Steam baking Whole grain bread

I was talking to a German Baker the other day and he said that in Germany they steam, then bake whole grain loaves. I could not really understand if he meant they were steamed in steamer first and then tranferred to an oven. I do not think he was refferring to steaming the oven. He told this was done to keep the wheat kernels soft.

Anyone any input on this?

regards

Martin Prior