From Grains to Sprouted Bread
Sprouting is one of the easiest things to make grains better digestible ànd better in taste. In three days you can make a grain more nutrient-dense, sweeter and lower in gluten, just by letting mother nature take its course.
Step 1: soak your grains 12 hours (some grains have a longer/shorter soaking time then others)
Step 2: It's very important that you rinse your grains very thoroughly in a fine mesh strainer, because if you don't, big chance is that they will start to smell at the end of the day.
Step 3: Transfer the content to a sprouting jar of a mason jar with an improvised cheescloth lid. Place the jar oblique, so the rest of the water can drip out. Ideal would be that there is a rather constant room temperature (18°C-21°C) and a good air circulation.
Step 4: Be sure to rinse your grains 3 times a day, to keep them moist and mold free. On cold days, it's advisable to use lukewarm water.
Step 4: After 3 days, your grains should have little tails and then they are at the peak of their nutrient value. The day after, they will create a substance that makes them harder to digest.
Step 5: For the sprouted bread or Essener bread, you have to rinse your sprouts very well and dry them very thoroughly as well. Make sure you have at least 2 cups of sprouts (this is halve a cup of grains). Also preheat your oven at max. 150°C. You don't want to ruin too much vitamins and enzymes with the heat.
Step 6: Ad the sprouts to a food processor and if you like, ad some pitted dates, some sunfower seeds or soaked and dried almonds to it. Then pulse a few times, until you see almost no whole grains anymore.
Step 7: Knead the dought in any shape you like and transfer to a baking sheet, lined with parchement paper. To prevent any stickiness, press the bottom of your "bread" in some sesame seeds.
Step 8: This depends how hard or dried you want your bread to come out of the oven. I like it more dried, so I baked my bread (2 sprouted cups) for 50 minutes at 130°C. The bigger your bread, the longer it will take to be hard.
I hardly use more than 2 cups of sprouted grains, because this bread is so delicious that a wouldn't stop eating it ;). For this particular bread I used some leftover wheat grains and kamut grains.
If you like sprouting and you want to know more about it, I recommend having a look on the website of Sproutpeople. If you are lucky enough to read german, I can only say that "Das Grosse Buch Der Sprossen Und Keime mit vielen Rezepten" by Rose-Marie Nöcker is one of best books out there to increasz your knowledge about all kinds of sprouting.
