October 26, 2018 - 5:00am
HELP with Sprouted Grain
I am attempting to bake my first sprouted grain bread. I followed Rienhart’s instructions to soak grain in spring water for 2 days. Use 1 part grain to 2 parts water by weight. Rinse and change water daily.
Below is a closeup of my grain after 2.5 days. Is this ready? I don’t see many sprouts.
I appreciate the help!
Dan
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I was under the impression that they're soaked for 12-24 hours then drained and left to sprout over the next day or two. Submerging them in water and leaving it for a few days will make them rot, no?
Yea, I messed up. He said to soak 12-24 hr then drain and let sprout.
Live and learn.
Once the grain sprout how do you mill them wet? I have a Wondermill Junior with steel burrs. Should I grind them in that?
Dan
If it smells ok then drain and let sprout. If not, then start again.
I'd think you'd dry them out before milling. Perhaps in the sun or oven on low heat.
Are you making malt?
My question about sprouted grain is I've seen flour made from sprouted grain which is used like normal bread flour but wouldn't that be a bread made from diastatic malt? And if you dry them out at a temperature that makes it non diastatic malt doesn't that destroy the gluten?
will clog the mill...Oven drying at low heat speeds up dehydration. Elsie taught me the absolute need to weigh the grains to make sure they are completely dry. Still, I've had to clean my Mockmill twice because I was too impatient with dehydrating the sprouted grains...hah...
submerging longer than 8 hours was "drowning" the poor little things. Depending on the temp twice or thrice rinsing daily. Plastic baskets are great after the initial soak. I put an oven rack across my sink then run tepid water over each basket letting the water drain into the sink. If no one is using the oven, stash the drained baskets inside.
Drying in the sun turns them green. BTDT. First come rootlets three or four at a time and then look at the sprouts under the skin of the berry, the length of the berry, don't rinse anymore or they shoot out fast.
The sprouts are so soft a blender will turn them to mush. No mill needed. Oh, and don't use a meat grinder, it gums up. I broke one that had plastic parts.
I am planning to bake Reinhart’s “100% Sprouted Grain Bread” from his Whole Grain Breadbook (page 192).
He mentions, “process the grains to as fine a pulp possible”. It is my understanding that he is working with wet sprouts.
Dan
Hey Howard. Mockmill uses stones.I guess you know, oily and/or wet substances should not be ground with those stones. My Wondermill Junior has a set of stones and also a set of steel burrs. The steel burrs should be used for wet and/or oily things. Weighing is a great tip!
dont mess up your mill! :)
got another pic of those drained berries? :)
Mini
They seem to taste OK.
in your kitchen...
look good to me too but time will tell. Keep a sharp eye on them checking every 4-6 hours or so to give them a sniff test.
I like to check with these guys once in a while:
https://sproutpeople.org/growing-sprouts/sprouting-instructions/grain-sprouts/
That is a great sight. I checked out their sprouters and I think my SS sifters (grain sieves) will work great for sprouting. I don’t need more “stuff” around here :-)
I didn't know Wondermill Junior has a set of steel burrs.
How much wetness can it take? Cuz I do wet the coffee beans a little bit when using my large burr coffee grinder to prevent static, but if there's more than a few drops of water per 20g coffee, some wet coffee ground can stick to the burr. So I guess steel burrs can stand a little bit of water but not too much.
I don’t know Howard. I’ve only ground dry coffee beans and peanuts. I am yet to try anything wet.
but I find that the longer I soak, the slower they sprout. A 6-8 hour soak is enough to get them going. After that, rinse every 6-8 hours, drain well and you will see them just zoom along. Once they are where you want them, dry with paper towels and either refrigerate if using wet sprouts or dry in a dehydrator if you are making Sprouted flour. I often just dump the wet sprouts whole in my dough. They make great additions.
Whole wet sprouts in the dough mix is a great idea, Danni. Thanks!
Dan, I have played with sprouting a bit. There are several methods. Some sprout the grains, then add them to the flour whole. Others sprout the grains, dry them , mill them, and use them as flour. If you are going the second route, it is critical to get them dry once they are sprouted, otherwise they will clog the stones, and can burn out a motor pretty quickly, even ones with steel burr DAMHIKT. If you are going to make flour, you want to stop the sprouting very soon, and don't want the tails to be very long - 1/8 inch or so is fine. I use a dehydrator to dry them - you want a very low heat, some say 130 or less. Once you are convinced they are dry, you mill them into a fine flour. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40502/peter-reinharts-sprouted-whole-wheat-bread
BTW, while I enjoyed most of Reinhart's books, I thought Bread Revolution ( which deals with sprouted flour ) was too heavy on the background of millers who make sprouted flour, and not enough info on how to sprout at home and recipes for sprouted flour .
Barry, I know nothing about sprouts. But Reinhardt’s says to use 100% ground wet sprouts in the bread mentioned above. That is why I thought the steel burrs would be good. But Mini suggested a food processor and that sounds best.
For sprout flour, I like the idea of weighing the grain and then sprouting. Once sprouted dry it out until the weight of the sprouts match the original weight of the dry grain. Then procede to mill.
How does that sound to you?
Dan
Dan, the weighing idea makes some sense, I just never tried that. I have a dehydrator, and it has a setting of fan, no heat, and I just run it at that setting another 12 hours after the heated session to make sure everything is dry. I hate the sound of wheat grinding, so I normally load the machine, then leave the room and come back 10 minutes later - I can assure you that is not a good idea unless you are absolutely sure the berries are dry.
I've been using sprouted wheat berries in my Tartine bread for a long time now. I use the Palouse Brand Soft White Non GMO Wheatberries from Amazon.
I soak my wheatberries for about 24 hours and then I put them in a cheesecloth lined strainer and cover them with the cheesecloth as well. I pour water over them a couple of times a day to keep them moist and they will sprout really well in 48 hours. I've done this many times and have on occasion used them after 24 and 48 hours in the strainer (the sprouts are pretty long after 48 hours). The flavor they add to the bread is amazing. I use 1/4 cup dry wheatberries per loaf. This method never fails me.
Forgot to mention, I use them whole, I don't grind mine.