100% Sprouted Wheat SOURDOUGH BREAD

7 Great Reasons to Add Sprouted Wheat Bread to Your Diet

1- “Sprouted grain bread is made using the whole grain. It’s nutritionally similar to whole-grain flour breads and superior to breads made with white flours.
2- “Sprouted grain bread is lower in carbs and calories and has less of an impact on blood sugar compared to other types of bread. It may even help you lose weight.
3- “Sprouted grains are higher in several nutrients, including protein, fiber, vitamin C, folate, and beta-carotene. In addition, sprouting decreases antinutrients [ie. phytic acid], making the nutrients in the grains more readily available to your body
4- “Sprouted grain bread may be easier to digest, as sprouted grains are higher in enzymes and lower in lectins, compared to unsprouted grains.
5- “Sprouted grain bread contains less gluten than breads made from unsprouted grains. While this may improve tolerability, people with celiac disease or an allergy to wheat should still avoid sprouted, gluten-containing grains.
6- “Sprouted grains are higher in antioxidants, which help protect against chronic diseases. Eating sprouted grain bread is an easy way to increase your consumption of these powerful compounds.
7- “Sprouted grain bread can easily be substituted for regular bread, though it has a much denser texture. You can find it in stores or try making your own.”—Melissa Groves, Healthline, June 20, 2018

I started the day a bit discouraged about using 100% sprouted wheat flour for sourdough bread. Several of my go-to sites had pointed to their own failures using just this kind of flour.

Maurizio Leo at The Perfect Loaf explained how using 100% sprouted wheat to make flour for sourdough bread had been on his to-do list for a long time. This was on my list too, but at least I would not have to sprout the wheat, dehydrate, and mill it since I had found One Degree Organic Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour on the shelf at our local health food store.

Maurizio played around this new flour and did several tests. In his first, he wrote: “The first thing to strike me with this flour was how it smelled. The aroma was mild but reminiscent of freshly milled wheat I’ve worked with in the past. When I mixed the first test batch the aroma was amplified as the water hit the flour—this is where I usually get the first inkling of how the resulting bread might smell and taste. If you’ve never paused at this point of the process to take a big whiff of freshly hydrated flour, give it a try. It will surely put a grin on your face.”

I tried it. He was right. The aroma of the flour and water was that of the freshest, just milled wheat and something wild I had tasted as a boy in the fields, with a stalk of wheat between my teeth.

He continued explaining that in subsequent bakes he, “worked to bring out those mild and creamy notes by pairing the sprouted grain with other flour,” he “knew would support a lofty loaf but at the same time not be overpowering.” He chose a mixture of both bread and all-purpose flour to strengthen the dough. I will probably try his recipe in another bake later this week, but the problem with this was that Martha Levie had tasked me with finding a way to use 100% sprouted wheat to make sourdough bread.

So I turned to a baker at The Fresh Loaf, who wrote, “…not only did I want to find a way to make ‘wonder bread-like’ 100% whole wheat bread, but I wanted it to be ‘sprouted’ wheat. No biggie with the sprouted, as this is a 1:1 replacement to non-sprouted wheat.

“Then I found a recipe recently on the web where this baker states his 100% whole wheat bread is the “go-to” recipe for sandwich breads, implying that it is light and fluffy. So I decided to try it but switch out the whole wheat with sprouted whole wheat.

“WHAM!!!  The best 100% sprouted whole wheat bread I have ever baked!  My family and friends love it. They say it is the best,” they concluded. However, their recipe calls for ⅓ cup vital wheat gluten and 4 tsp instant yeast.

Oh no, added gluten and instant yeast!

So the search went on until I came across a recipe from Breadtopia for “Sprouted Wheat Sourdough Bread.” I could tell the ingredients would not make a very big loaf, so I adapted it some to make it a bit larger.

I did start the process with a very active bread-flour starter by refreshing it the evening before. Then as Maurizio suggested, in the morning, I added ¼ cup (60g) active starter to ¼ cup (60g) water and ½ cup( 60g) sprouted wheat flour to make a quick levain. And it was quick, just 2 hours.

Maurizio also suggested adding the water to the rest of the flour while the levain was activating. And like he said it would, the minute I added the water to the flour an amazing waft of fresh wheat aromas caught my attention.

The folks at Breadtopia said, “Sprouted flour has a lot of enzymatic activity, so a long autolyse is not advised, but mixing the flour and water first and letting it sit for 20-30 minutes is okay.” I just gave it two hours before my first stretch and fold (At their site, Breadtopia demonstrates another way to develop gluten called “coil folding”). The gluten was already developing nicely from the autolyse.

Still, I did the usual stretch and fold cycle every 30 minutes over the following two hours and set it for the long-ferment. Then in two hours that promised enzymatic activity had the bread ready to shape, set for the final proofing, and baking.

TRIAL #1 — 100 % SPROUTED WHOLE WHEAT

In my first test bake, the flour handled nicely but it proofed twice as fast as normal bread. However, it really behaves like any other whole wheat flour, just with more flavor. The oven spring was not good, as you can see above, but the crumb was still open some. The bread was lighter than other 100% whole wheat loaves I have baked.

That all said the flavor profile was extraordinary, but the loaf was a bit heavy for our liking. I just could not get enough of its singular flavor. Something of just milled wheat and a wild grass flavor. I loved it and have already had three slices today, but I plan to bake a country/rustic loaf again tomorrow.

TRIAL #2 — WHOLE WHEAT and WHITE FLOUR

I really did like the flavor of the 100% sprouted wheat bread, but Maurizio had warned me of its heaviness. So turning back to his recipe where he used one part sprouted whole wheat flour to a mix of three parts all-purpose and bread flour, I adapted this on my experience with Abigail’s Oven Country Loaf. This calls for 4 cups (500 g) of Abigail’s White Whole Wheat Flour, however, since the sprouted wheat is whole wheat, I used 3 cups of King Arthur’s Bread Flour and 1 cup of One Degree Organic Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour at 80% hydration (scant 1¾ [400g]) filtered water.

Maurizio’s recipe called for 86% hydration, which is a lot of water. At 80% hydration, this dough was pretty sticky and I glad I did not add more water. I could tell after the four sets of stretch and folds, I used a cold bulk rise to help it handle better. Even at that, I had to nearly pour it from the proofing basket into my Pullman pan.

Here is the adjusted recipe:

25% SPROUTED WHEAT SOURDOUGH BREAD RECIPE

This bread made with 25% sprouted whole wheat was about as good as it gets. The crust was crisp and crunchy, but the inside was light and fluffy. The crumb was open and the taste was great. For taste and nutrition, I recommend this recipe.

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