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!
Allison
Would this work with water kefir instead of milk kefir?
Sarah
Water kefir would *not* work with this recipe.
julie
Is there no salt by design or in error ? Thank you for the recipe ….have the first part “brewing”
Joy
This recipe is fantastic!! Thank you for perfecting it for us… I make a large jar of fresh kefir everyday, with my lovely raw farm milk, and am always looking for new ways to use it. Sad that all the beneficial bacteria gets destroyed during the baking, but great that the fermentation beforehand does such a great job of making the wheat so much more digestable, and cuts out the necessity for using yeast. I don’t have access to fresh ground wheat or gluten free flours, so I just used store bought whole wheat flour, and the results were fantastic. I also include flax seed and sunflower seeds during the fermentation process, so I have the added flavour and nutrition from the them. Thank you!
Ginnie Porembski
The reason homemade kefir works is because it naturally contains several strains of good yeast. In order to sell kefir commercially, the yeast has to be removed.
Sherry
Why sugar of any kind?
Sarah
Feel free to leave it out, but the bread doesn’t rise quite as well. Also, it is a very small amount of sugar! Less then 2 tsp (9 grams per loaf). It is going to be less than a gram per slice.
Marsha
Bake at 350 F (177 C) for 30 minutes for 2 loaves and 350 F (177 C) for 55 minutes for 1 loaf of soaked bread.
Please clarify the baking times, I don’t understand why two loaves take half the time of one loaf.
Sarah
The reason the baking time is longer for 1 loaf is because it is larger than 2 smaller loaves which will bake more quickly.
connie agui
can you use coconut milk kefir instead of raw milk kefir?
Sarah
No, that won’t work with this recipe.
Carmen Maybee
Sarah, I wanted to thank you so much for your effort and your dedication in teaching us the traditional way of baking bread. This recipe has become a staple in our home. I routinely bake the two loaves and I am thrilled when my son who can tolerate this weak gluten, asks for more. I would like to try to use my iron cast Dutch oven. Could I just put the dough to proof in a bowl instead of the two loaf pans? Could I then turn the dough into the already preheated iron cast Dutch oven? Will this work to create a round shape instead? Have you tried it?
Sarah
I have not tried it. It may work just fine. Let us know how it turns out!
Maria
I’m new to all of this, soak the milk with the grain, what keeps the milk form spoiling?
Sarah
The milk used is raw … raw milk doesn’t spoil. It clabbers. Do not use pasteurized milk with this recipe or you will make yourself sick.
Roz
Did you soak and dry the einkorn before you ground it?
Sarah
You don’t soak and dry einkorn berries before grinding. You soak the flour before baking. Or, if you don’t want to soak the flour, you can use sprouted einkorn berries and grind those.