Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Soaked Cranberry Muffins


I made my first soaked muffins today! I used this basic recipe and added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1 cup of fresh cranberries(FREE at Earth Fare) as my spices and add-ins. I used yogurt for soaking instead of apple cider vinegar or kombucha that was called for in the recipe and it worked great!

They were delicious! I can see myself  using this basic recipe again and again and tweaking it to our tastes.  It's easy to follow and make. The only difference is planning for and adding the soaking step.

Why am I "soaking", you ask?  Simply put, soaking grains and flours with an acidic ingredient before cooking breaks down the phytic acids, maximizes nutrition and makes them more easily digested. I've been making a soaked whole wheat bread since the first of the year and it turns out wonderful! I also am pretty consistent with soaking my brown rice, oatmeal, millet(for cooked cereal) and dry beans. We honestly have not really noticed that much of a difference with the taste of the finished product. I have found that brown rice and oatmeal cook faster when they've been soaked, which is an advantage.   These muffins are my first attempt at soaking a non-yeasted baked good.

Next step: making soaked pancakes!

You can read more detailed explanations of the benefits of soaking and sprouting grain here, here, and here.

2 comments:

gail said...

i have never heard of soaking, except for beans. what a great idea. thanks for the links i'm going to have to check them out.

Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS said...

Those look wonderful! I'm glad the muffin recipe worked so well for you. I love that you added cranberries - so wonderful for this time of year! :)