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As for me and my house (we will serve the Lord), we are still experimenting with sprouted grains. I’m not sure whether to keep trying with the artisan bread in 5 minutes. I think I’ve gotten it as good as it can get with sprouted kamut, spelt and/or emmer. The sprouted spelt works the best of those three, and we really like the bread. Like many of you who tried the artisan bread, I have cut back the salt.

Last week, to refresh my memory and compare traditional kneaded bread with the 5-minute artisan bread, I made traditional bread (kneading in the Bosch) with sprouted kamut.

And I thought it was amazing that after all these years of bread-baking, I learned something new. I love it when that happens! I was watching the Bosch turning the wet dough and this dough, with 100% sprouted Kamut, is heavy. It wants to sink to the bottom of the bowl and just globs on there. I have never gotten it past that point because I’ve usually added as much flour as I think I can without making the dough too dry and the resulting loaves crumbly and dense. Taking it out of the mixing bowl is a sticky mess; I usually oil my hands to facilitate the process, and the bread would turn out pretty well.

However, this time, I decided to keep adding flour, just a little at a time. Gradually, the dough started clearing the sides of the bowl until it was soft, springy and beautiful! I was so excited. (Anybody else jump up and down over nice dough?) The dough turned out beautifully and so did the bread. I made rolls and sandwich loaves out of it.

Other things we’ve done lately: I got burned out on sprouts a few months ago, so I’ve cut back on growing them. The exception is that I am still growing mung bean and lentil sprouts. Our salads have been a mixture of these sprouts, with local/organic cabbage and dark greens, sliced red onions, pumpkin seeds, diced goat cheese — and all tossed with salt, pepper, dill, basil, extra virgin olive oil, and high quality balsamic vinegar (no sulfites). Yummy!

I sprouted some garbanzo beans the other day, to make raw hummus. The beans are ready for the experiment. I want to make it today. Anyone tried this? Any tips?

We’ve enjoyed mujedarah a few times lately. I love that stew. The other day when we had to spend the entire morning and early afternoon at a dealership for a truck service appointment, I packed sprouted kamut rolls and this stew for our lunch. We waited until the customer waiting area cleared out to have our lunch. I served it and then all the people came back in! Several people commented on how good our lunch smelled. It did smell good and it tasted even better.

What have you been cooking?