There are 3 s’s associated with pretreating grains and legumes: soaking, sprouting, and souring. Over the past few years, I have experimented with these methods, and have learned a lot. In this post, I’ve given an overview of the process and benefits of each method, and my experiences with them over time.

Soaking

Depending on what I’m making, soaking the grains for baked goods can look a bit different. Basically, I want to give the grains a chance to break down before I bake them, ultimately making them easier to digest. Here are two methods I have found useful:

Soaking while raising

When making something raised with yeast, I typically let the soaking take place while it raises. This can be done by simply reducing the yeast. When one packet (2 1/4 tsp.) is called for, I reduce it to 1/2-1 teaspoons. This allows it to raise much slower, which allows the grains to soak at the same time. For something like monkey bread, I use 1/2 tsp. of yeast, and the initial rise is 12 hours. Now that I’ve had success with this method, I see no reason to turn back.

Soaking without raising

If I’m using a leavener that’s not yeast, like baking powder and/or baking soda, the grains need to be soaked beforehand. Although not all the ingredients need to be added at this stage, there needs to be enough liquid to soak the flour. Normally, I mix all the ingredients besides the leavener, and let it sit for 8 hours to soften. Then, I add the leavener and bake as usual. I plan to write more on this in depth on another post.

Sprouting

I found a few articles on how sprouting beans reducing their gas-producing effects, and of course I was intrigued. As I started trying it, I realized it does actually work, and have been sprouting my beans ever since. The goal is to sprout them lightly, as too much sprouting can lead to mushy beans whose skins fall off.

Fermenting

The third ‘s’ associated with how to pre-treat grains and legumes is ‘souring’. Souring and fermenting are the same thing, but ‘fermenting’ is easier to find recipes for. Basically, fermenting is allowing a food to sit at room temperature, allowing the bacteria to break down the food. However, I don’t really ferment anything anymore, as I started fermenting everything and it got out of control.