by michaelswarm » Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:48 pm
Welcome aboard.
I say don't over think the issue. Just soak your whole grains and pulses, overnight for beans and hard lentils, or a couple of hours for grains and soft lentils. Also allow whole wheat flours to moisten thoroughly if making whole grain breads.
I find long soaks and slow cooking just make better tasting dishes.
My kids have recently discovered raisin bread. My 10 year old daughter has taken over bread making in the kitchen, so they can have fresh raisin bread every day. Starts in the morning making a sponge of flour, yeast and water, and soaking the raisins. Couple of hours later, she adds raisins, more flour, salt and makes dough. Around dinner time ready for oven.
This is just my method for whole grain flour breads. 100% whole grain flour, very low amount of yeast, most of the day fermenting. I do it this way because it makes a good 100% whole grain flour loaf.
Traditional kitchens had similar time constraints. Some traditional foods were fermented, for example, miso paste and soy sauce. This could take 6 months to a year. Most rice was just soaked and steamed.
Here in Mexico, corn is soaked in acidic solution to transform it as part of tortilla making. This is daily process in traditional tortellerias, that make tortillas from whole corn, and not corn flour. This is done to make a dough that can be shaped and pressed. Otherwise it falls apart.
You can cook many simple meals in 30 minutes or less. Or you can spend a hour or more making an amazing tasting meal, better than anything you can get in a restaurant.
If you've learned and practiced some traditional cooking methods, good for you.
If you don't want to spend so much time, you will also find many here are of the same mind.
