Sprouted Grain

Recently, I have been making 100% sprouted wheat bread with great success. I began with the recipe in Reinhart's WGB, and I am now in the process of improving the bread. I am really enjoying this bread, and it has become my favorite bread. The taste and texture are absolutely fantastic. My first taste of a sprouted bread was from Alvarado Street Bakery, and this recipe comes very close (although to be honest, last time I tasted their bread was five years ago, so I may not be remembering it well). The double rise is a technique I borrowed from their book (and also Laurel's bread book)

The latest iteration, and the best so far, is the following:

680 g sprouted grains (I soaked 350 g wheat berries + 45 g spelt berries + 45 g rye berries overnight, rinsed, and sprouted for 12 hours). 

28 g golden raisins soaked in 123 g water, blitzed in blender to make a slurry

7 g instant yeast

51 g vital wheat gluten

10 g salt. 

2 hours before making the bread, refrigerate the sprouts. Grind the sprouted berries in the food processor in two batches. To each batch add half of the remaining ingredients, after a couple minutes of grinding. Keep the processor running until the dough was kneaded. Then, give the dough a few more kneads in a bowl. The dough should develop significant strength. It will stregthen upon rising.

Let the dough rise for about 1 hour. The dough will have doubled. Knead the dough a few times, and let rise for another hour (until doubled). Remove the dough from the bowl onto a damp surface (no need for flour), and shape into a batard. Proof 45-60 minutes until doubled. Bake in a 450F oven, with steam. After 18 minutes, rotate the loaf and reduce to 400F. Bake another 18 minutes. The bread will have a dark, rich, crust and sound hollow on the bottom. Turn off oven and leave bread in the oven to cool a further 5 minutes. 

Place bread on a cooling rack and cool to room temperature before enjoying. 

I have used several pounds of "Super Sprout" from Lindley Mills with mixed results. The packaging makes the following claims:

"Super Sprout is whole grain organic wheat that has been sprouted and milled into flour for baking. Sprouting greatly enhances the nutrition and digestibility of wheat. The body sees sprouted wheat more as a vegetable than a grain. The sprouting process jump-starts digestion and provides a far superior nutrional value for your body. You will find the wheat flavor of Super Sprout to be deeper, smoother and more well rounded than plain whole wheat flour."

It goes on to claim specific increases in vitamins and minerals, etc.

 The flour is softer and finer than any flour I have ever used, including white flours. It also by far the most "thirsty" of any flour I have used. I tried to substitute Super Sprout into formulas that I know well, where I would normally use whole wheat flour. In all cases it would take about 30% more water, but I never got results that I was entirely happy with. However, the taste of this flour is very good and I believe it would benefit from formulas designed specifically for its unique properties.

I hope this helps,

Alan

I use the recipe from WGB too but make it with a mix of 7 different grains that I buy already mixed.

I soak the grains over night and then rinse them off.  I rinse them several times during the day and keep at it until they begin to sprout. They then go into the refrig. until I am ready to use them in a loaf.  I mix them in my cuisinart until they are a pulpy mass..That is then added to the rest of the ingredients.  I prefer making this loaf with a sourdough starter and it helps some with the enzyme activity.

I have only made it with whole wheat flour added to it and have had good results each time I have made it.  I watch the fermenting closely as it rises very quickly due to all of the enzymes.  

My kids love it when I make it with cinnamon and raisins added to the mix.  

As I type this I am thinking it would be good with grated raw carrots in it too.....we used to buy a loaf like that years ago - super moist and naturally sweet.....now I think I am going to go soak some grains and buy some carrots and see what I can come up with.....

Thanks for getting me thinking :-)

Janet

i've been doing a version of struan with a biga and soaker for the grains. i'm trying it with whole wheat tonight instead of the usual white. i was out of the raw sugar i usually use, so i doubled the honey.

although i didn't think ahead to soak the grains, i'm also trying a batch of the multigrain with supersprout. not sure how much extra water i put it in, but probably not as much as i should have. no preferment on the supersprout. also, based on what i've read, omitted sugar/honey. i'm looking forward to the bake.

I ordered some of this flour but it was off so I had to throw it away. It sounded promising actually after watching a demo with Peter Reinhart baking with it. I tried to contact Lindley Mills to buy some fresh flour but they were unhelpful and pretty rude. The woman I spoke to told me that the "Super Sprout" flour doesn't go bad and "lasts forever" due to a proprietary secret process. Interested to here if anyone else has tried sprouted flour, it sounds promising. I wouldn't get it from Lindley Mills though unless you want to deal with Super Rude people.

By now, most of you probably have the latest book by Peter Reinhart - Bread Revolution. I got this book for Christmas last year and it has changed everything. The Super Sprout Whole Wheat Flour from Lindley mills is great and it is my everyday flour. I get it from KDL Foods and they have to ship to me (live near Richmond, VA). I have also made my own sprouted flour and it is not difficult. Since Sprouted Rye flour is very expensive and not as readily available, I do make my own.

I have found that the Super Sprout can be used as a substitute to almost any white flour recipe. Yes, it will require adjustments as the flour does suck up liquids! Starting with the Bread Revolution book helps a great deal. Having lived in Europe for a time, one of my favorite breads is a German bread called Baurenbrot. I love sourdough and the Sprouted Pain Au Levain recipe (I use no yeast) works for me (Bread Revolution, page 66), I just substitute a percentage of flour for the Sprouted Rye flour. It has become an everyday bread.

Benefits of Sprouted Flours are numerous. No longer are pre ferments necessary and the wheat germ has done its work, so it does'nt become rancid like regular Whole wheat flour (I used to grind it just before baking because of that reason).

Give Sprouted grain flours a try. It will open up a whole new world of baking and cooking (noodles are great!) and I suggest Peter's book "Bread Revolution".

and freshly milled four for just about every bake this past year.  Most all were SD or SD and YW combination levain bread.  The flavor of the bread is deeper, more complex and superior to whole grain bread.  The health benefits are too.  It is supposed to be even more easily digested and have a lower GI than whole grain breads.  i can't imagine going back to plain old whole grain SD bread:-)

Generally speaking the flour is less thirsty than fresh milled whole grain and you don't supposedly need to autolyse it but I do anyway.  it took a while to get the hydration fermenting and proofing right.  Things happen faster with sprouted grains.

I you check my blog you will fined about 60 different sprouted grain bread we have baked over the last year using just about every grain we could find, combination of them and various percents of whole grains and hydration.

Here was this weeks bake Ancient World Meets New One in Seeded Sprouted Sourdough

Happy sprouting and baking