The Fresh Loaf

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Organic Sprouted Wheat Berry with Whole wheat and Rye & 50% Sourdough Starter.

kmcquade's picture
kmcquade

Organic Sprouted Wheat Berry with Whole wheat and Rye & 50% Sourdough Starter.

Organic Sprouted Wheat Berry with Whole wheat and Rye & 50% Sourdough Starter.

 400 gm.  Organic AP flour

  60 gm.  Organic KA WW

  30 gm.  Organic Medium Rye

  11 gm.  Kosher salt

1 TPSP Brown Sugar (Just cause I thought a little sweetness would go well with the wheat berry taste)

300 gm. H20

250 gm. 100% hydration starter fed twice

~ 1/8 tsp instant yeast (just to help in my cold damp Seattle kitchen J)

~ 1 cup sprouted wheat berries

 

I soaked Wheat berries over night, then spread them out between wet paper towels for another 24hrs or so until they began to sprout

 

I started to mix up the flours at about 8pm after dinner and between episodes of “The Protectors”  (a Netflix Danish series I got hooked on ).  I Autolysed the flour combo and H20 for ~1 hr.  - At this point the dough was fairly dry (60% hydration)

 

Flour and water after autolyse

 

About 9:30PM I mixed in the starter by hand, added the salt , and a pinch of  instant yeast – This was a lot of starter ( 50% of the total flour) which made a very wet dough requiring a fair amount of stretch and folds to get in mixed well and under control – In another hour, I did  a couple more stretch and folds.  According to my calculations the final dough adjusting for the Starter Hydration and high amount of starter was ~ 82% hydration.

 

Stretching and folding

 

Bulk ferment overnight on the counter  ~ 10 hrs ( room temp was ~ 65F)

Sunday morning at 7:30am, I folded in the sprouted wheat berries as much as I figured the dough could handle – Then into a cloth lined banneton for proofing for about 2.5 hrs. ( its cold in my house). At 2hrs, I turned on the oven with the cloche in it .  I like to use my bannetone but when the dough is too wet it will stick to it so I need to line it with a floured cloth.

 

Score & Bake in a covered Cloche 475F for 15 min then uncover reduce to 450 for 15min  - I checked the temp and feel, at this point and decided it could use another 10 min, but I reduced the temp to  425 F. Lately I have found that serial reduction in the temp results in a longer lasting crispy crust.

 

Results – Take a look Great crust and crumb Crunchy with the wheat berries With just a touch of sweetness J

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

This is a beautiful loaf!  I have never used sprouted berries in this fashion before and now you have given me something new to try. (I usually soak and sprout them and then grind them up in my Cuisinart as per instructions in Whole Grain Breads)  

I am wondering why you waited until the morning to add the berries?  Gluten development? or too much protease from the sprouts? are the only reasons I can come up with....

Have you ever tried using soaked wheat berries that haven't sprouted?  This I have done and I am wondering what the difference would be between the 2 methods.

Take Care,

Janet

 

kmcquade's picture
kmcquade

Hi Janet,

Yes I waited for two reasons - my sprouts needed a little more time to "sprout" ,and I wanted to beable to work the dough without the berries interferring with the Gluten structure - It was pretty easy to fold them in as part of my final shaping.  I have tried grinding up berries before, but I actualy like the more leaving them whole - maybe one could do a combo; grind some, and leave 1/2 whole  ??  I have tried just soaking them ,and unless you cook them until soft they are too hard in the final bread like little rocks :)

Kevin

 

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the clarification.  I forgot to add that I do cook my whole berries for a bit to soften them....and then let them sit.

I like your method of using the berries whole too.  Less of a mess to clean up though I imagine the flavor imparted by them is different due to the distribution.  I like using whole 'things' because they add a nice texture to the final loaf.

I have been wanting to add sprouted grains to a loaf lately so now I know exactly how I am going to do it.  Your method will be great for using when I have extra sprouts - easy to freeze and then they are ready when needed :-)

Thanks for the inspiration.

Take Care,

Janet

chouette22's picture
chouette22

Your post is so timely! Just this afternoon I said to my husband that I wanted to do some sprouting again and use some in my breads. I am curious: You say by only soaking the wheat berries, they are too hard to integrate into the bread (exactly what I was wondering). Thus did the sprouting make them softer? Or was it the extra 24h between wet paper towels?

kmcquade's picture
kmcquade

Hi Chouett22,

Sprouting them definitely softens them - they start to germinate and can be eaten plain . I have a bunch extra I am continuing to sprout and will probably use in salads.

Kevin

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

of sprouting, when the main sprout is as long as the seed, you can make them into white and red malt too!  Your bread is absolutely fabulous - inside and out.

Happy baking!

Alpana's picture
Alpana

The sprouted wheat looks amazing and so does the bread!

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Lovely looking bread, Kevin! i'll have to try wheat sprouts in bread. Lovely color on the crust! and the crumb looks delicious!

 

SallyBR's picture
SallyBR

Another gorgeous loaf!  You guys keep inspiring me, I come here and within five minutes I find several breads I MUST bake right away...

 

what should I do with all my bread books? Trash them? Donate them?    ;-)

 

Really, great job, loved the crumb and just imagine the amazing taste!

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Great looking bake and love the sprouting method.