Cracked and sprouted wheat berry sourdough bread
Cracked and sprouted wheat sourdough bread
Cracked and sprouted wheat sourdough bread
Cracked and sprouted sourdough wheat bread
Prep time: 4 hours
Cook time: 59 min
Ready in: 4 hours 59 min
Yields: 2 loaves of bread
Cracked and sprouted wheat sourdough bread
- 1 cup cracked red wheat berries, sprouted (allow 4-5 days of sprouting)
- 3 cups whole wheat flour, organic
- 2 tablespoons yeast, dried
- 1 cup sourdough, I have been feeding the same one for over 10 years
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup non-fat dry milk, or hemp or soy or almond milk
- 1 scant tablespoon salt
- 4 cups unbleached bread flour, I start with 3 cups and add as needed.
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tbls non-diastatic malt, not essential but adds a nice flavor
- 1 cup gluten, flour
Cracked and sprouted wheat berry sourdough bread
- To sprout the wheat berries: take one cup of the cracked wheat berries and place them in a jar that will allow for the wheat to expand up to four times it's original size. Rinse the berries once a day and store in a cool dark room (I have an area in my basement). I used a seed sprouter as seen in the photos. The berries are ready for the bread when the sprouted root is the size of the berry.
- Once the berries are ready you will need to mix together the berries, whole wheat flour, yeast, sourdough, water, dry milk, honey, and salt.
- My sourdough is always cold so I just mixed it in a four cup measuring cup, along with the water, sourdough and honey. I popped it into the microwave for a minute just to take the chill off.
- I place all the ingredients except for the bread flour in the large mixing bowl of my stand mixer using the bread hook attachment. As the mixer is mixing together all the ingredients, I started to add the bread flour. I used about 3 cups. You will have to watch as the bread comes together in the mixer--- you will need all the flour or maybe even some more. You are looking for it to come together and not be sticky. You can do this all by hand if you don't own a stand mixer.
- I poured the dough out onto a lightly-floured sil-pat and kneaded the dough by hand for about 5 minutes. The dough was nice and smooth. I then put the dough in an large oiled glass bowl and let it sit overnight in my cool basement. You can also let it ferment in the refrigerator.
- The next morning I placed the cooled dough in my kitchen for about 3 to 4 hours to warm up.
- Grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans. Gently take the dough out of the bowl and split into 2 equal loaves. I then gently shape these into loafs and placed into the loaf pans. I gave them 3 nice slashes on the top for the dough to allow for expansion and let them sit for 2 more hours. You are looking for the dough to open up the slashes. It may take more or less time depending on the heat in your kitchen.
- I knew that the wheat dough would take a while to rise so about an hour into the rising, I turned my oven on to 350 degrees.
- When the dough had risen and opened up the slashes, I placed both loaves in the oven and gave them a quarter turn every 15 minutes to help bake them evenly on the oven stone. In one hour, I checked the internal temperature of the bread and it was a perfect 190 degrees.
- Lastly, take the bread from the oven place your loaves onto a wire rack releasing them from the pan and letting them cool for at least an hour. It takes a lot of will power but you should wait at least until it's cool to touch. It helps hold the bread together better and develop it's flavor. I served my bread with homemade soup and sliced the rest to store in the freezer.
Cracked and sprouted wheat berry sourdough bread
This recipe looks like a bunch of work but it's not really. You break it up over four or five days of different steps so no one step takes longer than a half an hour. I love making bread; its one of the most satisfying things a home chef can prepare. Everyone loves a fresh loaf of bread, and if it's loaded with nutrition, that makes it nearly guilt-free!
The reason I used a sourdough in this recipe is because of a book I just read. The author had done tons of research traveling Europe in search of the perfect loaf of bread. In his search he discovered that breads made with sourdough had very little gluten left in them. The sourdough causes a chemical reaction in the bread that changes the gluten structure. This is good news for the folks with Celiac's Disease, as long as they are willing to experiment. I always love the slight sour taste as it adds to the sweet wheatness of this loaf. I hope you love it too!
Cook's note: This bread makes the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich you will ever have!
