sprouted flour bread recipe

[Guest guest]

Hi Wendy,

 

Here is the recipe I use for all-sprouted-flour bread. It requires no

added gluten. While it takes a little planning ahead to make the sprouted

flour, the bread comes out fabulous. You do have to pay attention to the

dough texture though or it will be a flop. Also, I have a Bosch kitchen

machine, which kneads enough dough for 4-5 loaves at once. I then shape

it and bake it myself. Of course, you might want to cut the recipe in

half or even smaller. I haven't tried it in a regular breadmaker, but I

don't see why it wouldn't work fine as long as you cut it down to the

amount of flour the breadmaker uses, and monitor the moisture level of

the dough carefully when it starts kneading.

 

15 cups red or white hard wheat berries

6 cups warm water

3 Tbsp yeast

2 Tbsp salt

2/3 cup olive oil

2/3 cup honey

 

Put the wheat berries in a large bowl and cover by several inches with

warm water. Let sit 12 hours (I start mine in the morning). After 12

hours, pour into a colander lined with cloth. Let drain, then flip the

ends of the cloth over the top of the grain just to help keep the

moisture in. Let sprout for 12 hours. Rinse berries, then spread out on a

towel or sheet and place in a sunny spot. Once the surface moisture has

dried off, you can put the berries into a large, flat container and stir

them often until they are dry enough to grind. I test them by chewing a

kernel - it should be close to as dry as before they were sprouted, or

you will end up with goo in the grain mill. This whole process usually

takes me about a week. You could also dry them in the oven, which would

be a lot faster, if you have suitable pans. Turn the oven on for a minute

to warm up to maybe 100 degrees or so, then turn it off again. Stir the

berries and reheat the oven frequently. Even though it takes longer, I

find letting the sun do the work for me to be less bother :-). Smaller

quantities would be easier to work with, too.

 

One trick to the sprouting - do not let the sprouts get any longer than

barely poking out of the wheat berry. If you do, the gluten is changed

into something else and your bread will be very gooey and heavy. The key

is to dry them sufficiently quickly at first to stop the sprouting

process. Once it stops, the rest of the drying can go more slowly.

 

Once your berries are dry, grind them in a grain mill, and you are ready

to start baking.

 

Put the yeast and 2 cups flour into the warm water. Stir well, then allow

to sponge for 15 minutes. Then mix in the salt, oil, and honey. Mix in

approximately 16-18 cups flour, until the dough is kneadable. In a

machine of any kind, this means that it doesn't stick to the sides of the

container. Then add a little more flour, because the dough tends to be

excessively moist. Knead thoroughly (I do 9 minutes in the Bosch). If

kneading by hand, try to add only enough flour to make it workable. Hand

kneading always requires more flour than a machine, so you want to be

careful not to add too much or the bread will be dry.

 

After kneading, form into a ball, oil or butter the ball, cover with a

cloth, and let rise for 30 minutes. Punch down, shape into loaves, paint

with melted butter or oil, and let rise another 30 minutes. Bake at 350.

Two-pound loaves usually take about 35 minutes. Smaller ones would take a

little less. Bake until the bread sounds hollow when you tap it. Let cool

completely before slicing - this is a very moist bread and will be gooey

if you slice it hot.

 

Betsy