The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [57]
Incidentally, any raw soy product, including flour, contains substances called soybean trypsin inhibitors (SBTI) that get in the way of protein digestion. Soybeans in any form should be eaten only after they are cooked enough to inactivate this substance. Baking soy flour in bread is sufficient to do this, in the opinion of scientists who work in the field.
SOYMILK IN BAKING
If you drink soymilk, maybe you have already discovered the secret of baking any that is left over into delicious, featherlight loaves. Soymilk bread is quite a lot like a dairy bread, pale inside, with a glossy dark crust—sometimes people mistake it for egg bread. If the soymilk is not first-day fresh, however, it can make a truly weighty loaf, because even in the refrigerator the brew develops a lively population of bacteria. To subdue them, bring the soymilk to a boil, and then cool it before you use it in the dough.
If you make your own soymilk you might wonder about baking your okara (the leftover soy fiber) into your bread. Our advice is don’t. True, okara has a respectable nutrition quotient and should not be wasted; so far as we could tell, though, after many imaginative experiments, bread dough is not the place to use it unless you are fond of heavy, wet, bland loaves, more or less indigestible.
Finally, it was suggested to us with great enthusiasm that we make sure to have a Tofu Bread in our book. We really did try, but incorporating tofu in the dough invariably made heavy, lackluster loaves, at least for us. There are so many good ways to use tofu on bread, why put it inside? We were saved at the last, when our friends Bill Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi sent us a recipe for a very tasty tofu-applesauce quick bread. After some further testing, we are delighted to say that you can put as much as a whole cup of grated tofu into almost any flavorful quick bread (see this page for our quick bread recipes) without noticeably reducing its appeal. You add a gram per slice of high-quality protein, a good bargain in a quick bread.
The bean breads that follow are real staff-of-life recipes based on whole foods. Each one is rich in nutrient value and, when well made, light enough to please the finickiest child or the most discerning adult.
Mediterranean Garbanzo Bread
1 cup dry garbanzo beans (200 g) (2 cups cooked)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)
½ cup warm water (120 ml)
5 cups whole wheat bread flour (750 g)
2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)
½ teaspoon dimalt
OR
2 tablespoons honey (30 ml)
garbanzo bean cooking juice plus cold water to make 2 cups (475 ml) liquid, about 70°F
¼ cup olive oil (60 ml) (optional)
Garbanzos, also known as chickpeas, are not quite such nutritional powerhouses as soybeans, but they provide very respectable nourishment, and they work well in bread. Milder in flavor and easier to cook and mash than soy, they also demand less added sweetener, are easier on the dough, and, unlike soy, do not prevent the bread from rising if you omit the oil or butter. Cook them ahead of time so they will be ready just before you need them. Stored even a short time, they ferment slightly, and that can keep the dough from rising high.
This recipe makes a plain, mild bread, scarcely sweet, with a firm crumb. It keeps very well; a good everyday bread for sandwiches and toast, and a good springboard for your own imaginative variations.
Cook the garbanzo beans in a quart of water for 3 hours, or until soft. Use a pot that is plenty big, because they will double in size as they cook. Drain, reserving the broth; mash and cool the beans.
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
Combine the flour and salt, the dimalt flour, if used, and the mashed garbanzo beans. Dissolve the honey (if used) in the 2 cups of liquid. Pour that and the yeast solution