Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Sprouted Wheat Tortillas Tutorial


How do you go from whole grains of wheat to tortillas...without using a grain mill?

I love whole grain. Ever since the Sprouted Wheat bread tutorial I have received countless e-mail thanking me for the picture by picture tutorial. I've done follow up entries on sprouted wheat bread troubleshooting for those who had any questions on the process. I recently however, received an email from Carrie. She is a missionary/volunteer of the Jehovah's Witness faith. Something they've been doing on their own. I can totally respect that. Big hugs to awesome people who serve God. It's amazing to see faith in action. Keep it up you guys!
She has been in Ecuador over 5 yrs now and says she loves it. She says, "Lots of adventures". I'm thinking lots of crazy food. Hi Carrie.She lives in the jungles of Ecuador. Imagine my joy she didn't ask me to try a typical indigenous shuar delicacy, the fried rhino beetle. Yikes. She and her husband had been trying to make the sprouted bread and she asked if I had ever made tortillas with the sprouted wheat. I wanted to share that process with you all so you could try them out. It's a lot easier to make the tortillas than the bread. No need for much trouble shooting at all, just following the simple instructions. We love them around here. They are earthy and nutty...and have no refined flour whatsoever.
Emergency Food Storage is my favorite place for whole grain. They are local here in Arizona, but they ship. The grain I've purchased has always been exceptional from them. Thank guys!

You will need:

1 cup hard white or red wheat
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder(optional...it's more like a corn tortilla if you omit the baking powder)
1/4 tsp garlic (optional)

Oil spray to coat counter top and griddle

Place whole grains of wheat in warm water, covering the grains completely. Allow to soak 12-18 hours. Drain with a colander that has a fine mesh, that won't allow grain to escape. Rise with warm water. Cover with a damp towel. Place in a warm place, no hotter than 120 degrees, for a few hours. Rinse again. Cover with damp cloth again. Repeat this process every few hours for the next 18-24 hours. Baby sprouts will begin to show. You want the roots no longer than the grain of wheat. This will take about 2 days, depending on how fresh your wheat is.

Chill wheat in the fridge, covered, about 1 hour. In a large bowl, combine wheat with baking powder and salt, stir well.
Sprinkle with a few drops of water, about 1 Tablespoon. Run the sprouts through a meat grinder.
When all the wheat has been ground...dramatically fall to the ground and tell your kids you can't possibly commit such grain surgery. They will laugh hysterically.
Run the dough through a second time. This will make it nice and smooth. Or if you want to use a food processor, it can be done the same way but will only take about 2 minutes on medium speed to make a smooth dough.
Divide the dough into 6-8 balls. You may need to knead the dough slightly to get the balls to stick together.
Lightly oil your counter top, a little goes a long way. Roll out the tortilla in a circle, about 6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick. You will be able to see all the grains held together by the natural occurring protein in the wheat.
Heat a non-stick skillet and spread a little oil in the pan. Cook on one side 3 minutes on medium heat. Turn tortilla over, and cook the second side about 3 minutes more.
Place tortillas under a damp clean towel until all the tortillas are cooked. We made green chile chicken fajitas.
Enjoy.
There you go.

12 comments:

aswesow said...

I'll definately be refering back to this!
I have a good supply of durum(I'm a seed cleaner) so I've been making sprouted wheat(durum) pasta. I've had alot of fun with sprouted grains...and some success(thank you for the tutorials!)
If you live in Canada...Grandma Lou at McDougall Acres has the best whole grains!

Unknown said...

This is Carrie from ECUADOR! Thanks so much! I feel so honored you put in the tutorial! Muchas gracias! We'll try it out. So excited! gracias gracias gracias Chef Tess!!!!!

Chef Tess said...

Love you! Keep up the great work down there!

Unknown said...

hey chef tess. This is carrie again. We have some more wheat sprouting for these tortillas and some bread. So, not sure how much of the sprouted wheat to use for the tortillas. Recipe said 1 cup of it when it's still hard, how much is that in sprouted wheat? Thanks!

Chef Tess said...

Excellent question. It makes about 2 cups of sprouts give or take, but 2 cups works.

aswesow said...

They are a real hit. I used the food processor...I needed to add a few tablespoons of liquid, I made platter size tortillas...I needed almost a cup of sprouted wheat/tortilla. We where well fed tho! I'll definately do this again!

aswesow said...

Tried a different twist today. Made tortilla bowls! Baked, not fried...thats a good thing right?
Just draped them over soup bowls and baked them. I did post it on my blog with a picture, but it worked well so I thought I'd share it here too.

Unknown said...

Does sprouted wheat contain less gluten than regular wheat flour? Can those of us that can't eat wheat flour use sprouted flour?

Unknown said...

Does sprouted wheat have less gluten in it than wheat flour?

Chef Tess said...

Shawn,Yes there is gluten in sprouted wheat. How much will depend on how long you sprout the wheat and the kind of wheat. Wheat grass does not contain gluten. Some are less sensitive to spelt than regular wheat when sprouted it has far less gluten. However if you have been diagnosed with celiac disease, I would suggest talking with a doctor or making corn tortillas instead.

Ella said...

How many burrito size tortillas will this make?

Chef Tess said...

This will make between 5 and 6 burrito size tortillas. It will depend on how thin you roll them.