Homemade Sprouted-Grain Bread
Since the New Year, I have been making homemade bread every other week with flour made from grain that I have sprouted, dried, and ground at home. I can’t even begin to describe how easy it is, how delicious it is, and how much money I’m saving!
My routine is this: I bake a double batch of bread every two weeks. One batch equals two loaves. I make two loaves of sandwich bread with hard red wheat (sprouted), and two loaves of cinnamon (honey) raisin bread with hard white wheat (sprouted). For my husband and me, this lasts about 14 days. I’ve also made cinnamon rolls and pizza crust, and those are delicious as well.
You may ask, “Why are you troubling yourself with sprouting the grain before grinding it, and, in fact, why bother with grinding your own grain at all?”
Good question.
It was only two months ago that I discovered how easy sprouting grain can be—and how much healthier it is to sprout grain BEFORE consuming it! When grain is sprouted, it turns from a starch into a vegetable-like compound. So, when you eat bread made from sprouted grain—your body digests it like a vegetable! How cool is that. Whole grain is often difficult to digest, so sprouting it first neutralizes both the phytates (difficult-to-digest proteins) and the protective casing of the grain.
Flour ground from sprouted grain doesn’t taste any different that normal whole grain flour—it simply digests differently. People have been known to lose weight when switching from regular whole grain or white flour to sprouted whole grain flour because their bodies are not clinging to the starch during digestion.
Interested in making your own bread from sprouted flour?
Follow these steps:
1. Start Buying Whole Grain
Co-ops are a good place to start. Buy the grain in bulk to get the best price: hard red wheat, white wheat, spelt, kamut, etc. Store it properly—either in the fridge or in a cool, dry place, placing a bay leaf in with the grain to keep the critters away. Buying whole grain for flour is far less expensive than buying prepackaged whole grain flour from the store. On average 1 cup of grain = 1.5 cups of flour.
I purchase organic grain from Quail Cove Farms. They sell organic hard red wheat for .56 per pound at 25 lbs, and .52 per pound at 50 lbs! You can sprout grain, or grind it into flour first (using a coffee bean mill or grain mill) and then soak it in cultured milk as part of a recipe (read more below). Soaking also neutralizes the phytates.
2. Review Sue Gregg’s Website and/or Buy Her Whole Grain Baking Cookbook
Sue Gregg has already done all the experimenting for you, so all you have to do is follow her instructions and recipes! Here are two pamphlets available online as PDFs showing Sue Gregg’s most basic sprouted/soaked bread recipes: Sprouted Bread, Soaking Process.
3. Purchase a Food Dehydrator (or Use Your Oven)
Once you have sprouted the grain, it must be completely dried before grinding it into flour.
The food dehydrator I own is the Nesco American Harvest Snackmaster Encore Dehydrator and Jerky Maker. I bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond using one of their in-the-mail 20% off coupons. With the coupon, it only cost $48. It takes about 12 hours for sprouted grain to dry using the Nesco dehydrator. No supervision is needed. I find this the most convenient method for my busy lifestyle.
The other option is to dry grain using your oven. The ideal temperature for drying sprouted grain is 150 degrees. However, most modern ovens don’t go below 170. A friend of mind dries her sprouted grain in the oven at170 degrees for about 9 hours. During this time, she periodically opens the oven to release some of the heat so as not to over dry or burn the sprouts. This method, though, demands that you be at home.
4. Purchase Tulle (Netting) from the Fabric Store
You will need about one yard. It will cost you about $1 at most fabric stores. Choose a light color other than white so you can see the netting once you cut it to fit your dehydrator shelves. The netting is what your grain will rest on while drying, otherwise the grain is so small it will fall through the cracks of your dehydrator shelves.
5. Use 3-4 Quart-Sized Mason Jars
These will be used for the actual sprouting process. Follow Sue Gregg’s instructions available in the links above.
6. Purchase a Coffee Bean Mill or Grain Mill
If you already have a coffee bean mill, it will do nicely for making small recipes calling for no more than 3 cups of flour. You will grind 1/3 cup of sprouted grain at a time in your bean mill. This will equal about 1/2 a cup of flour. Coffee bean mills can be purchased for $15-$20.
>If you wish to purchase a grain mill, there are many varieties available. I own the grain mill attachment for the KitchenAid Mixer. This costs approximately $130-$150, depending on where you purchase it.
The simplest choice is to start with a coffee bean mill, especially if you already own one, and then consider getting a grain mill once you get the hang of sprouting and using sprouted grain on a regular basis.
Sprouting and grinding your own grain is much less expensive than purchasing sprouted grain available online. And, sprouted grain, once ground, should be used as soon as possible so that it maintains all its nutrients.
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