Buckwheat - A Super Food!

[Laura]

Yes, as I said in the recent cooking video, for me it was a revelation to grok that we don't have to try to emulate breads made from glutinous wheat flour, we can make breads from buckwheat that actually develop and utilize the characteristics of the buckwheat flour.

I also said that I had tried all kinds of combinations of flours in the stage where I was trying to emulate wheat breads and none of them do what wheat does so it is really a waste of time.

The basic recipe for buckwheat flour is as given for the pancakes. You can increase the amount of flour to make it thicker (or add fresh ground flax seeds), or you can make it thinner, depending on the type of bread you want to make. You can add some sweetness and fruit, or you can put in chopped onions, olives, ham, bacon, and herbs for a savory bread. You can bake it in loaves as the date bread, or you can fry it in fat; you can make wonderful, crispy waffles, or muffins of crepes. It does a lot of things in its own way, it just isn't wheat and it doesn't work well with yeast.

In short, you can have a lot of different types of breads made from the same basic recipe, and an entire cuisine designed around that, just pretend you live in a world where yeast breads - candida feeders - don't exist.

 

[broken.english]

I have a question,

I made some buckwheat bread and it looked and smelt great in the tin, but when I took it out to slice it, it crumbled into little pieces lol.

I thought maybe I didn't put enough oil in it to make it hold together properly?? (It still tasted yummy though!) ;)

You made a buckwheat bread? Nice! If it crumbles I can give you some guidance how to avoid this. How was your recipe?

Hey :)

I used the following:

500g Buckwheat Flour
1 tblsp yeast
1 teasp bicarb soda
200g Olive Oil
55ml Distilled water
1/3 cup of mixed sunflour seeds, flaxseeds and pumpkin seeds

Kneaded the dough a little and put it in 2 oiled bread tins to rest for 50 mins then I baked for another 50 mins at 200 degrees C.


To be honest it turned out more like a crumbly cake lol. Any help appreciated! Ta :)

Ok, I will post a better working recipe with some variations within the next few days. Stay tuned, please. For now let me just make a short comment on your recipe:

- the appropriate amount of water for 500 gr of buckwheat flour is 520 ml
- due to poor water absorption and binding properties buckwheat needs additional measures such as sourdough and moisturizing ingredients in order to make a decent bread.
- 200 ml of olive oil is an overkill from my perspective. That's just too far away from a normal bread.
- yeast and bicarb soda are more or less industrial baking aids and do not necessarily make a good bread. They may inflate the dough but entirely fail to crack the phytines, which bind minerals, if whole buckwheat flour is used.

 

[Nautilus]

Hello,

Does anyone know how to cook/eat buckwheat kernels? I've searched all over for buckwheat flour, and the only brand that has it also contains soy and wheat! So, I'm hoping buckwheat kernels can be the alternative.

Thanks.

 

[Peam]

Hello,

Does anyone know how to cook/eat buckwheat kernels? I've searched all over for buckwheat flour, and the only brand that has it also contains soy and wheat! So, I'm hoping buckwheat kernels can be the alternative.

Thanks.

By coincidence, I found buckwheat groats at a local supermarket just last week which I think is similar to buckwheat kernels or just another name for the same thing?

I followed the instructions which was to slowly simmer 100g of groats to 200ml water for 15 to 20 mins, and it made very nice porridge using a bit of rice milk and some sultanas.

Then after a search I found out that to prevent it turning into mush, you put them into a pan and roast them, dry, on a low heat while stirring them until they go a brown roasted colour. I did them in a wok for a couple of mins. Then simmer them as above. But don't overdo them.

I threw them in a stir fry with cooked green lentils, onions, garlic, and other veg using olive oil, salt pepper and turmeric.

It was nice but I'm going to try some sort of sauce in it next time.

 

[Nautilus]

Hi Peam,

Thanks for your reply. I did a search on the internet and found out buckwheat groats is result of the hard coating being removed from kernel. Having re-read the first post of this topic, it seems like kernel has to go through processing to be eaten. I guess I'll just have to go with brown rice for now. :(

 

[M4N4MK1]

Thanks for this information Laura, really appriciate your help and advice.

I have been having minor health irritations, like in my intestines. An my mom suffers from high blood pressure an aches /pains. So i have been looking at changing our familiy diet.

As i am an sikh/indian, so our traditional diet consists of whole wheat flour, which my mom makes chapattis with. And we eat it with home made dahls of various types, green, red, black, yellow variaties, and she cooks alot of veg for the family using extra virgin olive oil, turmeric , indian green chillis, garlic, ginger, onions, black pepper, garam masala..

Since reading about wheat/soya/msg/aspartame/dairy and the problems with it, all on this very forum, i have printed out pages and given to mom to read. and i have bought some flaxseed capsules and hawthorn tea, and of course Buckwheat flour. no major supermarket had it, so a quick search online i found a farm (in Ripon, UK called Sunflours) that grows and mills it, and a health food store the sells it. Just this week my mom made buckwheat chapattis!! woohoo! :D,

I must say we got to get use to the taste, its nice to eat with butter/ghee which my mom makes at home also. But the benefits of eatting this flour are good for all the family.

I have been doing lots of reading and want to thank all forum members. Great work!

Lots of love

 

[Gaby]

Hi M4N4MK1,

Nice to hear that your family were opened minded about it. Buckwheat is really wonderful! :)

 

[Don Genaro]

Yes, as I said in the recent cooking video, for me it was a revelation to grok that we don't have to try to emulate breads made from glutinous wheat flour, we can make breads from buckwheat that actually develop and utilize the characteristics of the buckwheat flour.

I also said that I had tried all kinds of combinations of flours in the stage where I was trying to emulate wheat breads and none of them do what wheat does so it is really a waste of time.

The basic recipe for buckwheat flour is as given for the pancakes. You can increase the amount of flour to make it thicker (or add fresh ground flax seeds), or you can make it thinner, depending on the type of bread you want to make. You can add some sweetness and fruit, or you can put in chopped onions, olives, ham, bacon, and herbs for a savory bread. You can bake it in loaves as the date bread, or you can fry it in fat; you can make wonderful, crispy waffles, or muffins of crepes. It does a lot of things in its own way, it just isn't wheat and it doesn't work well with yeast.

In short, you can have a lot of different types of breads made from the same basic recipe, and an entire cuisine designed around that, just pretend you live in a world where yeast breads - candida feeders - don't exist.

Well, I think that answers the question I had logged on to ask but just to clarify, I made the bread as per your video last night. The only difference being that I used half the quantities of everything and substituted prunes for the dates. I had been wondering why it had hardly risen, if at all. So it's not meant to rise then? It's turned out quite "cakelike" with a crumbly texture although it doesn't break up or crumble when cutting and I'm looking forward to breakfast! Thank you :)

 

[Oxajil]

Has anyone tried Arrowroot with Buckwheat yet?

_http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Thickeners:+strategies,+tips,+and+tricks+for+using+these+cooking...-a0158524188

A Caribbean dietary staple, arrowroot is derived from the roots of a tropical plant and has been cultivated for 7,000 years.
Use arrowroot to thicken sauces, or add it to baked goods with gluten-free flours like buckwheat to help bind the flour.

( there is also this:

Arrowroot, potato starch, and tapioca flour are excellent binding ingredients for gluten-free flour in baking recipes.

)

 

[Laura]

Yes, we sometimes use arrowroot and/or tapioca flour to lighten the flour mix for cakes or cookies.

 

[superfood]

Thanks for this post ,i don't know before this that buck wheat is a super food thanks for providing information.

 

[Vulcan59]

Hi superfood,

Welcome to the forum. :) We recommend all new members to post an introduction in the Newbies section telling us a bit about themselves, and how they found their way here. Have a read through that section to get an idea of how others have done it. Thanks.

 

[Infiniteness]

Hi all,

I was wondering dose anybody have any good online sites where they buy there buckwheat flour, I went looking for it in many of my grocery stores but no luck.

 

[henry]

Have you tried any of the health food stores in your area? You might have better luck looking there than in a commercial grocery or supermarket.

 

[Ca.]

Posted by: Infiniteness
Hi all,
I was wondering dose anybody have any good online sites where they buy there buckwheat flour, I went looking for it in many of my grocery stores but no luck.

Hi Infiniteness, If your in the United States, www.wholefoodsmarket.com carries a line of organic as well as non organic buckwheat. One of the product line's they carry for buckwheat is by www.arrowheadmills.com