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 at making sprouted wheat bread 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 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.
Sprouted Wheat Bread with No Flour
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. I used a manual grinder which didn’t work so well. So I used my food processor again. This time it worked 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 – anywhere from 12 – 24 hours, depending on the temperature in your kitchen. If the grain is not tender, your grinder will heat up, making the dough too hot.
NOTE: If the grain sprouts develop long enough for diastatic enzymes to get started, it will make the bread very gooey and 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 Sprouted Wheat 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.
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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 well with wet hands.
It was a little bit gooey but not that bad.
After mixing it 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 good bit longer.
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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.
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I divided the dough in half using a dough scraper and shaped each half into a round. Then 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 then placed the loaves in two greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch glass pans.
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I like using glass pans because you can see what the bread looks like.
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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.
I think these sprouted wheat loaves look like loaves made with flour.
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Here is a shot of the first attempt. It was a brick but it had good flavor.
The 2nd sprouted wheat bread looks much better than the first.
I’m very satisfied with how this bread turned out. It has a mild wheaty flavor and tastes good 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.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Wow….that looks so delicious!! Thank you 🙂 Now I’ll definitely have to order my wheatberries. Of course I’ll have to grind the grains a tiny bit at a time in my little 3 cup food processor, haha. But this is so worth it!
Have fun! I hope you enjoy it! You’ll definitely need to grind the berries in batches but you’re right, it’s worth it! Just get ready for a good upper body workout when it’s time to knead the dough.
This makes me want to run out right now and buy wheat berries! It’s absolutely beautiful!
I think you should go buy some wheat berries. This bread is very satisfying to make because it’s so healthy and it’s tasty as well. Happy Baking!
Cathy, Thank you for all your help with my bread making. I finally made the bread today and it came out amazing! I love the texture of the bread! I will be using this method from now on.
Blessings to you!
Joanna 🙂
Would I follow the same steps when working with spelt berries? Thanks!
I haven’t tried this bread with spelt berries, but I would think it would do just fine. Yes, you would follow the same steps.
Thanks Cathy! I’m going to start soaking my spelt today! 🙂
This is nice I were looking for something like this
cause I’m making bread similar to yours.
But the bread I make doesn’t contains yeast!
Love & Peace everybody
I just made my first batch of sprouted wheat bread and was pretty pleased with the results. It didn’t raise as much as I was hoping and wonder if it could be that my yeast is getting old. I am totally excited that I can make it now and don’t have to buy it at Costco anymore! Thanks for the recipe!
I was wondering what food processor you use because the one I have will not handle it.
Thanks
Hi Andy, I have a General Electric food processor. It handled the sprouted grains really well. I was surprised actually.
What is the amp power on your General Electric food processor. There are so many out there. If invest in another one I want to make sure it has the power.
Thanks
The amp power is not listed on the unit; the wattage is 500 and the hz is 60. However, I think I’ve blown my model out on something else so you may want to try a different model.
amps = 500 watts / 120 volts = 4.16 amps
dougthecook, an ex-electrical engineer
Thanks!
This is just what I’ve been seeking. Thanks! Can’t wait to try it.
Cathy, thanks for the clear instructions! I just had a slice of my first sprouted Kamut bread, and it looks exactly like your first trial:) But it tastes fantastic. Beats any other non-wheat bread. I am ready to try it again. I know Kamut has less gluten so it might not get as fluffy as yours, but I now think I know what went wrong: I kept the sprouted Kamut too wet. Have you – or someone else – ever tried to make sprouted Kamut bread?
Hi Elina,
Thank you for sharing your experience with sprouted Kamut bread. I have made sprouted Kamut bread (with sprouted Kamut grains and bread flour) (http://breadmakingblog.breadexperience.com/2011/06/sprouted-kamut-bread.html), but I haven’t tried a sprouted Kamut bread with only Kamut grains and no flour. I’m thinking it would be a flat and dense bread as you suggest. However, I’m always up to the challenge so I’ll add this to my list of breads to try. Thanks for the inspiration!
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Dear Cathy, your recipe is amazing. I love sprouting wheat berries, mostly for making rejuvelak or adding the sprouts to salads and other dishes uncooked. Now I want to try to make bread out of them and come across the question: with or without flour?? You mentioned that your favourite is still bread made with a flour. What is a real advantage of making bread w/o flour? Thank you, Elena.
Hi Elena, Thanks for visiting. As I’m sure you are aware, sprouted grains have more nutrients due to the sprouting process. They are also easier to digest than wheat flour. Some people that are unable to tolerate wheat flour, can tolerate sprouted grains so this type of bread could be an option for them. However, this is something that needs to be determined under the guidance of a health professional.
Bread made completely with sprouted wheat is usually very dense. I like it for the nutritional benefits and the taste is pleasing so I will continue to experiment with this type of bread, but I still prefer the texture of breads that include some flour. This is just my personal preference.
Hi Cathy thanks for the recipe!I have my wheat berries soaking to try it.I have a question about the diastatic enzyme process.If that isn’t started, is it still easy for someone to digest who can’t have regular flour?I searched on google & youtube, can’t find any info.
Hi Lorraine, thanks for visiting the Bread Experience. Let me know how your experiment with sprouted wheat bread goes.
Sprouted wheat is purported to be easier to digest than wheat flour. However, if you sprout the grains too long, then they turn more to starch. It makes a very gummy and dense bread so I wouldn’t recommend it from that perspective. However, I’m not a nutritionist or medical practitioner so I wouldn’t be able to give you advice as to whether it is more easily digestible or not.
Looks good, will give it a try! Thanks! 🙂
The bread looks wonderful. I made a loaf today of sprouted wheat berries and beans and seeds. It tastes really really good but looks a lot like the first one you made. My question is this…can these flour free breads be made with a bread machine? I am considering buying on if so.
Thank you so much.
I have not tried making sprouted wheat bread with no flour in a bread machine. You could certainly try it, but I am not sure the machine could handle the weight of the dough. The food processor is the only tool I’ve been able to get to work with this dough and I have to use a heavy duty one at that.
Hi
How would i convert the yeast to sourdough starter and still get a great loaf?
Thanks
Hello, I haven’t tried making sprouted bread using sourdough instead of yeast. You would probably need to create an overnight sponge or levain with the sourdough and some bread flour, but then it wouldn’t be a no flour bread. You can make this bread without yeast, but it will be pretty dense and flat.
I’m very new to bread making, so I’m sorry for my silly questions! How long did it take to grind the wheat in your food processor? How did you know when they were ground well enough? Also, when you say that you kneaded each batch in the processor, do you mean by hand or does your processor have a special hook/function?
Hello Courtney.
Those aren’t silly questions. It takes a while for the food processor to knead the dough. It varies based on how powerful your food processor is.
You’ll know when the berries are ground well enough because it should come together like bread dough. I used the metal blade on my food processor not the dough attachment. The dough attachment wouldn’t have been strong enough. Hope this helps!
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Hi,
When you say it takes a long time to grind them in the food processor, how long are we talking? Because mine were grinding for over 10 minutes and we’re still not at a dough like consistency.
Hi Mark, I’ve found that a powerful food processor works best for this bread. The one I used for my first attempt could not handle the sprouted grains even when I divided them into several batches. The machine just turned the sprouts round and round without really processing them.
On my second attempt, I used a more powerful food processor and it worked fine. I didn’t even have to divide it into batches. You only grind the sprouts in the food processor until the wheat forms a ball, then you knead the ball of sprouts by hand until it forms dough.
The original instructions say to divide the sprouts into 3 batches and add 2 teaspoons of the dissolved yeast mixture, a scant tablespoon of honey and about 2/3 teaspoon of salt per batch of sprouts. I didn’t do it that way, but maybe this will work better for you.
Using the steel blade (not the dough blade) on the food processor, process the sprouts until the ground wheat forms a ball. This should take about one minute. Then scrape the sides of the processor bowl and process 1-1/2 to 2 more minutes. Depending on the amount of protein in your wheat, this could take only a minute. Stop processing before the wheat ball falls apart. Do this with each batch, then knead the 3 balls together. Continue with the rising and baking per the recipe. Hope this helps.
Ha ha, didn’t realize I was on my husband Mark’s account; my name is Catrina.
Thank you for the feedback, however it is not working 🙁 What kind of food processor do you own? Even though mine is less than 3 years old and got great reviews, it hasn’t been the best for me and I’d like to purchase a news more powerful one! I’m just going to continue letting the wheat berries sprout and make sprouted wheat flour, I’ve made it before and always turns out good 🙂
Hi Catrina, sorry about that. I’m on my 3rd food processor since I made this bread the first time. I have a KitchenAid now. I’m not sure what the model number is, but it’s pretty powerful and works great for this bread. Glad you’re able to use the sprouted wheat for flour. I don’t like to waste stuff either.
Thanks for the info, have been trying for well over a year to bake sprouted wheat bread and always got bricks. This is the first place I have seen the tip not to sprout too long – and the recipe works great! I used the same recipe as described, but also dehydrated the sprouts, ground them in my nutrimill, and got a much finer bread than grinding the wet sprouts in my Ninja. Had to add a lot more water with the sprouted wheat flour, but everything else remained the same and I got a wonderful loaf – thank you!
Hello, so you made the bread with sprouted flour and not the sprouts. I bet it was good. I would think you would need to add more water. I’m glad you got good results. Thanks for sharing.
It was very good. When I used the sprouts (I have a ninja) I had to grind the wet sprouts in two batches and the bread was coarse and nutty (with a few whole wheat berries), when I dried the sprouted grain and ground it in my nutrimill I got a much finer loaf – more like white bread, but had to modify the recipe from 2 oz of water to nearly 18oz. I’ve tried it both ways at least twice and I like both the coarse and the fine breads – one is delicious as toast and the other is nice for sandwiches.
Thanks so much for sharing that you dehydrated your berries. My processor couldn’t get them fine enough so I was wondering if I could dehydrated them.
Brittny, you can dry sprouted grains and then grind them into flour. Just make sure they are completely dry. Place them on a perforated sheet if possible and let air from a fan flow over them until they are dry. It will probably take about 12 hours. If they are moist at all, it will clog your grinder. I ended up having to dry some sprouted berries this weekend when the meat grinder I was planning on testing was missing a part. So on to plan B. It took my sprouts about 24 hours to dry because I wasn’t using a perforated sheet.
Thanks for sharing your experience with sprouted bread. That makes sense that you would need to add more water to the dried and ground sprouts. So glad you’ve found some methods you like.
I had similar results. Mine was very moist to which I attribute in part to the honey. I was pleasantly surprised by the results overall. Will make this again. -♡
Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m so glad you were pleased with the results. The sprouts also add moisture. Patting them dry with a paper towel or kitchen towel helps soak up some of the extra moisture.
I was going to try and attempt this recipe with my Vitamix. Have you heard of any success using a Vitamix? Also I am going to cut the recipe in half and use my metal bread pan. How should I adjust the temp/ cooking time cooking one loaf in a metal pan? Thanks!
Hello Jill, I have not had any experience with the Vitamix so I’m not sure how it would do with this bread. The temp/baking times should be the same for one loaf in the metal pan. Just check the loaf to make sure it’s done in the center. Happy Baking! Let me know how it turns out.
I like your idea of using just the sprouts to make the bread, but do you reckon this can be done without using the yeast – that’s what I would like. .. .
Joy, there is a version of this type of bread called Essene or Wayfarer’s Bread that is made with only sprouted wheat. It does not include yeast, flour, salt, fat or sweetener. It is considered the purest of breads.
If you want to make this sprouted bread with no flour (without the yeast) you could follow the same recipe as above (omitting the yeast) then, after you mix and knead the dough, let it rest for about an hour or so, then shape it into an oblong loaf and put it on a well-greased baking sheet. Bake the bread very slowly, at a temperature no more than 325 degrees F. for 2 1/2 hours or until it is nicely browned.
After the bread is baked, you should wrap the loaf really well in a towel and place in plastic wrap or a brown bag and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. This will soften the crust and help the inside become moist and flaky.
I haven’t tried this method so I’m curious how it will turn out. Let me know how it goes.
Thank you for this very well-written blog! I have been searching for a mentor to make my own sprouted bread. Has anyone tried making a multi-grain version? Also, do you get your wheat berries and spelt at a store like Whole Foods, or order them online? Thanks!
Hi Ashley, thanks for visiting my blog. I’m so glad you found me. I have not tried a multigrain version yet, but I think sprouting different types of wheat and combining them is a great idea. I’ve been wanting to do that myself. Now I have additional motivation.
I get my grains from a variety of different places. Whole Foods is one of them, online (Montana grains is good) and at the farmer’s market.
Hope this helps. Do let me know how it goes if you make a wholegrain version.
Thanks,
Cathy
I certainly will! I prefer multigrain breads, and am most motivated to bake and eat them. Will let you know how it turns out!
I’ve burnt out my Hamilton Beach food processor and my Ninja with this recipe, though it is awesome when you get the grains ground processing. I’m now looking at wet/dry grinders, specifically Ultra Dura+, Preethi, and Premier Wonder which are made for grinding wet grains for Indian breads. I’ll let you know what happens!
Sorry about your food processors. I’ve burnt out some myself with this recipe. Using a wet/dry grinder sounds like a good idea. Please do let me know how it works.
I tried this recipe tonight did not work out for me it turned out to wet and gooey I think my problem was that my berries were too wet and I did not dry them enough with the paper towels. how dry am I supposed to get them but that process?
Hello Brett, if your dough was wet and gooey (or starchy), the sprouts may have sprouted too long.
However, to answer your question, I placed the sprouted grains on paper towels and then pressed another paper towel on top to remove the excess moisture. They weren’t completely dry.
Do you know if this would still work omitting the honey? It’s my understanding that yeast doesn’t need a sugar to activate, and a family member is on a low-glycemic diet, so honey isn’t an option. I’m probably going to try it anyway, but wondered if you had any info on that. Thanks!
Hi Melissa, I think this bread would work without the honey. I learned about using sprouted wheat flour to make bread without added fat or sweetener. So, although I haven’t tried this particular bread without the sweetener, I think it would work. Do let me know though. I’m sure others would appreciate this information.
I’ve made this three times now and can’t figure out how to make it rise. I did fine better success with my meat grinder as my processor just spun it around and about jumped off the table. The last batch I divided right away and let it rise just once in the pan and then baked as I don’t get any rise the second time. I don’t get a rise in the oven either. After I put through meat grinder, I put in kitchen aid with the dough hook. It’s pretty light and fluffy after the grinder, but then it becomes very dense with the kneading. I would appreciate any other tips. I am also very careful with the sprouting phase as well. Thank you.
To get light textured bread, you have to grind the sprouts really fine. The only way I’ve been able to do that is with a powerful food processor with a sharp blade. If your meat grinder will grind the sprouts fine enough, then try kneading it by hand (after you grind it) instead of using the dough hook. Then place the dough ball in the bowl to rise. If the dough is cold (from the sprouts being in the refrigerator), it may take longer for the dough to rise in the bowl unless the meat grinder warms it up.
Thank you. I tried my food processor again and it worked this time since I just did smaller batches. I got a nice looking dough. It rose nicely for the first rise. It rose quickly for the second rise and right when it crested the top of the pan, I put it in my preheated oven. However, I’m not getting that oven spring and my loaf is still a little dense, but much better this time than the first couple of tries. So, now that I have the dough situation worked out…how do I get that nice oven spring? Thank you.
For this bread, as with most breads, it’s trial and error. The finer you are able to grind the sprouts, the lighter the dough will be which will help it rise.
I made this bread but I didn’t have enough wheat berries to make two loaves so I just made one. It turned out really good but I only baked it for 30 minutes. (I live at a high altitude so maybe that made a difference?) I also put it in a slightly warm oven to rise and then when it was ready to bake I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and began timing at 30 minutes from there. I used a non-stick pan which doesn’t get as hot as glass. Now that the bread is baked and cooled I was wondering do I need to store it in the refrigerator?
Hi Vivian, thanks for sharing your experience with this bread. If you are able to grind the sprouted berries fine enough and the dough rises high, it will take less time to bake. It sounds like this was the case. I don’t keep this bread in the refrigerator but it does freeze well.
Can I use white wheat berries or a combo of both berries for this recipe?
Hello, yes, white wheat berries or a combination will work in this bread. Happy Baking!
Thank you, but I have one more question!! Were the berries fully dried before you put them in the food processor? I would think the berries would need to be a little moist to produce a dough. I used a combo of my food processor and coffee grinder to grind up some sprouted grains I had in the freezer and it gave me a flour. Can you elaborate a little more on that step.
The sprouts should not be fully dry. I let them rest in the refrigerator for a couple of days until I was ready to use them so when I took them out, I rinsed and drained them again. I put them on paper towels just to remove the excess water. They were not dry.
I’ve never tried this with sprouted grains that have been frozen so I’m not sure how that would work. They need to be chopped not ground. A heavy-duty food processor seems to work the best – for me anyway.
Thank you for this recipe. Can you knead it with a dough hook in a kitchenaid type mixer? If so for how long and on what speed. Thanks again Joyce
Hi Joyce, I don’t think a mixer with a dough hook is strong enough to handle this dough. The sprouts need to be chopped, then kneaded. The best way to handle this dough is to use a heavy-duty food processor or a meat grinder.
If at all possible, I need to have some back and forth communication with someone having success with this recipe (wheat sprout bread/NO flour) who is using a food processor (I have a heavy duty Cuisinart). I have not had success with this recipe at all. I followed the directions except cut it down to a one loaf version. I dried the sprouts first on paper towels. Ground the sprouts in 2 batches, had to keep stopping and scraping the sides of the processor. Never formed a “ball” in the processor. So, I gave up and continued but the sprouts, after adding the yeast/water/honey were a mass that was too wet to knead. WAY too wet to knead. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
Hi Karen,
This is a tricky bread. It takes a bit of practice to get it to work. According to the original recipe instructions, you should process the sprouts for about a minute in the food processor until it forms a ball. I’ve found that it doesn’t always form a ball in the food processor, but it does come together if the blade/motor is strong enough. After 1 minute (maybe sooner), you will need to scrape down the sides of the food processor. Then process the sprouts for another 2 minutes or less until it forms a dough-like substance. It’s possible to over process the sprouts. If your wheat is not high in protein, it may not be able to handle this much processing. I processed mine in the food processor as much as I could and then kneaded it by hand for a while to make sure it was cohesive.
If you are processing your sprouts in batches (as per your email), then just divide the amount of the water/yeast/honey/salt by the number of batches you are doing. So if you are doing 2 batches; add half of the yeast/water/honey/salt with each batch.
You might try giving it a longer fermentation time to help develop the gluten if you weren’t able to knead it in the food processor or by hand.
Hello
I have sprouted flour already to use. Do you have a recipe for this bread with the sprouted flour ready to go. It is already dry and ground up fine.
Thanks!
Hi, here is a recipe for whole wheat bread using sprouted flour https://www.breadexperience.com/whole-wheat-bread-with-no-added-fat-or/.
Hi, I have a question about quantities. You mentioned that 6 cups (2 1/2 lbs. or 1,135g) wheat berries will make a little more than 3 quarts sprouted and weigh about 4 lbs. I’m assuming this is the weight of the wet sprouted berries. Do you happen to know the final weight of the sprouted wheat berries once they are dried?
Thanks a lot!
Hello Nili, I haven’t weighed the sprouts once they are dried. The sprouts shouldn’t be completely dry for this recipe. You want them moist. I just put them on the paper towel to remove some of the moisture, but not all. If you plan to grind the sprouts into flour, then you would want them completely dry.
I am so tickled with this recipe. I read both this one AND your first failed attempt several times through. It worked seamlessly. I used my food processor to grind batches of the sprouted, drained and slightly blotted-dry grains. When each batch looked like it was starting to stick together in a doughy way, I removed it and put it in a bowl. When it was all done, I poured the yeast mixture on top, mooshed together with my hands a little, and then put in my Kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook. I never added any flour, but ran the mixer for 8 or 9 minutes. It was a LOVELY dough! It is in the oven now, smells and looks heavenly and I am so excited to be making my own sprouted bread. I have made sourdough for decades and love it, but this is a nice change. I plan to try a rye/wheat combo next, and then work my way to trying all rye — even if it comes out like a brick, I’ll like it — it will remind me of Mestemacher bread. 🙂 P.S. I substituted malted barley powder for the honey because I LOVE the flavor of malt in baked goods. Thank you! I will be sharing the link on my FB page after I taste the bread.
Fagel, Thank you for sharing your success (so far) making this sprouted wheat dough. That’s neat that your Kitchenaid mixer was able to handle the dough after you ground the sprouts in the food processor. I’m sure other visitors will appreciate this info. I look forward to hearing how the bread turns out. A rye/wheat combo sounds good. Good luck!
Well, it was a tad dense and rubbery. I think I might add some oil next time — fat tends to make bread a bit softer. It will make great toast, however. I will be experimenting with this in the future. Meanwhile, thanks so much for your blog. I have been baking bread for over 40 years and it is still my favorite thing to do in the kitchen. I taught myself as a young married woman, and never grow tired of experimenting with it!
Fagel,
Thank you for your feedback. Making sprouted wheat bread can be tricky even for experienced bakers. There are just so many variables to get right and a lot rests on the wheat itself. I do hope you’ll try it again sometime. In the meantime, please enjoy some other breads from the site.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
I like you sprouted wheat bread. I am still trying to improve on the dense of the dough is. My dough rises okay. I did use another recipe but almost similar to your. the recipe I used used 31/2 cups of wheatberries and only 2tbsp of water w/ 11/4 tsp of yeast. Also the recipes wanted the dough to rise twice for 11/2 each time, which I did. When I let it rise one more time in the loaf pan for 50 minutes I really see a high rise. Disappointing. The bread rise but only 1/2 inches higher. It came out much better than the recipe I found on YouTube. but it is still very dense , only good to use it as toast. How if you can explain how can I lighten my dough up. I really do not want to dry my wheatberries. I love to cook and bake but the labor is too much. nI just want a lighter less heavy dough. What are your tips if you do not mine. I think I will try your recipe and then if that do not work I will have to make flour instead. I do not want to but I do not want store bought bread no more.
I used a 500 watt food processor. And I sprouted two tyoe of wheat Hard Red and Soft white, but more red berries than white. My sprouts were less than 36 hour. I live in LA, CA so in the summer it stays warm in my small house.
Hi Lajuana, since I’m not familiar with the recipe you used, I couldn’t give you any tips about that one, but for this recipe, I’ve found that it’s best to only let the grains sprout until the nub splits into two thin shoots. This is when the seeds have become a vegetable and are more easily digestible. If you let the grains sprout too long, they will be starchy and the bread will be dense. You may need to stop the sprouting at 18 hours (or less), especially if you have a hot kitchen like I do right now.
The second thing you need is a food processor, meat grinder or Vitamix blender that is able to effectively grind the sprouts. With this recipe, you process the sprouts in batches and then knead the batches together to form the dough. I wouldn’t recommend proofing the dough longer than the required time because it could overproof and when you bake it, it could fall in the oven due to the weight of the dough. This is another reason breads become dense.
By the way, if you end up having to dry the grains, it doesn’t hurt them. Just spread them on a perforated screen or pan if possible or a baking sheet and let a fan blow air across the surface. Then you can grind them into flour. It makes wonderful flour and it’s more easily digestible than store bought flour.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Thanks for the great information Cathy. I have been trying to make bread using ground sprouted wheat only. I have tried maybe 6 times so far and each time they are turning out like your bricks you mentioned. I have tried to make little changes each time but nothing changes that much. I’m thinking now that I have let the wheat berries soak a little too long letting the sprouts get too long. I will try cutting down on the soaking time and see how that turns out.
Thanks Dan! Let me know how it turns out.
Hi Cathy, Do you think the recipe would work if I cut it in half?
Hi Karen, yes, you can cut the recipe in half. I’ve done that before. It should work fine.
Thank you for sharing this tested recipe with us! I followed your recipe, but substituted the wheat berries for spelt berries and the honey for a mix of blackstrap molasses and agave, as I’ve read honey releases a toxin when heated to high temperatures. Regardless of these changes the bread came out beautifully!
I’m now eager to know if you’ve experimented with the original emmer yeast-free version.please do share if you have. Thank you again!
Hi Anuradha, Thanks for sharing your experience making this sprouted bread. I’m delighted to hear that your bread turned out so well. I love working with spelt.
I have not experimented with Ezekiel bread yet if that is what you mean.
I’ve read your recipe over and over again and made it yesterday! It looks and smells perfect. I will taste it in a couple of hours. This is my first time ever sprouting grains and making bread of it. I’m a little confused about sprouting the grains. Do you leave the grains in the water all the time or only soak them for 12-18 hours, drain them, let them sprout and then again after 12 hours rinse and drain again?
Hi Sjanette, you don’t leave the sprouts in the water the whole time. Your last statement is correct. Soak them for 12-18 hours, drain them, let them sprout and then again after 12 hours rinse and drain again.
Thank you so much!
Please, I need really quick answer, I hope you’ll see my comment!
Can I use baking soda with lemon juice instead of yeast? I have candida so I worry about yeast and honey in this recipe. Also, do I need honey if I could use baking soda and lemon? And the last one, could you, please, give me ratio of ingredients for 1/2 kg of sprouted wheat?
Thank you so much for replying!
Hello Jesenka, I haven’t tried baking soda with lemon juice in this sprouted wheat recipe but you can certainly give it a try and see how it does. You can also make it without the leavening altogether, but it will be a fairly dense loaf. The sprouted wheat might be sweet enough without the honey, but that’s up to you. From doing a search on Google, 1 kilo = approximately 2.1 pounds. This recipe calls for about 2.5 pounds of wheat so for 1/2kg, you would need to cut the ingredients approximately in half. Let me know how it goes.
Thanks, Cathy, for such a quick reply!
So, the honey is for taste (although I know it feeds yeast so the dough can be more spongy, I remember it from days when I made usual doughs). I think I’ll put it to rest a bit because I would really like to eat normal bread again. These alternatives like coconut, flaxseed, almond etc. flour destroyed my gut.
My sprouts are in the fridge for two days now, waiting for your reply. 🙂 It’s weekend and I’ll give it a try and then I’ll write back. Wish me luck!
P. S. This bread of yours looks beautiful!
Thank you Jesenka! The honey is for flavor and it also helps feed the yeast activity, but if you aren’t using yeast, then you can omit it. Another option for sweetening this loaf is to add some raisins if that is something you can tolerate. Happy Baking! Do let me know how it goes.
I don’t need sweet, I desperately need bread. 🙂
Well, I’ve baked it today, it really wasn’t hard as I’ve imagine it. It was strange to touch gluten again. I have mixed 1/2 kg of sprouts with 2 tbs sodium bicarbonate and lemon juice each. I should have put more salt, but it turned tasty never the less. And I added one egg. I thought it would maybe raise it during baking, but while it was in the oven, I’ve realized that eggs work as glue in non-gluten breads. So, that was a silly idea. But, the egg didn’t do much nor damage nor help. And… yes, it isn’t as yours without yeast, it’s dense but very, very tasty! I’ll prepare it with yeast next time, for my boyfriend who loves it this way also. And for me sourdough bread from some non-gluten flour as I fear little pest would come back if I eat wheat (i’m in recovery). It’s in prepare. 🙂
Thank you once again, for advises and for beautiful recipe!
Jesenka
Thanks for sharing your experience with this sprouted bread. I understand the need for bread. Did you say you used sprout wheat berries or what type of sprouts did you use? I do hope you can tolerate this.
Sorry for late reply, I was pretty busy.
And sorry for wrong quoting, I couldn’t find reply button for your last post so I’ve clicked first one before that.
You are more than welcome, glad to share my experience since I’m so fascinated with this! Yes, I had a bag of wheat waiting for days when they could be sprouted and they saw that day when I found this recipe. 🙂
I have made my sourdough starter these days and since then I made two breads, rye and spelt bread. And I was wondering, why wouldn’t I use starter instead of yeast to make sprouted bread fluffy as yours. 🙂 It wouldn’t be without flour anymore, but… I could try to achieve this beautiful loafs this way. 🙂
I haven’t had problems yet so I’ll continue to introduce healthy breads to my menu. I’ll just avoid wheat for now. Instead, I’m thinking of sprouting oat berries. 🙂
Yey for fermenting and sprouting! 🙂
Hi Jesenka, No worries. This is a crazy time of year.
Using a sourdough starter is a great idea! Although it will contain flour, it is proported to be much easier to digest. I’ve been meaning to try this myself with this bread sometime. I like the idea of making this with all sprouted oat berries. Will probably be denser, but delicious! Do let me know how your experiments go. This method intrigues me as well.
Sure, Cathy! Until then, I wish you all the best for this holidays and lots of health and inspiration in upcoming year! To your readers as well!
Hey there. I have been making sprouted hard winter wheat bread for a few years but never make it so thick so as to decrease oven time. I figure when you slice the bread, it’s thin, so why not use geometry and make the dough flat and wide and not so thick on the pan. I couldn’t find a glass tray large enough so I used to use a cookie sheet. I let the sprouts get real long (sweeter bread) but to avoid it sticking to my blender, I would let them air dry a bit and then freeze them. I could grind a cup at a time without it getting gooey. It was like coarse flour, not fine. The bread would come out sooooo sweet and without any yeast or starter. Just the ground sprouts and water. It would only take a little over an hour this way. I would have to turn it over, though, to get both the bottom and top to brown the same (too long to explain). But then since mom and I loved the bread so much, we tended to eat too much. ha ha. So I started to make smaller batches (1 cup) and bought some store bought sprouted wheat, to mix together. Then instead of baking, I would put the batch on a foreman grille. lol Since I couldn’t get fine flour texture thru grinding in Nutri Bullet, the bread would tend to be a little hard so mixing with the store bought (finely ground), the bread comes out perfect!!! It takes only 4 minutes on the grille, too and I get about 5 big slices.
My friend has been making bread with her own starter but not with sprouted wheat but organic wheat flour. Although I hear sour dough is better, the taste is a little too bland for me. So this morning I am baking in glass ware and making about 3 cups of my mixture and baking in oven. I kept it in the oven over night covered with damp cloth and this morning (14 hours later), it actually had risen a little. YEAH!!! I did search to see how much time I should bake and that’s how I came to your blog. I shall let you know how it tastes. The store bought sprouted wheat let the sprouts berrily (barely) show, too. But it’s not sweet. So I did add 2 tsp of organic Succanet (pure dehydrated cane juice sugar) for this reason. Too bad I can’t send pics. Gonna make my own article and post on FB.
It’s me, Sandy again. Well, have to report that the bread came out terrible. lol Not enough rise and not even baked enough, yet the top and sides were done. All the sweet taste is gone. I will stick to the foreman grille method. It’s nice and hot each time I go to eat it and although not light and fluffy, better for my health. Using a starter is OK and as long as it’s better than store bought, I will eat from time to time. I just had a piece that someone baked with a starter but not sprouted wheat. I had to put in toaster anyway cuz after being in fridge, too cold and not soft anymore. So unless I plan to have lots of company and we can eat the bread out of the oven, not worth the trouble. God bless and keep sprouting!
Which bread are your referring to? Did you make sprouted bread using this process of sprouting the grains and either grinding them in a meat grinder or food processor?
Thanks for sharing your process Sandy! I would love to hear more about your method and how it works.
I just made this bread today. I wasn’t sure if my berries were fully sprouted, but I didn’t want them to sprout too much, so I ended up just using them. (They soaked for about 32 hours). How can you tell when they are sprouted enough to use, but not overly sprouted? Then I laid them out on some towels to dry while I ran errands for a few hours. Came back and used my blendtec to grind the berries. I had to do it in 4 or 5 batches to try to get them all ground. Even so, I still had whole berries. I mixed the other ingredients in and then kneaded for about 15-20 minutes. Got my arm work out in for the day. Rose really nice on the first rise and rose slightly on the second. Actually turned out great. Was very hearty with some of the whole berries still in the bread, but I kind of liked it that way. Next time I will try to be more patient with the grinding of the wet berries!
Jennifer,
Thank you for sharing your experience with this sprouted wheat bread. For optimum results or to make a lighter, not so dense loaf, you should barely see the shoot (or nub) emerging from the berries. The time varies. I’ve heard anywhere from 18-36 hours, but I’ve found that in the Southern US the time to sprout is much shorter – about 18 hours at the most. It requires some experimentation to find the optimal time for your area. To achieve a workable dough that isn’t gummy or dense, you really need a machine that will grind the sprouts thoroughly and actually knead the dough at the same time. I’ve found that a high-powered food processor or an electric meat grinder works the best for this. However, I haven’t tried a high-powered blender so perhaps that is an option as well. You can definitely get an arm workout if the machine doesn’t do the work for you. Been there done that. I do hope you will try this bread again and let me know how it goes.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Do you have any idea how the measurements vary if you put the wheat berries straight into the processer than if you turn them into flour. Meaning if you have a recipe calling for flour how much of the raw wheat berries will you process to equal the amount of flour called for?
Sara, 1 cup of wheat berries produces a scant 1 3/4 cups flour. One pound of wheat berries equals approximately 4 1/2 cups flour. Refer to this post for more info https://www.breadexperience.com/home-milling/.
Hi! This is the first time trying to make this bread. I used different grains (spelt, millet, barley,lentils and other two grains) I followed every step, but my loaf did not rise at all…it looked like your first attempt. It had good taste but it wasn’t soft at all. I wonder if I didn’t kneaded enough. Could that be it? I also used fast acting yeast.. I’m trying to figure out what went wrong 🙁 can you give me advise? Thank you,
Mariana,
Thanks for sharing about the sprouted bread you made. I have not made sprouted bread using the combination of grains/lentils you chose. It sounds like you made something similar to Ezekiel bread which includes several types of grains and is typically dense.
For this sprouted bread, I usually only use one type of wheat so I can control the variables. You need to be careful not to sprout the grains too long. The type of machine used to process and knead the dough makes a difference as well. So I would recommend trying one (or two) of the same type of grains and see if you get the results you are looking for. Once you master the bread using one or two wheats, then you can add more grains, one at a time, to see how they change the structure of the loaf. Sounds like a fun experiment! Let me know how it goes.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Yes, I tried making ezekiel bread. I bought a Black and Decker food processor, but still I had to do it in separate batches . The dough had pieces of grains that didn’t get processed, at the end it still had a good consistency. I will try using one or two grains first. One question…I couldn’t find wheat berries at whole foods., what other grains can I use? instead of using so many?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Mariana, I think you mentioned that you had spelt grains before. I would use the spelt since it is a type of wheat. Processing it in batches should work. You’ll just have to knead the batches together. It’s okay if some pieces don’t get processed, but you need to end up with a flexible and elastic dough if you want the dough to rise at all. Hope this helps.
Thanks a lot! I will try again soon 🙂
SO basically no need to prepare flour first! that’s good news.
You don’t use any flour in this bread, just the sprouted wheat.
Thank you for this recipe! It is so well written. I am wanting to try baking this bread but only have a ninja blender. I understand the processing portion of the recipe makes all the difference. Do you think it would work in proxy, or what do you recommend?
Hi Carly, I haven’t used a ninja blender, but if it’s able to process the sprouted berries into a dough-like substance, it could work. It is possible to knead this dough by hand, but it’s a lot of work and takes a while. Recently, I’ve found that the meat grinder attachment on my stand mixer works well to process the sprouts. Hope this helps.
I am curious if you think sprouted mung beans would work in this recipe?
Hi Carol, I have not tried sprouted mung beans in this recipe. I would recommend trying just a little and seeing how it does. However, if you are wanting to make a bread without wheat grains, then I’m not sure how using only the sprouted mung beans would do. That would be an interesting experiment. Let me know if you try it.
Hi Cathy.
I try to make this bread-flor free- more than two weeks ago.With your recipe -find yesterday at internet-was werry easy.Past one hour I taste …our bread.Was 90 % excelent.But…(must to be one but) the bread crust is to hard.After 50 minutes I try to penetrate with one chopsticks,but I can`t.After 60 minutes I took aut and spray with oil.After one hour to cool was difficult to slice.Inside was excelent,but the upper crust is to hard.
My question is: I need to add more water,or I must to use the oven without blower ?
Thanks to your answer.
Josef
P.S.If You publish my question please to correct grammatically.Thanks.
Hi Josef, if the bread is too dense, perhaps you let the sprouts sprout too long. Also, you don’t need to utilize steam with this bread.
I love this bread – I have made a few times. However, I just read a post that asked for clarification on the soaking process. I have only sprouted my spelt berries for the 12-18 hours (rinsing after 4 and 10 hours) -dried the berries- then went ahead and used a meat grinder (by the way – meat grinder is definitely the BEST way to do this…I’ve tried food processor and Vitamix. Painfully slow). I have never soaked 12 hours, rinsed, then rested another 12 hours. Why the extra wait? Am I missing something? My bread has always seemed to turn out fine… What are your thoughts?
Hi Sara, I’ve found that using a meat grinder works the best as long as it’s an electric one. I had a hard time using a manual meat grinder. Over the years since the original post was written, I’ve reduced the amount of time I sprout my wheat berries. I’ve been perfecting the process but haven’t done a new post yet – it’s in the works. These days, I typically rinse and drain the berries a few times in the morning, then cover them with water and let them soak for 3- 5 hours, then rinse and drain again. Then I cover with a towel and let them rest in the bowl until that evening. I rinse them one more time before retiring and let them drain in a colander overnight or a jar fitted with a screened lid. The next morning, or later depending on the temperature in the kitchen, the beginning of a sprout should be breaking through. This is when they are ready. At this point, I place them in the refrigerator until I’m ready to make the bread. But it needs to happen soon because the berries will continue sprouting in the fridge.
Hi. Your bread looks good! I’m excited to get started. May I ask what brand name for meat grinder you would recommended? I would want to find heavy duty for less. Thanks!
Hi Laurie,
Recently, I’ve been using the meat grinder attachment with the WonderMix Kitchen Mixer. It works really well for processing the berries into dough and the mixer is heavy duty enough to mix everything. I haven’t tested other ones (except the manual grinder several years ago), but I know the KitcheAid Mixer has a meat grinder attachment as well. If you have one. You can also use a heavy duty food processor. The Kitchen Aid food processor does a good job of processing the dough but it does take a little while.
This is a great bread! I do hope you try it. It can be tricky to get the timing down so don’t give up if it doesn’t work perfectly the first time. Just keep practicing. It’s worth it!
Happy Baking!
Cathy
You have mentioned that you use General Electric food processor. I don’t see anything new ones except older brands? I don’t understand why this brand is no longer making. Thanks for your help.
Hi Laurie, I think I used that model several years ago. I’ve burnt out a few food processors over the years with all the baking I do. My current model is a KitchenAid, but I’m sure there are other heavy-duty models that would work. I just haven’t tested them.
Which blade you mentioned that it needed to use to cut the wheat berries into dough? Which General Electric model number do you currently have? Maybe take a picture of it that will helps?
For this bread, you would use the metal blade, not the dough blade. I don’t have a General Electric food processor. I currently have a KitchenAid and it’s a few years old. Just look for a heavy-duty food processor.
Hi. What’s the difference between Hard Red and spring white wheat Berries? I can’t seem to decide which is suitable for bread?
Thanks for all you do.
Hard Red Spring and Hard Red Winter Wheat are the most common types of whole grain wheat that is used for bread baking. The difference is in the growing season. I’ve heard that Spring wheat has a higher protein content. Hard White Wheat is a newer breed of whole wheat that some people prefer over hard red. It’s lighter in flavor and color. You can use any of those wheat berries in this bread.
Have you tried this recipe with a natural yeast starter ?
Hi Tiffany, I haven’t tried it with a sourdough starter since sourdough has flour in it, but I have used kefir milk. Not satisfied with the results yet. You could try a different natural yeast starter.
I live in Nicaragua where I can’t get many “usual” ingredients but I wanna try this bread. I don’t have glass wide mouthed jars for the sprouting process. What would u recommend using instead? Also I only have instant dry yeast instead of the active dry yeast. How would I need to adjust the recipe? Thanks!
Hi Grace, you can use a strainer over a bowl to drain the berries, but you’ll need to watch them because they can get too dry. They need to stay a little moist. Using instant yeast for this recipe is fine. You just won’t need to activate it with the water. You’ll need slightly less yeast, but it probably won’t hurt to go one-for-one. Good luck!
Today I made this bread for the fourth time. The first time was okay, the second time, less rise, and the third no rise at all! I finally clued in that my yeast was no good. However, the taste was still really good and I enjoy it toasted with cheese and tomato or just honey and butter. Today I made it with fresh yeast and it turned out the best yet…But still it’s not rising like yours. I actually just saw your message in response to my questions today all these months later, for some reason it didn’t come to my email. Anyway, I did some research today and read that maybe you should only do one rise with instant yeast , or let it rise for only half the time as for ADY, and as you said to use less yeast. Today I experimented by letting it rise the first time for only one hour and as I said it worked better. Next time I will try using less yeast. But I’m wondering about letting it rise only once. Do you have any thoughts about that? I’m determined to master this…I really love it even though it’s not yet what I know it could be. Thanks for your help!
I’m glad you’re sticking with this one. It’s worth it! I keep coming back to it myself. I haven’t tried it with only letting it rise once but I say go for it and do let me know how it does. It’s always fun to experiment!
Thank you! I tried to grind them after sprouting and dehydrating it did not work! So I am so excited to try this looks like it works great 😀
That’s a shame that you weren’t able to grind the berries after sprouting and dehydrating. You just have to make sure they are completely dry. However, this method works too! The sprouts need to be a little wet for this process. Let me know how it goes.
How do you store sprouted yeast bread? I am interested to find out if you store it differently if sliced or not. Looking for both short and long term storage methods. Thank you.
Hi Christine, sprouted bread can keep on the counter (wrapped) for a few days, but it will get moldy after that so I usually place it in a plastic bag and store it in the refrigerator for short term. For longer term, you can freeze it.
HI! Trying this for the first time and I have a few questions . In your other post, it says to rinse and drain the sprouts a few times. And the photo shows them in a jar with no water. If I’m reading it right, this post says to soak the berries( keep them in water) for the sprouting time.,so , do they sprout damp on the sides of the jars or do they sprout soaking in water?
Also how do you sprout so many berries at the same time 6 cups? Is there a trick to it I have 5 Jared a new large bowl with a 1/2 layer of wheat berries. I didn’t know if they would sprout all packed together in a jar.
Thanks!
Hi Leany,
To ensure that the berries will sprout, rinse and drain them a few times before placing them in water to soak.
The way I do it now is to start the process in the morning. I place the rinsed and drained grains in a bowl and cover them with about an inch or two of fresh water and cover it with a clean cloth. You can also use a large gallon jar or split the berries into several jars. Soak the berries in the water about 3- 5 hours. Drain the water, then rinse and drain the berries again and let them sit at room temperature, covered (so they dry out) for several hours. Rinse the berries again in the evening and let them drain overnight in a strainer or a jar fitted with a screened lid. You should begin to see the beginning of a sprout the next morning. If it’s cool in the room, it may take longer. If you don’t plan to use the sprouts that day, you can keep them in the refrigerator; however, keep in mind they will continue to germinate in the refrigerator.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Cathy
Hello, I am very interested in trying this recipe! I am wondering if I can use homemade yeast (water) instead of the commercial yeast? In other recipes, homemade yeast (water) is used to replace the water in the recipe – with no commercial yeast needed. However, the water content in this recipe is less due to the sprouted wheat berries. I’m not sure the homemade yeast (water) would be enough to leaven the bread. Any advice?
Hello, I haven’t tried making this bread with yeast water but that would be an interesting experiment. Let me know how it goes if you do try it.