Making Unyeasted Sprout Bread - Essene Bread
This "simplest of breads" contains only sprouted wheat: nothing else! The commercial versions sold under the brand names of ESSENE BREAD, OR WAYFARER;S BREAD (and perhaps others) have been very popular, but making them at home is pretty challenging: but here it is a recipe that works. If your first try is off in some way, either bland tasting or else too wet, next time pay more attention to the timing of the sprouts, becuae that is the key to success. The finished bread should be moist, flaky, dark, a little sweet--dense without being heavy. Its devotees consider it the purest of breads, and since it has no flour, no yeast, no salt, sweetener, fat, or dairy products, who can argue?
Use about a pound of wheat per loaf. Start with 2 to 3 pounds, about 6 cups of wheat: that will make three good sized loaves. Choose hard red or hard white wheat. Soak itr in warm-room-temperature water for 18 hours, then keep it covered in a dark place, rinsing it three times a day until the little sprout is one-third the length of the grain. This will take about 36 to 48 hours, maximum. If you fear that the sprouts may get away from you before you can grind them up, slow them down by putting them in the refrigerator toward the end of the time.
If the sprouts are too young, the bread will not be sweet: if too old, the bread will be gooey and wil never bake out. Remove the excess moisture from the sprouts by patting them with a terry towel. Grind them with a food or meat grinder or about 2 cups at a time in the food processor using the regular steel blade. We use the Bosch Meat Grinder attachment for our Bosch Universal Plus and it does a great job, Make them as smooth as possible. What results from the grinding is sticky, but knead it very well, nontheless. For this, mechanical help is welcome, and if you ground the sprouts in the food processor, just keep processing each 2 cups for about 3 minutes in all, stopping just begore the dough ball falls apart. How long this will take will depend on the kind of wheat you use: watch carefully. A high protein wheat will produce the ball faster.
By hand or with a dough hook (again we just put the mushed sprouts in the Bosch Universal Plus with the dough hook) knead the sprouts until the gluten is developed, somewhat longer than you would do with a normal dough. If you are kneading by hand, keep the dough in a bowl and use a hefty wooden spoon or dough know unless you want to abandon yourself to the ancient mud-pie method of squeezing it between your fingers until the gluten gets going and the going gets easier. Again you want the ball to stick together and have a little stretch to it.
Whatever method you have used to get to this point, cover the dough and let it rest for about an hour or so, then shape it into smallish oblong loaves and place on a well-greased baking sheet. Bake slowly, not over 325 degrees F. for 2 1/2 hours or until nicely browned.
Cool the loaves and wrap them in a towel. Put them in plastic or brown paper bags, and set aside in a cool place or in the refrigerator for a day or two. This softens the leathery crust and give the inside time to attain their moist flaky perfection.
VARIATION: (and a big improvement) Grind 1/2 cup of dates along with each pound of sprouted wheat. Other dried fruits can work well, too, but we like dates best by far. Raisins make a very sticky, very black loaf; it is too sweet unless you reduce the measure by half.
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