.
After rising an hour and a half in the bread pans my bread has risen up so that I have to bake it already. I let it soak in the bowl for 24 hrs. I accidentally mixed in all 6 cups flour to soak. But I followed everything else to a T. It smells awesome and it baked nice, just spilling over a little bit.
Thanks for recipe!
I prefer a round loaf since I do not eat many sandwiches. Has anyone tried this einkorn and kefir recipe either in a cloche or just on a clay stone?
This recipe for an einkorn loaf is round. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/no-knead-einkorn-sourdough-bread/
Thank you.
James H.
This worked great! Fermenting, rising and baking times went according to recipe on June days where temps were in upper 80’s, nights upper 50’s. I used mostly spelt, but some einkorn as well. The whole batch fit into my regular size Pampered Chef stoneware bread pan before the last rise, but as you warned, spilled over the sides. I was able to easily scrape the spilled dough off and put into two smaller stoneware pans. Those were two holes of the ‘4 small loaf stoneware pan’ from Pampered Chef as well. It cuts well, the texture is light and the flavor has a nice sourdough tang. We don’t consume enough bread to warrant keeping a sourdough starter around but we always have raw kefir going. Thanks for working this out and sharing! Well Done 🙂
Will it work if my raw kefir has been frozen previously ?
Hello, this is my second time making this. The first time I used pasteurized kefir and Einkorn and it turned out ok. Not great but ok. This time I’m using raw milk kefir and whole wheat flour. Again, like the first time, I’m just not getting this part to turn out at all “After soaking, the dough should be liquidy and very bubbly.” No liquify, no bubbles. Just a blob of goo. Help?
I am having the same problems, were you able to resolve your issues?
Did the goo rise in the bowl? I think that if you gave the first mixture of flour and kefir 12 hours soaking and it hasn’t risen in that time then there is a problem. As long as there is some life in the first mixture then you should get a loaf that rises.
Also, I would try half whole wheat and half white flour which will give a lighter loaf.
Do you have anyone who has worked out how to make this with a breadman bread machine? Or any bread machine?