Sprouted Wheat Bread with no Flour - Take Two

This is my second post on Sprouted Wheat Bread with no Flour.  As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been working on this bread for a couple of months. My first attempt turned out like a brick. It had a good flavor, but it was pretty chewy and that wasn't what I was looking for in a bread.

I learned a lot from the process so I decided to give it another try. One of the main things I learned was the trick to sprouting the wheat berries. I paid special attention to this on my second attempt and as you'll see, it made all the difference.

Here is the process for making sprouted wheat bread with no flour that works.  This method produces a light loaf that doesn't look or taste like a brick.  Tanya, this one's for you!

 

Yeasted Sprout Bread

Makes: Two Loaves

Adapted from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole Grain Breakmaking by Laurel Robertson.

You can grind the berries in a meat grinder or your food processor.  After my last attempt, I decided to get a meat grinder to see if that helped. Well, it didn't so I just used my food processor again.  This time it worked really well.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups (2 1/2 lbs or 1135g) wheat berries (hard-spring or winter wheat berries) . This will make a little more than 3 quarts sprouted and weigh about 4 1b.  I used hard red spring berries.
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (1/4 oz or 7g)
• 1/4 cup warm water (60 ml)
• 1/3 cup honey (80 mil)
• 4 teaspoons salt (22 g)
  

Sprouting the Wheat Berries

Be very careful to only sprout the berries until the tiny sprout is just barely beginning to show and the grain itself is tender - about 18 – 24 hours.  If the grain is not tender, your grinder will heat up, making the dough too hot.

This is very important:  If the grain sprouts develop long enough for diastatic enzymes to get started, it will make the bread very gooey and it won't bake through. This is what happened the first time! I didn't want to do that again or I would end up with another brick.

It was very hot when I started sprouting the wheat berries so I knew it wouldn't take very long. This time instead of soaking the grains for 18 hours, I only let the grains soak for about 12 hours.

This photo is rather fuzzy but it shows the tiny sprout just beginning to appear.

At this point, I rinsed and drained the sprouted grains and put them in the refrigerator to rest until I was ready to make the bread.  My schedule was a little bit crazy so the grains sat in the refrigerator for a couple of days.


Making the Bread

The evening I decided to bake the bread, I took the grains out of the refrigerator and rinsed and drained them again.

Then I removed the excess moisture from the sprouts by patting them with a paper towel.

Then I ground the grains using my food processor.  As I mentioned, I tried using the meat grinder, but I couldn't get it to work right so I nixed that idea.  This time the grains were not sticky or gooey so my food processor handled it perfectly.  

I ground about half the grains at a time.  I kneaded each batch a little bit in the food processor.  Then I put both batches together in the bowl.  

Then I continued the process of making the bread.  First, I dissolved the yeast in the warm water.  Then, I added the honey, salt, and yeast to the ground sprouts and mixed it together really well with wet hands.

It was a little bit gooey but it really wasn't that bad doing it by hand (or with my hands I should say).

 

After I had mixed it really well, I placed the dough on the counter and kneaded it for about 15 minutes. Even though I had kneaded it somewhat with the food processor, it still had to be kneaded by hand a while longer.

It finally came together like a normal yeast dough.  So, I placed the dough in the bowl, covered it with plastic and let it rise for 2 hours.

After two hours, I poked the dough gently with two fingers. The holes didn't fill in at all, so I was ready to move on.

 

I divided the dough in half using my dough scraper and shaped each half into a round. Then I flattened and spread each round into a rectangle and rolled each rectangle up jelly roll style.

To form a loaf. I pinched the seam together, then rolled it around until the seam was on the bottom and placed the loaves in two greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2- inch glass pans.

 

 

I really like using glass pans because you can see what the bread looks like.  See, isn't that cool!  I let the loaves rise in the pan until the dough crested the top of the pans.

 

 

I baked the loaves at 350 degrees for about an hour.  Just look at that oven spring!  No bricks here! 

After the loaves finished baking, I removed them to the cooling rack to cool for a few minutes.  Then, I brushed the loaves with melted butter and let them finish cooling.

These sprouted wheat loaves actually look like loaves made with flour.

 

 

Here is a shot of the first attempt. 

This sprouted wheat loaf looks much better than the first attempt, don't you think?

 

I'm very satisfied with how this bread turned out.  It tastes really good toasted especially with cheese. 

 

It was a little bit soft in the middle so the only thing I would do differently next time is to bake it just a little bit longer.  Other than that, I like the results of this bread.

 

However, I must say that my favorite is still the Sprouted Wheat Bread made with sprouted wheat, bread flour and whole wheat flour but if you want a bread made with wheat and no flour, then this is the ticket.

 

Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Rhubarb Orange Jam: tigress can jam

For this month's tigress can jam, our choices were rhubarb or asparagus.  I'll be honest, neither one of these options appealed to me. However, rhubarb seemed to be the lesser of two evils, so I opted to try my hand at making Rhubarb Jam.

Well, little did I know it but it's next to impossible to find rhubarb here in May.  I went to three Farmer's Markets and several grocery stores looking for it.  I even posted about it on Facebook to see if anyone knew of a place that had it.  Basically what I found out is if I want to get fresh rhubarb, I need to look for it in April not May.

So, I toyed with the idea of making some pickled asparagus.  I found asparagus in a couple of stores, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. I had asked several of my friends and family if they would try it if I made it, but I didn't get any takers.  The recipe I found made a bunch so I didn't want to get stuck with 6 to 8 jars of pickled asparagus.  I know the idea behind this challenge is to challenge yourself, but I couldn't bring myself to make 6 jars of something I knew wouldn't get eaten and I couldn't even give it away. 

So, instead of skipping this month's challenge, I opted for the next best thing ...

I got some frozen Rhubarb. Several friends on Facebook mentioned that they had used frozen Rhubarb and it had worked really well so I decided to go that route.

I know what you're thinking, "frozen rhubarb is not local!"  Well guess what!  Neither was the asparagus. I checked. So there!  :)


Moving right along...


After all of that running around, it was finally time to make the jam and guess what?   I like it!

So here's how you make it.

It's really easy, particularly when you use frozen rhubarb.

Rhubarb-Orange Jam

Makes 2 1/2 to 3 pints (or in my case 5 1/2 half-pints)

The recipe is from The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves by Linda Ziedrich and is based on an old Pennsylvania Dutch one.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds rhubarb stalks, cut into 3/8-inch pieces.  I used a couple of bags of frozen rhubarb.  It was already cut into 1-inch pieces.  I let it thaw a bit, then cut the pieces in thirds.
• 1/2 cup water
• Grated zest of one orange
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 3 cups sugar
  

Directions:

In a large nonreactive pot, combine the rhubarb, water, and orange zest. 

Cover the pan and simmer the contents for about 20 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the orange juice and sugar. Over medium heat, stir the contents until the sugar is dissolved.

Raise the heat to medium-high and boil the jam until it mounds in a chilled dish.

Ladle the jam into pint or half-pint mason jars and add the lids and rings. Then process the jars for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath. If you live in a higher altitude or need more detailed instructions on water-bath canning, please refer to the instructions at the National Center for Home Preservation.

Remove the jars from the canner and let them sit on the counter overnight.

 

Even though the jam mounded on the chilled plate, I wasn't sure if it was going to gel.  It took a couple of days, but it finally did set.

I used some 8 oz and some 4oz jars so I'll have enough to give away to friendsand family.  I don't think I'll have any problems with this one.  My son even said he liked rhubarb.  Fancy that!

We're making jams or pickling every month in 2010. For more info, go to tigress can jam.  Be sure to check out the May Can Jam Roundup.


Happy Canning and Baking!
Cathy


Here are some of the references I use in my canning adventures. You might enjoy them as well:

• Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
• The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving
• Keeping The Harvest: Discover the Homegrown Goodness of Putting Up Your Own Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs
• National Center for Home Preservation

Sprouted Wheat Bread with no Flour – Take One

I've been working on Yeasted Sprout Bread with no flour for the past couple of months.  I've learned a lot from the process, particularly what not to do, so I'm sharing my initial results in this post. I solved the mystery in my second attempt so be sure to check out the final results here.

I decided to undertake this project due to inquiries from a couple of Twitter friends (TanyaTheViolist and HealthyDietFood). I had mentioned on Twitter that I was making my favorite sprouted wheat bread and someone asked me for the recipe. However, she was looking for a sprouted wheat bread made with no flour and my favorite version includes additional flour (whole wheat and bread flour).  I’ve been wanting to experiment more with sprouted wheat grains so I decided to see what I could dig up in my recipe books.

Sprouted grains and sprouted wheat flour are said to be more nutritious and can sometimes be tolerated by people that cannot otherwise tolerate wheat. You’ll have to decide whether this makes sense for you nutritionally or whether it appeals to your taste buds.   

I found a few recipes for making sprouted bread.  The most basic is a bread called “Essene” which is made with just sprouted wheat and nothing else.  It was created by the Essene Tribe. It is also sold commercially under the name of "Wayfarer's Bread".  It is a pure bread made without yeast.  I think the history of this bread is intriguing, but I decided to save it for another day. I opted to make the yeasted version this time.

The recipe is from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole Grain Breakmaking by Laurel Robertson.

Yeasted Sprout Bread using a Food Processor

Makes: Two Loaves

This bread has a lot of chew and flavor. You can grind the berries in a meat grinder or your food processor.  Since I didn't have a meat grinder, I opted to grind the berries in my food processor.  I halved the recipe since I wasn't sure how it would turn out and I didn't want to waste 6 cups of wheat berries.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups wheat berries hard-spring or winter wheat berries (2 1/2 lbs. or 1135 g). A little more than 3 quarts sprouted weighing about 4 1b.
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (1/4 oz or 7g)
• 1/4 cup warm water (60 ml)
• 1/3 cup honey (80 mil)
• 4 teaspoons salt (22 g)

Sprouting Wheat Berries

Sprout the berries just until the tiny sprout is barely beginning to show and the grain itself is tender - about 48 hours.  If the grain sprouts develop long enough for diastatic enzymes to get started, it will make the bread very gooey and it won't bake through. Remember this part! 

Soak the grains in warm-room-temperature water for 18 hours.

Drain the grains.

Then keep the grains covered in a dark place, rinsing three times a day until the little sprout is one-third the length of the grain.  This will take about 36 to 48 hours at the most.

Here is what my sprouts looked like.  Unfortunately, they were sprouted a bit too much so this set the stage for how my bread would turn out.

Grinding the Sprouted Grains

Remove the excess moisture from the sprouts by patting them with a terry towel.  Then grind them with a Corona-type mill or a meat grinder, or about 2 cups at a time in your food processor, using the regular steel blade.  I used my food processor to grind the grains.  I didn't take a picture of this process because it was a big mess.  I mean a big mess.


Kneading the Dough

You're supposed to grind the grains until they are as smooth as possible.  Then knead it with the food processor.  The book says that what results from the grinding is sticky.  This was an understatement.

Here is what I ended up with by processing the grains with the food processor.  The food processor didn't like the sticky grains and had a hard time so the grains were not ground very well. 

Needless to say, the food processor wasn't able to knead it either so I had to do this part by hand.  This was  also a very gooey and sticky process.  Like playing in the mud.

I kept a bowl of water out so that I could continually wet my fingers.  I also used my bench scraper to assist with kneading the dough.  You're supposed to knead until the dough is really elastic.  It takes a good bit longer than usual to knead this dough.  It took me about 15 to 20 minutes.

Proofing the Dough

Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl.

Cover and keep in a warm draft-free place.  After about an hour and a half, gently poke the center of the dough about 1/2 inch deep with your wet finger.  If the hole doesn't fill in at all or if the dough sighs, it is ready for the next step.

Press flat, form into a smooth round, and let the dough rise once more as before.

If the dough is cold, which is my be unless your grinder warmed it up, the first rise will be fairly slow, but as the dough warms up, the rising will greatly increase.

Shaping the Loaf

Divide the dough in half and gently knead into rounds.  Use water on your hands to prevent sticking, and keep the balls as smooth as possible.  I only made one loaf since I halved the recipe.

Let the ball rest until it regains it suppleness.  Grease a standard 8" x 4" loaf pan, or pie tin, or a cookie sheet.  Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in the greased pan.

Let it rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint.

Baking the Loaf

Bake about an hour at 350 degrees.  If you bread rise really high, it will take less than that.  It took longer for my bread to bake because it was really starchy.

Here is the finished loaf on the cooling rack.  I actually had to put it back in the oven after I cut into it because it wasn't completely baked through. 

Remember when I mentioned that if the grain sprouts develop long enough for diastatic enzymes to get started, it will make the bread very gooey and it won't bake through.  Well, that's what happened!  The finished bread turned out like a brick.  By the way, it's okay to laugh.  I did!

In fact, here is how the conversation went the next day when my boyfriend stopped by on his way to work.

“I made a brick last night!” I said.  “You made a brick!” He said, looking puzzled. I picked up the loaf of bread and showed it to him. He said, “It does look like a brick!”

Well, it didn’t taste like a brick! It was wheaty and chewy and had a very good flavor.  The texture reminded me of a chewy, yet crunchy wheat cracker or maybe a rice crisp made with wheat rather than rice. My taste tester said it tasted like a bran muffin.  I guess that’s a good thing.

Even though it didn't taste bad, it really wasn't that good either so we only ate a couple of pieces.  The birds didn't even get any.  The rest went into File 13.


So there you have my first attempt at making yeasted sprout bread...


Here are the things I learned from this process:

• You get a really good upper body workout making this bread.
• I sprouted the wheat grains to long.  48 hours is the maximum recommended time and I think I let mine sprout for 72 hours.
• It’s a sticky, gooey, messy process.  Not for the fainthearted.
• If you like making mud pies, this is the recipe for you.
• You need to keep wetting your hands to keep the dough from sticking to them.
• It was rewarding to finally see the dough come together.  I really didn’t think it would.

As I mentioned earlier, I used a food processor to grind the grains and it was a messy, sticky and gooey process.  After I learned that you can use a meat grinder to grind the sprouted wheat and it could produce a finer grind, guess what I did?  You guessed it, I got a meat grinder! 

Check out Yeasted Sprout Bread – Take Two to see the final results of my experiment with sprouted wheat bread with no flour.  You'll be pleased!

Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.

Happy Baking!
Cathy