This post is a detailed guide on sprouting grains for bread, including a video tutorial on baking sprouted whole grains into fresh bread.Yes, all in one post!
In my early twenties, I got into sprouting grains. I was a very young and newly single mom with many problems. I had them all: emotional heartache, constant fatigue, migraines, and back pain. It was a daily struggle to get up in the morning and face the day. Basically, I didn’t want to sleep because my dreams wouldn’t let me escape the trauma of heartache.
This was the start of many things in an attempt to feel better, including sprouting wheat berries for wheat grass juice. I had this manual juicer that suctioned to my counter, and I grew wheat grass on my stove. My mom had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Consequently, I learned how raw foods can be healing so I jumped in head first. What a journey I’ve been on for these last few decades.
I’ve consolidated that experience and research into a more concise guide for how to sprout whole grains for bread. This guide contains four different live videos I’ve done on why to sprout grains for bread. Additionally, it contains what nutritional benefits you may get from doing so.
I break the video down into sections for each of the stages of sprouting your own whole grains at home. This includes soaking, rinsing and straining, drying, and storing your sprouted whole grains.
How to Dry Grains
Everyone always asks what I use for drying my grains, and it’s been the Excalibur food dehydrator for the last 20 years. I started with a 4-tray, and moved up to the 9 tray a few summers ago with no regrets! Here is the Excalibur Food Dehydrator I have. I line my trays with two different types of silicone sheets, depending on what I’m drying. These chocolate brown liners, especially good for fruit leathers or liquids and these mesh sheets which are good for extra air flow while drying
Other Equipment used in the tutorial:
Pyrex Mixing Bowls
Half Gallon Mason Jars
Baking Bread with 100% Sprouted Whole Wheat
100% Sprouted Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 400 g wheat berries, hard white sprouted and dried
- 280 g water reserve 50 g if proving active dry yeast
- 6 g sea salt, celtic grey
- 6 g sugar
- 12 g yeast (instant) active dry will also work
- 50 g water, boiling
- 1 egg optional
- 2 tbsp olive oil optional
- ⅛ tsp vitamin c powder optional, but recommended
Instructions
- Mill the flour as fine as you can.
- Make the yudane by mixing 25 grams of flour with 50 grams of boiling water.
- If using active dry yeast, prove the yeast by adding it and the sugar to a small bowl with 50 grams of water, and set aside until yeast is added to the recipe.
- Add water, egg, olive oil, sugar (if not used in the proving step), yudane and flour to your mixing bowl, and mix on low-medium speed for about 5 minutes.
- Let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes.
- Add the yeast, salt, and vitamin c to the dough, and mix for another five minutes or until windowpane is reached.
- Let the dough rise until almost doubled.
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Shape the dough and let rise in your greased or lined bread pan until a finger pressed into the top doesn't spring back at you.
- Bake the bread until the middle of the loaf is 190 F.
- Remove from oven and pan, and cool on a wire rack before slicing.
