Barley Bread on Whipped Chickpea Aquafaba

Barley Bread on Whipped Chickpea Aquafaba

Alexandr Piatkov



Returning to the diet of our ancient ancestors is not such a bad idea for the

post-industrial world, at least while we still have all the raw ingredients for

it. Ten thousand years ago, the very foundation of the diet for the people who

first domesticated grains was barley. Let us turn back to it, back to our roots!


Chickpeas are not much younger, and their broth—aquafaba—can be whipped just like

egg whites. This unique property can be used to leaven and enrich barley dough,

completely eliminating the need for yeast starters and the whole complex

procedure of preparing yeast dough.


When making yeast-free dough with whipped chickpea broth, the process consists of

two main parts: preparing the chickpeas and preparing the dough.


To begin, the chickpeas are washed and soaked overnight. The water should cover

the chickpeas by about the height of the layer of the peas themselves. They

absorb a lot of moisture. I usually take 225 grams, which is half of a standard

450-gram pack of chickpeas.


As for the barley groats, which represent the barley component of the dish, they

need to be rinsed thoroughly, changing the water about five times. After that,

the groats are also covered with water and left to swell overnight.


The morning routine begins with rinsing the chickpeas and placing them into a

steamer. In its simplest form, this is just a pot with a metal mesh strainer

inside, set on a stand to separate it from the bottom. Water is poured up to the

level of the strainer mesh. The chickpeas will cook for about an hour, so there

must be enough water. In this process, it will turn into a rich broth, and it is

this exact liquid that will need to be cooled and whipped.


Once the chickpea setup takes its place on the burner, you can drain the excess

water from the barley groats. Rinse them once more, drain the water completely,

and sift wheat flour into the swollen groats. For instance, you can use a

proportion of three measures of barley groats to one measure of wheat flour,

though you can vary this to your liking. Knead these two substances into a smooth

dough and leave it so the wheat flour can now swell, either by wrapping the dough

in cling film or shaping it into a cone and covering it with a lid.


After boiling the chickpeas for an hour over low heat, remove the pot from the

stove and wrap it warmly to let it infuse for a while. The exact time doesn't

matter much.


Next, prepare the baking tin by greasing it with oil and dusting it with

breadcrumbs. Turn on the oven and proceed to whip the broth.


The strainer with chickpeas is removed from the pot, and the broth is poured into

a container to cool down to room temperature. Once cooled, pour it into a mixer

bowl and start whipping. In my case, I used a Soviet-era cream whipper with two

fork-shaped beaters driven by a manual planetary gear. Surprisingly, the process

went quite briskly.


The dough was then unwrapped and placed in a large bowl. The first portion of the

whipped broth was spooned from the whipper and transferred into the dough. While

one pair of hands mixed it in, a second pair kept stubbornly whipping the

remaining broth. Three or four iterations of transferring and whipping were

performed. The dough, mixed with the whipped broth, turned into a thick batter.

It was immediately transferred into the tin and sent straight into the preheated

oven.


Baking took about 25 minutes on the lower rack of the oven and just as long on

the upper rack. Then the flame was turned off, and the tin spent some more time

cooling down inside the oven.


Removing the finished bread was effortless. It separated from the side walls on

its own, and I only had to use a spatula in a few places to free the crust from

the bottom. After that, the loaf was transferred to a wooden wire rack and

covered with a cloth for slow cooling.


Barley bread cannot be as fluffy and high as wheat bread, but it has a low

insulin index. For lovers of this product, it can easily replace its wheat

counterpart.


I wish all fans of healthy eating and healthy body weight success on their

challenging path. I should note that about six years ago, the author of these

lines reduced his own weight by 33 kilograms. There are several pieces on this

topic in my list of publications, but I wouldn't want to burden this already

lengthy speech with links.


Wishing health to everyone!


P.S. Chickpea broth whips up perfectly using a jug-style milk frother.




Original Text: proza.ru/avtor/alexanderan
© Copyright: Alexandг Piatkov, 2023
Publication Certificate No. 223111101439
Translated into English by AI Assistant