A soaker is typically used when dealing with coarsely milled whole grains, which need to be softened. The moisture not only softens the grain, but it also gets into the grain and activates enzymes that start to work on the grain, releasing sugars and enhancing the flavor. If the grain has not been milled and is still intact, the grains can actually sprout. The soaker doesn’t contain any yeast and so it’s not part of the fermentation process.

A starter is a pre-fermented dough. You introduce the yeast here, and you let it get working on the flour. This is going to sit for a while (in the case of the recipe above, for about 20 hours). The result of the yeast action here isn’t as much leavening as it is for flavor.

The balance is essentially, everything else that goes into making the final dough. This is where you’re going to combine the soaker and the starter with additional flour, salt, sugars, additional yeast and whatever else your recipe calls for and then you’ll knead it, let it rise, shape it, let it rise some more and bake.

Note that the soaker in the recipe above has milled flour, rather than coarsely-milled or unmilled grain. Flour does not really need to be softened since it will hydrate easily enough. But we do the soaker to get the benefits of enhanced flavor.

I hope this helps! Tomorrow I will be making some banana bread myself because I have bananas on my counter that have gone past the point where anybody is going to eat them in this house. I think banana bread is still a respectable baking activity.

I saw this bread and have decided to try it. However.. I’m 100% in-experienced in bread baking, banana bread I’m sure doesn’t count. I’m a tad confused with the Starter, Soaker and Balance. Any insight on how I would begin this in “layman’s terms”. Thank you! Andrea

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