Breads with Sprouts

It is easy to just add sprouts into your regular bread recipe just like it is for adding nuts, or seeds or even raisins.  You can be adventurous and add your favorite alfalfa sprouts or just sprout the sunflower seeds a little and add them to the dough.  As we explained in our previous post, the nutrition, vitamins and minerals are multiplied many times over when you simply sprout the grains, beans or seeds before using them.  The sprouts also add a really great looking texture to the bread and seem to make is somewhat more chewy, which we like a lot. 

You can also make bread from just using the sprouted wheat and no flour at all.  It is not as easy or quick as just adding the sprouts but you get a wonderful light and tasty bread with lots of great nutrients and flavour. This type of bread is very distinctive with a lots of chew, lots of character, and lots of appeal.   I like to credit some of the goodness of this version to the efficiency of our Bosch meat grinder attachment that I use to grind the sprouts.  Using the disc that comes with it (4.5) it does a great job of coarse grinding the wheat spouts that give the bread a coarser texture that is flecked with bran.  I like it that way, but if you want to grind the spouts finer, you can make an extremely fine-textured light bread.

In making this type of bread, the trick is to sprout the grain just until the tiny sprout is barely beginning to show and the grain itself is tender--about 48 hours.  If the grain is not tender, your grinder will heat up, making the dough too hot.  But if the sprout develops long enough for the diastatic enzymes to get going, you will have a very gooey bread that will never bake through.  It is because the grain is not sprouted long enough to develop the enzymes and be sweetened by them that the recipe calls for a generous amount of honey.  Without it, the bread simply doesn't taste very good.

This bread recipe is based on what I can make with our Bosch meat grinder attachment or Bosch food processor attachment.  If you have equipment that can produce a really smooth grind with only tiny bran particles, the resulting dough will make lighter bread and so probably be more than enough for two loaves.  You can either make a few rolls or buns with the extra, or reduce the quantities to what you would use for two normal loaves.  2 pounds of wheat, 1/4 cup honey, 2 1/2 tsp. salt, and 2 tsp. of yeast.

Sprout bread makes excellent use of the talents of the Bosch food processor attachment on yourBosch Universal machine.  The steel blade grinds the sprouts and  the dough hook in the bowl kneads the dough too--a big contribution with this bread, which is hard to knead by hand.  The result is a flaky-textured bread with incomparable flavour, easy as pie.

Printable Sprouted-Wheat Yeast Bread Recipe

Yeasted Sprout Bread -- Adapted from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

6 cups hard white wheat or red wheat ( will make about 3 quarts sprouted wheat)
2 tsp. Saf Yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup honey
4 tsp. salt

Sprout the wheat kernels until just a small sprout is seen.(about 48 hours) and drain them very well and cool them in the refrigerator for several hours.  Grind the sprouts though the Bosch Meat Grinder to get a mush.  You can try a smaller hole disc (#3) if you wish a finer texture but the one the comes with the Bosch meat grinder attachment will do the job as well.
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.  Add the honey, salt, and yeast to the ground sprouts and mix together in the Bosch Universal Kitchen mixer equipped with the dough hook, until well mixed.  The dough will feel sticky but stiff.  Add water if needed to soften the dough, but be cautious as it should be just right without it.  Knead for 7 to 10 min. on speed one on a Bosch Universal or speed 2 on a Bosch Universal Plus.  Knead until the dough is really elastic.  Form the dough into a small ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl.  Cover and keep in a warm, draft free place.  After an hour and a half, gently poke the centre of the dough about 1/2 " deep with a wet finger.  If the hole doesn't fill in at all or the dough sighs, it is ready for the next step.  Press flat, form a smooth round and let the dough rise once more as before.  If the dough is cold, the first rise may be fairly slow, but as the dough warms up the rising will telescope.  Divide the dough in half, and gently knead into rounds.  Use water on your hands to prevent sticking, and keep the balls as smooth as possible.  Let them rest until they regain their suppleness while you grease two standard 8"x4" loaf pans or pie tins, or even a cookie sheet.  Press the dough flat and shape into loaves.  Let rise in a warm, draft free place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint.  Bake about 1 hours in a 350 degree F. oven, though if your bread rises very high it will take less than that.  Makes 2 loaves.  ENJOY!