Secret 4: Eat Sprouted Wheat Bread

In the fourth secret, Sally Beare tells us that:

i. many people cannot tolerate wheat, and especially those who crave it have an intolerance.  People with an intolerance who continue eating wheat may end up with severe health issues such as autoimmune diseases.

ii. if you want to avoid grains with gluten such as wheat, rye, and barley, try "sprouted wheat bread".

Sprouted wheat bread is low in gluten as the gluten is - to a large extent - broken down by the sprouting process, and as with all things sprouted (such as bean sprouts), it is high in nutrients. Since Beare even offers a seemingly straight-forward recipe that consists of nothing more than wheat berries and water, why not go ahead and bake this wonder bread yourself?  

I do remember trying this recipe previously and although I made sure to interrupt the sprouting process when the sprouts reached 1/4'', the bread was sour and did not become a family favorite. Ever the optimist, I decided to give the recipe another try.  What healthier bread than home-made baked bread?

I should have known better.

A hallmark of a good recipe is that even an average cook can turn it into a delicious dish. If a recipe does not work out the first time, chances are repetition will not improve it. But let me start at the beginning.  

In italics, Sally Beare's recipe.  In normal script, my reality.

1. Soak 3 cups of wheat berries in mineral water overnight

Soak what now? What on earth are wheat berries? Since berries are a type of superfood then by logical deduction 'wheat berries' must be good. I was going to 'Whole Foods' so I decided to check the bulk bins while there.  Lo and behold, wheat berries I found. Since I wanted 3 cups and no more and no less I had brought along my measuring cup. At the check-out the cashier laughed when the measuring cup rode along the conveyor belt: 'you probably want to keep this, now, don't you?"

Satisfied that I had managed to collect exactly three cups of wheat berries,  I went home without the mineral water. And since I don't usually buy mineral water I promptly forgot it on the next two supermarket forays.

'Use up what you have before you go out to buy more' is one of my mantras and by chance I discovered a half full bottle of mineral water in our fridge door. After soaking the wheat berries in a mixing bowl we still had enough mineral water for the husband.  

2. Spread seeds on wide-bottom sieve, cover with napkins and leave in a dark place

I don't have a sieve that's wide enough for 3 cups of wheat berries so I cheated.  I used a grease sieve over a large plate and the rest of the wheat berries I simply put in a metal baking dish.  Instead of covering these with paper napkins (which smell toxic; who knows what went into their fabrication), I used some cotton napkins.  In fact, I used our Christmas napkins. It''s January, and no one will miss them:

A dark place? Hmmm. Various family members have sighted a field mouse bouncing through our kitchen at night. The field mice prefer the warm indoors during the cold winter months. I was not going to leave my experiment on the kitchen counter for the mouse to try out.  This was supposed to become our bread.  I carried the plate and the dish into the basement. (The mouse had only been sighted in the kitchen).  

So far, so good.

3. Rinse with water 3 times daily

Three times a day? Me? No way was I going to remember to go down to the basement to rinse those seeds three times a day. Out of sight out of mind. I decided to leave Beare's book in full view on the kitchen counter as a not-so-subtle reminder to go water my sprouts. I think I managed once daily, maybe even twice.  

4. After 2 - 4 days, berries will have sprouts 1/4'' long.  Harvest immediately otherwise bread will be sour.

After two days, the sprouts were visible:

They seemed to grow slower on the sieve, and faster in the baking dish w/o sieve:

And even faster on the bottom of the dish than on the surface:

Remembering my previous ill-fated sprouting experiment (sour bread),  I decided it was time to harvest.

5. Blend sprouted berries in blender until dough turns clay-like

Not a good idea. The berries were so hard that the engine in the blender started smelling like it was about to burn out. Not wanting to loose my blender on this unproven baking experiment I decided to add some water. That seemed to help. So I added some more. Nice. Why not add more? Now the berries were really turning to clay. Actually a rather wet clay. Maybe too wet?  

6. Knead dough for 5 - 10 minutes

Oops, this wet stuff is going to be hard to knead. But the consistency of this 'clay-dough' feels wonderful on the skin! Maybe I should just stop the baking effort and turn this soft, mushy dough into a face mask? With such great nutrient content who knows how this might make my face glow? But no, let me finish what I started. Well, forget the kneading. Who kneads water anyway?  

7. Shape into two loaves and form long ovals.  Place these on a greased baking sheet

Well, that's not going to work. Let's see. How can I possibly save this run-off? Ah, an idea. I'll make muffin bread instead of two loaves.  Well, Beare did say two loaves. A compromise.  Let me fill a muffin sheet with this water-clay dough and anything that's left over will turn into a pretend loaf. 

Splat:

8. Bake at 325 F for two hours. Serve warm with a spread of your choice

Et voila, here is the result:

First, the muffins:

Then, the loaf:

Even butter and honey did not save my wonder bread. The 'bread' tasted moist and undercooked in some parts, and had diamond-hard wheat berries in other parts. Maybe a blender cannot replace two hours of rock grinding by the patient Hunzakuts in Pakistan? My family took one look at my effort, rolled their eyes, politely declined to be involved in any way possible and my chef d'oeuvre ended up on the compost pile.

Oh well.

So what did I learn from this? By all means make sprouted wheat bread but use an excellent recipe. I wonder whether Ms. Beare even tried out her own recipe? Perhaps it works at British Isles sea level.  But here in the lofty one-mile heights of Colorado....? So find a recipe suited to altitude if you are not baking at sea level. In the meantime stick with recipes that are delicious the first time around such as the scone recipe in Rombauer's "Joy of Cooking" (always a hit with friends and relatives) and 'the curried carrot soup', 'pear custard pie', 'roasted salmon with lentils', 'shrimp gazpacho', 'sauteed chicken in mustard-cream sauce' and others from Great Food Fast. But wait! The happy, healthy centenarians aren't eating shrimp gazpacho, chicken in mustard-cream sauce or pear custard pie? Whatever they are eating, if you want to simulate it, make sure you have an excellent recipe. And if the recipe does not turn out well the first time round, look for a better one.

Bon appetit!


Take-home lesson: if you enjoy bread, choose sprouted wheat bread.  Either find a great recipe or simply buy it.  In Denver, Sunflower Market and Whole Foods have sprouted wheat bread.