“Grains are basically grass seeds and humans don’t eat grass.” - Jane Mason
This pretty much says it all, right?! … Why do we ferment our grains? Well, that’s why! Also, because… um… delicious!
Unfortunately, how we process the grains to make them edible matters. Much has changed in the last century and wheat grains are largely unfermented these days. They are still cooked out as flour in most of the baked goods we eat, but the fermentation process is much less common. Hand in hand with this, we have seen a huge rise in incidences of gluten intolerance. There is more to it than that, of course, but for me this coincidence provokes key questions. Other considerations include the ones Jane Mason writes about…
She explains it like this:
“Eating grass or raw flour would give us an almighty tummy ache, as our tummies would struggle to know what to do and become bloated. Bread, and specifically bread made with wheat flour, has received a lot of bad press over the past few years, with articles about the dangers of consuming grains, and the rise of allergies and intolerances. …Celiacs must avoid any food with gluten, which includes bread made with wheat, rye, spelt, emmer, einkorn, kamut, barley, and oats (unless they are labeled gluten free).
Some people who are not celiacs still feel uncomfortable when they eat bread. There could be several reasons for this:
Overexposure: a daily diet of highly refined wheat-based breakfast cereal for breakfast, white bread sandwiches for lunch, and pasta for dinner is limited in the extreme. Years of following that diet will put pressure on your system and could make you sensitive to wheat, or particularly, highly refined wheat. Eat everything in moderation is the advice our grannies gave us and they were probably right.
Changes in the wheat plant: [This is a disputed point, but some people believe that modern wheat production may have also contributed to the increase in wheat sensitivities]. Today, some farmers are returning to what is now called “heritage wheat.” If you find you have a sensitivity to modern wheat, you could try heritage wheat as an alternative.
Flour: flour is not clearly labeled everywhere in the world. [There is plenty added to flour long before it’s added to bread. Always consider the source of your flour if your body reacts, even to homemade bread]
Bread ingredients: [there is an awful lot of stuff put in breads these days to make it last the journey from factory to pantry. However, the only necessary ingredients are really flour, salt and water. Read the label.]
p.148 Jane Mason, Ed wood et al. (2015) Homemade Sourdough: Mastering the art and science of baking with starters and wild yeast. Voyageur Press: Minneapolis
What’s cool is that in order to ferment the grains, all we really need to do is (make flour;) add water and watch for the yeast activity to start producing bubbles. After that, a little know-how and you can make bread!!!