Ruth's Blog
Moms Want To Know: Suggested Baking Alternative to Gluten Free Flour?
Mom asks:
You have many terrific recipes in your book, Super Baby Food. Can you suggest a Gluten Free alternative to Super Flour?
Ruth says:
Hi!
Flour for baking regular yeast breads pretty much has to be flour with gluten because the it’s the gluten (the protein in the flour) that raises breads. The gluten has to be developed by kneading. Bread rises when yeast eat starch and produce carbon dioxide as a byproduct and form tiny bubbles in the bread. The developed stretchable gluten stretches to accommodate the bubbles, blow up a bit, and cause the bread to rise. So gluten is necessary for yeast breads that rise.
Wheat is the grain that has the most gluten. Wheat flour used in yeast breads can be processed white flour or whole wheat flour–whole wheat flour is more nutritious but doesn’t rise as well as white flour. Many recipes for homemade whole wheat bread or breadmaker recipes usually contain only some whole wheat flour, the majority being white flour. White flour makes a light loaf. Whole wheat flour doesn’t rise as well because of it’s course bran.
Quick breads, on the other hand, don’t really need the gluten as a leavening agent (an ingredient which makes dough rise). The baking powder or baking soda reacts and bubbles up and causes the quick bread to rise a bit. No gluten is needed because the powder/soda instead causes the bread to rise.. So you can use a GF flour to bake quick breads but not yeast breads. You can use just about any flour–rice flour, garbanzo bean flour (the Spice Goddess on the cooking channel is big into garbanzo bean flour), quinoa flour, millet flour, and any flour that does not contain gluten. Your natural foods store will have a nice variety and there will probably be an employee who can help you.
Good luck in your baking! Thanks for writing.
Ruth
If you have your own question for Ruth, share it in our Superbabyfood.com contact form.
Sprouting Grains to Eliminate Phytic Acid For Baby Food
A mom asks Ruth:
“You don’t mention phytic acid in your book (Super Baby Food), but I have read that its presence in whole grains can limit the absorption of nutrients. Do you recommend sprouting grains before grinding them for super baby porridge, or soaking? Thank you!
Ruth says:
Great question! Actually, I sometimes do sprout my own grains before using them to bake bread or for porridge so that the phytic acid goes away and so that the nutrient content increases. I also grind my own grains into flour for baking using the Whisper Mill or the Nutrimill grain grinders. Grains must be totally dry before you use a grain mill or it gets ruined. I use an Excalibur dehydrator to dry my sprouted grains before grinding in my mill.
When soaked, the phytic acid takes a while to go away if the grains are whole kernels–about 8-12 hours. However, the grains for Super Porridge are first ground to a powder, not a fine powder, but a powder. The finer the powder, the faster the phytic acid disappears because more water comes into contact with the surface area of the powder. For well-ground flour like you would use in breads, it takes only 5 minutes of soaking to remove the phytic acid.
Grinding the grains to a course powder is perfect for Super Porridge. Much of the phytic acid goes away when boiled in water, but some may remain. Phytic acid is a phytonutrient that is good for us, so we should get some of it in our diets.
Because Super Porridge is only coarsely ground, it is low on the glycemic index scale, which is good. The lower the GI, the better the food is for us because it doesn’t shoot up blood sugar and cause the pancreas to quickly produce lots of insulin. An overworked pancreas can lead to insulin resistance and maybe even full-blown diabetes.
So the bottom line is, you can sprout your grains, but only for a day or so because otherwise they will be too difficult to grind with longer sprouts. And the grains must be totally dry before you grind them. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can dry them in a low oven- at about 200 degrees so that all bacteria that might start growing are killed.
Happy sprouting and grinding! Thanks for writing!
Moms Want to Know About: Tips For Second Beginner Feeder in Your Family
When you start a baby on solid food for the very time, it is not always smooth sailing. Here’s a question from a mom about starting her second baby on solid food and Ruth’s answer. Maybe YOUR feeding solid question will be answered too!
Love Super Baby Food! My first child is a terrific eater and I know it is from using your book. However baby number two is presenting a bit of a challenge. She’s 6 months and becoming really gassy after rice cereal. I don’t get it. I am still nursing and am very careful about what I ingest. We haven’t been able to really start other solids like avocado and banana because it is such a battle. Could it be the rice cereal? We were about the start the super porridge, but now I’m not so sure. Thoughts?
Ruth says:
NO BATTLES! Wait a week and then gently offer again. Try banana well mushed and liquidy-tastes like breastmilk. Ages 6 and 7 months are for LEARNING TO EAT. Not until 8 months will you baby actually need calories from solid foods to supplement breastmilk. Wait a few days, try again, and let me know how things worked out. Never force or push! (Rice cereal and gas – I’m not surprised. I’d be willing to bet that the cereal as first food will be changed to banana some day.) Make sure your baby is getting an iron supplement and a vitamin D supplement-ask your pediatrician.
If you have any feeding solid food questions, do not hesitate to leave a comment here. Ruth would love to hear from you and to help.
Tips For the Exclusively Breastfed Baby: Getting Ready!
Moms are talking about:
How to get the exclusively breastfed baby ready for solid foods:
Ruth Says:
Thanks for using my book. It’s great that you are breastfeeding! One thing you can do right now to make your little sweetie more accepting to new flavors is to eat a variety of flavors yourself. The flavors will be in your breastmilk, so eat foods like cabbage, broccoli, sweet potatoes, whole grains and beans, and all the super foods that are loaded with nutrition.
There are a few chapters of Super Baby Food that you should read in their entirety before you start feeding solid foods. The chapters about food safety and setting up the feeding area, as it says on page v in the front of the book. You may want to ask your pediatrician for a vitamin supplement for her – one with vitamin D and iron and perhaps zinc. These are important nutrients that your baby will start needing at around 6 months.
Enjoy!
Ruth
To read more about starting solids, try the new Super Baby Food ebook available on Super Baby Food.com.
Freezing Ground Grains for Super Baby Porridge?
One of our fabulous Super Baby Food parents asked about saving time by grounding up the grains for Super Baby Porridge and Freezing for use later. we thought it was such a great question that we would share Ruth’s answer.
Regarding the freezing of Ground grains for use later, Ruth says:
I’m not really sure how long (ground grains) will keep in the deep freeze after grinding. I know that I put in my book, Super Baby Food, that they will keep for two months at refrigerator temperatures, so in the deep freeze, figure about six months or more.
Please note that in the next edition of my book (due out soon), also entitled Super Baby Food, that I will be recommending that you do NOT grind in advance. I will be recommending that you grind them immediately before cooking. The reason for this is the fresher the grain and the more recently that it has been broken open by grinding, the more nutrients it has and the less nutrient loss to air, light, and heat. So if you have a blender/grinder, I would suggest you use it daily. If you do not have a blender/grinder and borrow someone else’s to do batch grinding, then it might be more convenient if you store in the fridge up to 2 months or in the deep freezer in good-quality freezer containers for about 6 months.
Thanks for writing!
Ruth
Do Babies Need Water? When, Where, and Why?
Moms Wonder…
Do babies need water? If so, when, where and why?
Ruth says:
Exclusively breastfed babies do not need any extra water. Formula-fed babies may have a few ounces of extra water (up to 4 ounces) per day on hot days. However, when babies start solid foods, they should be given a few sips of water from a cup with any solid foods meal to help the kidneys. Never give juice in the cup or bottle, only water or milk. Teach your baby to learn to like plain water so he will develop a life-long habit of drinking plain water instead of sweetened beverages.
Super Baby Food Loves These Baby Food Making Posts
Happy Memorial Day!
The Super Baby Food Blog would like to highlight two blog posts this week that we feel are particularly well done.
Ali at MomSpark.net put together a fantastic post to help beginners start to make their own baby food. Super Baby Food lovers know that the first step can be a bit daunting but once in the groove, making your own baby food is as easy a one, two, three. Momspark.net identifies one, two, three for you to help you get started in a quick and easy way.
Naomi Odes Aytur of Babble wrote a terrific post with a recipe of homemade baby food made with cauliflower and millet. She made it sound and look easy and her testimonial of her baby’s love for the dish is inspiring. Thanks, Naomi, for posting this terrific recipe for homemade baby food.
Baby Led Weaning: The New Way to Feed Baby?
Moms are talking about…
There is a DVD available on this subject. I paid $90! for it and then realized the entire DVD can be viewed on YouTube for free. There is also a book on it by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett called Baby Led Weaning. Google “baby led weaning” and lots of information will come up on it. I can’t really say anything official about Baby Led Weaning because the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and the ADA (American Dietetic Association) have not yet taken a stance.
However, in my opinion, parents should lovingly offer the correct age-appropriate food with no pressure or goading to eat it. And it should be up to the baby to decide which foods and how much to eat. I would not be surprised if we starting switching over to Baby Led Weaning from the way we currently feed babies. With Baby Led Weaning (BLW), the baby never gets fed from a spoon by the parent. The baby either feeds him/herself with his hands or feeds himself with the spoon himself. By the baby feeding herself, she decides herself when she is full. This may help prevent obesity because the baby depends on her satiety signals for when to stop instead of depending on the parent to decide for her. I personally think BLW is a great idea. Also, advocates of BLW say it’s much easier for the parent since they don’t do the puree thing. For more information on BLW check out this terrific article on wholesomebabyfood.com.
What To Do When Your Baby Won’t Eat a Certain Food?
What to do when your baby won’t eat a certain food?
It’s a worry for parents. The first thing to remember is not to push it. Put the food away and try again in a few weeks. Sometimes your baby will not eat something that is sweet and tastes good to you. With my baby, it was applesauce. I was surprised (but not upset!) that he simply would not eat it. A few months later, he began eating it with gusto and has loved it ever since.
If you’re afraid a toddler will not like a particularly healthy new food, such as kale, use a little reverse psychology to get her interested. Don’t give her any and eat it in front of her. She will want some. Be hesitant, but agree to give her some. If you’re lucky, she will love to eat it because it makes her feel like a big girl who fits in with the rest of the adults in the family.
Remember, too, babies will almost always make a face when offered a new food, especially if it has a strong flavor. Do not go by her facial expression. Offer her another spoonful and if her little mouth opens to accept a refill, continue feeding!
For more baby food tips check out Super Baby Food or right back her at the Super Baby Food blog!
Super Baby Food Loves This Post on How To Make Fruit Leather
Super Baby Food Loves This Post on How To Make Fruit Leather
Tricia, a blogger at How Sweeter It Is, is a fan of Super Baby Food. We love that. We also love that she took the time to describe the making of fruit leather as mentioned in Super Baby Food, with pictures, in a scrumptious blog post on her site for mom’s benefit. Keep up the good work, Tricia.
