I have been reading many articles about how to eliminate or reduce the
phytates in Whole Grains so that the body can absorb all of the great
nutrients and vitamins from the grains. The most agreed upon manner is
to
soak the grains or flour for at least 7 hours in yogurt, buttermilk,
lemon
juice, etc. before continuing to mix bread recipe.

I do grind my own grain at home and cook with it immediately so my
family
can benefit from the fresh product. I found a great recipe that tells
you to mix your batter and let it rest in the frig at least overnite or
even up
to 3 days. So I have been adding buttermilk to the recipe instead of
the
suggest water. The bread tastes wonderful and is light and fluffy and
not
at all like 'whole grain' breads that are made in a couple of hours
with yeast.
With such busy schedules this particular recipe is so extremely simple
that it does not keep me from baking a couple of times a week and being
able to eat healthy bread.

The Question: Does anyone know if the buttermilk (2 cups) will
eliminate the phytates even though the dough is kept at a cold temp in
the frig? After the dough is taken from the frig, I let it rise for
about 3 or 4 hours at room temp
before baking. It seems that is helping to eliminate the phytic acids
from
the grains, but I want to make sure I am doing this correctly.

I have also just create a 'new' sourdough starter with flour and water
and it appears to be doing well. It smells good and has some bubbles
on the surface. It is only a few days old, but I think this is going
to work (my first two tries were unsuccessful). So when this starter
is ready, I know I will be able to soak the flour for the required
amount of time at room temp and this should get rid of the phytic
acids.


Thanks