Sprouted wheat bread day 3 in a food processor

Day Three

Sprouted bread in a food processor

Previous to this entry we have spent 2 days soaking and sprouting the wheat. For more information see :Sprouted Wheat bread tutorial

I learned this recipe from:

The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, 1984, by Laurel Robertson...
Laurel is my hero in whole grain bread baking!

I usually only do a single loaf recipe in the food processor:

6 cups sprouted wheat berries (if you started with 1 1/4 lb or 575 g hard wheat)

1 tsp active dry yeast (1/8 oz or 3.5 g)[You can use up to 2tsp per loaf]

2 T warm water (30 ml)

2 tsp salt (11g)

3 T,scant, honey (40ml)

1 8 by 4 inch loaf pan

1 clean towel

1 gallon size bag

Gather your ingredients.

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water (no hotter than 110 degrees)

Put 3 cups of your sprouts in a food processor, add half of the yeast, salt and honey.

Process about 30 seconds.

Turn off machine and scrap unchopped grains off the sides of the processor.

Process until a dough ball forms and it cleans the side of the processor, about 3 minutes.

Put dough in a bowl, and repeat this process with your second 3 cups of sprouts and remaining ingredients.

Once all your dough is formed, roll into a ball and place in a covered bowl. Allowing it to raise for about 2 hours or until your wet finger comes out clean when inserted and leaves a hole without much effort. For best results, do not allow dough to raise so long that when you poke it, it collapse. It helps to measure the temperature of the dough. If it is between 85 and 90 degrees, it will raise in about 2 hours. If your dough is around 75 degrees it will be closer to 3 hours for this first raise.

This is how the dough will look...

Proceed to loaf formation (for full picture tutorial see: sprouted wheat bread with a meat grinder ):

Divide the dough into two pieces. I use a little WATER on my counter top.

Make a rectangle with the dough... then fold into thirds.

Roll the dough into a tight log...

Place in a loaf pan, this one is stoneware for better baking. This recipe will make 4 of these 5 by 2 1/2 inch loaves.

Repeat the loaf making until you have made as many loaves as you have dough. Lightly coat the top of the bread with oil and cover with a loose piece of plastic wrap. Raise bread about 1 hour (1 and 1/2 hours if the dough is less than 75 degrees).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake 40-45 minutes for standard size loaves (8 by 4 inch), or 3o-35 minutes in smaller loaves like these ones.

Once baked, remove from oven.I test mine for doneness with a meat thermometer. When it registers over 175 degrees, the bread is cooked through.

The final step is to put the warm loaves in a clean dishcloth and place them in gallon size freezer bags. This allows any wheat that is on the surface of the loaf to steam a bit so it isn't rock hard. Remove from bags after about 45 minutes

The finished loaves will look like this:

Sprouted Wheat Bread...Day 2

Sprouted Wheat, Day 2
This is the draining, rinsing, and sprouting day.

There is also a list of things for tomorrow...
For those just joining us, day one was yesterday. Drain the wheat and rinse. I do mine in a colander with holes just a little smaller than the wheat.

Make sure you get the fresh water all the way through the wheat. Rinsing is an important step. If not done enough, your wheat will start to ferment and smell like my son's socks after school. You want the wheat to smell fresh and clean. Think of it as giving the little wheat babies a change. You don't want them sitting in water either, just moist.

Once drained and rinsed, cover with a clean towel and tuck them in. Moisten the towel. Repeat this rinsing step about 3 times throughout the day. Just leave them in the colander, rinse getting all the wheat clean by digging you hand in and rinsing it. Cover back up with the towel. This will help the wheat to start sprouting.

These babies will start to show their little white toe heads. I'm repeating myself from day one: The spouting time is pivotal. If you let the sprouts get too far developed, what you will have is a gooey mess, instead of bread it will be like a glue log. So, be sure to look at the pictures I do so you can gauge when your wheat needs to be made into bread. This may be shorter than 3 days if your wheat is especially fresh or your home or sprouting area is warm. The biggest test beside the picture is the TASTE test. If the wheat tastes starchy, it is still good for bread. That is all the sprouting you want to happen. The rule is that the sprout root should not be any longer than the length of the grain of wheat itself. Any farther in the sprouting stage and it will go into a diastatic stage and the starch will be turned into sugars. At this point it will be too late for making bread. Great for salad, but not for dough. Incidentally, if over sprouted, you can still use them in regular whole what bread, but no more than 1/4 cup chopped to a loaf. These little power pellets will actually contribute to great yeast activity! It is called a diastatic malt if these sprouts are dried in a low temperature and then ground. This malt is the sugar young plants thrive on...no wonder yeast loves it! Very sweet, and great for bread in small amounts--once ground use only about 1/4 tsp per loaf.

Tomorrow on dough making day these sprouts should weigh about 4 lb (2 k)--for 2 loaves. You started with 2 1/2 lb wheat, or 1135g) which will be a little more than 3 quarts sprouted. This recipe is from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, 1984, by Laurel Robertson... one of my heroes in whole grain bread baking!

You will also need for 2 loaves:

Your meat grinder or electric food processor

2 tsp yeast (1/4 oz, or 7 g) [You can double this amount]

1/4 cup warm water (60 ml)

1/3 cup honey (80 ml)

4 tsp salt (22 g)

non-stick cooking spray for coating the pan ( I mix a little oil with a little flour--bit more natural)

2 , 8 by 4 inch loaf pans

1 clean towel

2 gallon size bags

If you are making a single loaf, you will need:

6 cups sprouted wheat berries (if you started with 1 1/4 lb or 575 g hard wheat)

1 tsp active dry yeast (1/8 oz or 3.5 g)[you can double this amount]

2 T warm water (30 ml)

2 tsp salt (11g)

3 T,scant, honey (40ml)

1 8 by 4 inch loaf pan

1 clean towel

1 gallon size bag

One final note:

The grain needs to be chilled overnight. So at the end of the day, put the wheat in a bowl and transfer it to the fridge. It can remain in the fridge 1-2 days before it needs to be made into bread so don't panic if something comes up and you can't use it right away. Just be sure again, not to let the roots get much longer than the grain of wheat.