Q: What about taste?
A: Basically, just start with familiar, favorite recipes, and change the quality of the ingredients. It is more apt to be acceptable.
Q: Where do we go for resources? What's available?
A: Check with your local health food store. Then, you can look on the Internet for mail-order sources. Find a source close to home and you can save on shipping
Q: You talk about something called the "Two Step Process." Can you explain what that is?
A: Our Breakfast book introduces this, and it involves the whole grains. There are phytates in grains that bind up key minerals. Unless you process grains slowly, those nutrients won't be released. There are three ways to accomplish this. One is to sprout the grains. Two is fermentation. That is when you make yeast bread. I have changed the process for yeast bread by making a sponge the night before. You put the liquid with the flour in a bowl, add the yeast and mix it well. Let it stand at room temperature, and the next morning you finish off the recipe. I also recommend at least two rises; that extends the fermentation. The third option is the "Two Step" process. You allow the grain to soak, seven to eight hours or overnight, and that releases the nutrients. With a blender you put in the grains and liquids, and blend it for three minutes, omitting the egg since it will be sitting at room temperature. When the soaking is complete, you add the egg, the rest of the ingredients, and do the baking. Once you learn the process, it is easy to take any other recipe and apply the principle. Now that this has come to my attention, I wonder if so many people have trouble with allergic response to whole grains because they are not doing this process.
Q: People do struggle with food allergies. What do you suggest for these families?
A: I usually suggest our cookbooks because we focus on allergies quite a bit. In our Master Index, we have an index on allergies. The major allergies are wheat and dairy. For wheat allergies, kamut and spelt are two grains that are a type of wheat, but a lot of people can tolerate them. They are two wonderful grains that have enough gluten in them to make yeast breads. Spelt has kind of a nutty flavor; it is closer to the wheat. Kamut is really different; I love the taste, but it is hard to describe.
For dairy, the most popular alternative is soy. It has been brought to my attention, and I have done a lot of research, about the dangers of soy. I won't go into detail here, but I would caution people not to use all soy substitutes for their dairy products. I think nut milk is a great one to use. I would do a variety. You can get yogurt cheese with active cultures. That is probably easier to digest and not made from soy. There are a lot of things like that. Experiment.
