April Home Projects - Sprouted Bread

by sarahmfry, June 10, 2011
In April I tried some new home projects.  Sometimes when you try new things, you win some, you lose some.  I had been having some stomach issues and my natural health practitioner told me I wasn't dealing with wheat well, but I tested okay for sprouted wheat (like Ezekiel 4:9 bread).

Ezekiel 4:9., "Take also unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and Spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it..."

Sprouted wheat has been soaked as berries until little green sprouts pop out.  Then you bake your goods as usual and the wheat becomes a green "vegetable-like" food that is processed much easier by your body.  I love Ezekiel 4:9 bread, which is one of the most nutritious mixtures of grains you can feed your body. Healthy grains are a power house of nutrition.  Some of you have heard my mom tell the story of Elijah's depression from a nutrition teacher's perspective.....sleep, water, healthy grains.  Repeat.  It's powerful knowledge.  There are incredible B vitamins which bolster our nerves and I could go on and on. 

Anyway, I wanted to experiment with making sprouted bread myself.  So David bought me a 25-pound bag of wheat and I started experimenting. The sprouting part is easy.  But grinding the sprouted wheat is pretty intense.  I tried several machines before finally borrowing a food processor powerful enough to handle the heavy, sticky dough.  All in all, the recipe I used was simply gross.  The bread was too moist and has a strange flavor.  But I haven't totally given up.  I still plan to sprout some more and try a sprouted recipe for banana bread.  My family loves quickbreads, and it's one of the coolest ways to sneak in heavy flour, extra pureed vegetables, and even things like wheat germ and flaxseed meal.   They usually call for a lot of fat, but I like to substitute unsweetened applesauce.  And you can usually substitute at least part of the white sugar with pure maple syrup, agave, or some other natural sweetener.

My bag of wheat makes me happy.  Does that mean I need to get out more?

Why is this so beautiful?

See those little powerful sprouts?

Magic Bullet's awesome for smoothies.  Sprouted wheat?  Not so much.  Oh well.  I had to give it a try.





Oh my....I forgot how many steps there were to this until I looked back through my pictures!
Why is kneading bread so therapeutic?  Maybe I should just invest in some new playdoh.


I realize the whole wheat conversation is very extensive, and for some, very passionate. I am not - nor do I intend to be at this point - wheat free.   I have rye flour to try, and I'm open to trying spelt flour and I've tried gluten-free as well.  But my goal for this now is really just to experiment with the sprouted, and if I do find a recipe we love, building it in to my routine so that it isn't a huge task.  And if it doesn't happen - no big deal.  My baby is eating a piece of toasted Ezekiel 4:9 cinnamon raisin sprouted bread right now that I bought in the freezer section of my favorite grocery.  So life is good.

P.S.  Corin just came into the kitchen wanting another piece of toast.  (I just love it - begging for some of the best nutrition he could have!)  I couldn't believe he finished his first slice so quickly.  I wondered if he may have deposited it somewhere throughout the house (they're really not allowed to have food in any room but the kitchen, but I was - well - busy blogging.)  After a trip around our small house calling "Here, toasty-toasty!"  no toast showed up, so I guess he scarfed it down!  He's currently eating the center out of slice #2.

PS #2:  Lest I sound like a total health weirdo, we are very  normal.  We love Doritos and Oreos.   But that reminds me!!  I found all-natural Dorito-tasting tortilla chips (Kroger healthy living section) and we absolutely LOVE Paul Newman's organic oreos. They're called Newman-O's.  We don't get them very often. They're very expensive!  Come to think of it, though, who wants to be normal?

PS #3: There are so many layers to nutrition.  I'm feeling another big conversation coming on.  I want to blog sometime about the search for your individual family's healthy, sustainable balance.....

PS #4:  It's a pretty good sign I need to be writing/blogging more when I do a silly little blog and end up wanting to write and write and can't find a place to stop. 
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