Has anyone used sprouted wheat flour? I made a 100% sprouted whole wheat bread yesterday with just the basic four ingredients and the taste was just awesome. Got the recipe form “Bread Revolution” by Peter Reinhart.
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There are two (at least) ways to make sprouted grain bread. One is the way the Ezekiel Bread in stores is made; sprout, dry, grind, and use as flour. The other is the way the Essenes supposedly did and you make the bread named after them; sprout and grind as is, form and bake. Either way you can ferment w/ sourdough culture. I have never taken the trouble to dry and grind the sprouts into flour but I have made many hundreds of loaves over the years of Essene bread, wheat, spelt, kamut, barley, oat groats, buckwheat…
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Sprouted flour is amazing stuff as taste goes. I have been sprouting, dehydrating and grinding my own for over a year usually using a mixture of grains, the last one had rye, barley, white wheat, and Red Fife . Also have tried grinding and forming the wet sprouted berries like Geoffrey, but prefer to work with the flour. When I make sprouted flour bread it is not usually 100%, but instead 50% or less because then the dough feels more like typical bread dough and you still get the flavor boost. The last loaf was made with 33% sprouted flour and a combination of fresh ground white wheat and Durum wheat as well as some millet porridge leavened with sourdough and it turned out very good.
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I’ve just made my first load using sprouted wheat. I bought it already milled but would like to start to invest in the process of sprouting and milling. Sourdough starter and flour used was:
50% sprouted spelt
25% sprouted red wheat
25% einkorn
My question is… is it normal to have the sprouted loaves shaggy like this?
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Looks like a good loaf to me, may be just a little underproofed which is better than over in my opinion. I have been sprouting and milling for about a year now and once you have done it and over the first time nerves the process is pretty simple. I use a wide mouth mason jar with a piece of screen stretched across rhe mouth and secured with a canning ring as my sprouter. Just put the grain in the jar screw on the screen rinse with warm not hot water a couple of times and fill the jar with water until it is at least an inch above the grain level. Let the grain soak for three or four hours until you can see that it is perceptibly swelled, drain and rinse a couple more times then drain well and invert the jar so that any excess moisture will drip out you can do this in a dish drainer or prop the jar in a bowl so thar the opening is in the down position and cover with a towl to keep out sunlight. Rinse and drain a couple of times like every 4 hours. Little nibs will appear usually in about 24 hours then it is time to dehydrate the grain which can be done several ways, a dehydrator is easiest but you can spead the grain on a sheet pan and put it in an oven on very low setting or if it is not too humid train a fan on the spread out grain untill the nibs retract and the grain has shrunk to the beginning size. It is ready to grind.
If you don’t have a mill you are in for an interesting experience because there are many available ranging fom a very simple inexpensive hand cranked mill of dubious quality to complicated motorized mills that can cost exorbitantly. I have and highly recommend the KoMo line. The model that I bought from Breadtopia is the Fidibus 21 which is the smallest they offer. It may be small but has performed very well. Keep in mind that I only make a couple of loaves a week and if you are intending for larger quantities you might opt for a larger model.
I hope this helps. Good luck.
Stu
I realize this is an old post, but thought I would share the method I use to sprout grains. I use the pint size jar with cut pieces of pantyhose so they circle the jar, that way when you get a hole you slide it around to another spot and secure it with the canning ring. Fill 2/3 full then rinse the grain and soak for 8 hours as recommended on sprouting websites with charts for different grains, nuts, beans and seeds. Then drain and leave upside down on the dish rack, you have to tap the grain until it bulges out to grab the pantyhose and push in and out until it drains. Rinse every 8 to 12 hours until the nubs appear, I shake them when I happen to walk by, but they dry either way between rinses. So far nobody has looked at me funny as a guy buying pantyhose.
I use a dehydrator to dry the grain, then put them into the pint or quart size mason jars and use a food saver suction machine with the jar attachment and an oxygen absorber from Amazon until I’m ready to use the grain. I soak the lids in hot water to soften the rubber and dry them before sealing them. The oxygen absorbers last a long time with practically no oxygen left and it’s just an extra measure to make sure it stays preserved. That way I don’t have to worry about what to do with any extra grain I might have when making a recipe.
Those new Mockmills make flour like the best mills and are priced well below the KoMo mills, check out the youtube demonstration by the maker. I’m hoping to get the KitchenAid Mockmill attachment at a good price on black Friday or cyber Monday. If not I’ll keep looking on ebay, they had one for sale at $85, but I was bidding on one that was going for less and it ended up selling for around $120 and by then the $85 dollar one had been sold. Hopefully it’s not to late for you to benefit from some of this information, good luck.
Hello Allen, Stuart, and Sydney,
This is an old post abd I am new to sprouted grains. I have bought non-sprouted grains, but I am now leaning towards sprouted grains for health reason.
My plan is to sprout the grains, dehydrate (just using sun light) and mill using the MockMill. You have years of experience, would you be willing to share a few tips with sprouting grains?
Thank you,
A
I have found that the sprouted grain must be completely dry or it will not mill very well. Also, it’s best to leave the freshly ground floor sit for a couple of weeks before using it. I didn’t do that for one batch and ended up after baking with a very gummy crumb even though the internal temperature had reached 204 F.
Thank you Sydney
I milled the sprouted grains, milled and mixed the dough, as if I am making my usual bread. The same approach, only that I used sprouted freshly milled flour.
I will follow up tomorrow after baking.
Thank you for sharing the tip with letting the flour sit, I haven’t seen that reference. I reduced the hydration rate down 2%.
A