Now We’re Talking Fluffy

fluffy-sprouted-spelt-bread

One little change to my Easy Sprouted Spelt Bread recipe. Big results.

I raised the oven temperature by 25 degrees, from 350 to 375. And the bread fluffed way up.

It was already a little fluffy, but now it is poofy.

Well. I’m happy.

Thank you to Christie’s mom for the inspiration.

About Wardeh

Wardeh ('Wardee') Harmon lives in Oregon with her husband, Jeff, and their three children, Haniya, Naomi & Mikah. They garden and raise a dairy cow, chickens and goats. Wardeh is passionate about traditional cooking. She writes books and teaches online classes in traditional cooking, sourdough, cultured dairy, cheesemaking and fermentation. Follow Wardeh on Google+.

Comments

  1. Jami says:

    Hey Wardeh,

    We love your new ‘fluffy’ bread. Thank you for sharing a loaf with us!

  2. Wardeh says:

    Thank you, Jami, for all your help yesterday! The beans were delicious and your helpfulness a blessing!

  3. Jami says:

    I know you haven’t tried this yet….but what do you think?

    After watching youtube videos on making sprouted grain bread, where they did not dry the sprouts before grinding, I am wondering if the measuring of the grain-goo would be the same as the measuring of the dehydrated grain flour. Or is the measuring done before the drying of the sprouts, or just before the grinding or what?

    What do you think? How would I make sure I was using the right amounts when using non-dried sprouted grains instead of dry ones? I’m not clear on this, any thoughts?

    Hay, I could hold the camera if you wanted to make a video {grin}

    Have you tried the sprouted-flour in the 5-minute artisan (store in the refrigerator) bread dough?

    -Love ya!

  4. Jami says:

    Ooops I just found your “Easy Artisan Bread with Sprouted Grains” post! I don’t know how I missed it before…..

    I will move over to that post with my questions -

  5. Wardeh says:

    Jami, I’m glad you found the other post and I will watch for your questions.

    I don’t know how to figure the measurements and am planning to read up on that a bit before doing the experimentation. :) I will let you know what I try, when I figure it out.

  6. Sonya Hemmings says:

    Hi, Wardeh:

    I haven’t commented on anything in quite awhile, but I have enjoyed each of your posts over the past few months! I have especially been watching this process of artisan bread-making from sprouted grains, and I am gearing up to try it. I wonder how you knew to sprout the grains to alleviate any symptoms in your gluten-sensitive family members? I would love to read more about why that works if you have any information you could share. Was it simply trial and error? I’m not sure I would know what to look for in my 8-year-old son, who simply tested as gluten-sensitive at a very early age despite no visible symptoms that I could pinpoint (plus, we have celiac disease in our family, and while he has not ever been diagnosed with that, I would just want to be careful that I wasn’t harming him in some way by trying the sprouted spelt bread). I also wondered whether this new loaf–the fluffy one!–was as fragile as you have described some of the past loaves. You continue to inspire me!

    Sonya

    P.S. I am also working out a method for making my own yogurt using organic coconut milk and vegan cultures (no dairy for my son, either). I’ll be doing lots of experimenting in the next few weeks. Have you ever tried yogurt making?

    • Wardeh says:

      Hi, Sonya! So good to see you! Hope your family has been doing well!

      I began looking into sprouting grains for bread after reading in several books (Nourishing Traditions may have been one, but certainly Sue Gregg’s whole grain baking cookbook was one of them) that sprouting and/or soaking may help those with sensitivities. I understand your concern about not knowing how to tell if it was working or not; in our case, Haniya has digestive symptoms with gluten. However, she does not have the same symptoms with sprouted grains, so we believe she is still doing well. If I were you, I would want to be careful, too. You might monitor his bathroom-activities more carefully, also take his temperature and pulse before and after he eats sprouted grains to see if there is a dramatic difference.

      The new loaves are not fragile at all. I noticed fragility when kneading the sprouted grain flours — not terribly fragile, just a little bit. However, following this easy artisan method, the loaves hold together very well and make excellent sandwich bread. Really, I am amazed. I find this method to produce some of the best bread. Spelt yields the best. The other grains make denser/dryer loaves.

      I have never tried yogurt making. I hope when you figure it out, you’ll share! I would love to include your results in a post!

  7. Christie says:

    That’s good to know. I have done it both ways, but used either wheat or spelt, so never could make a true comparison.

    So did you figure out why a higher temperature does this?

    • Wardeh says:

      Hi, Christie.

      Here’s why:

      “When bread is baked, the heat puts yeast in a highly excited state, creating carbon dioxide very quickly and causing the bread to rise in the oven.”

      from http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4567273_bread-rise.html

      I think the lower temperature didn’t excite the yeast enough. ;) I suppose I need to repeat this to make sure, but the result was so different than any of my other loaves that I’m fairly certain.

  8. gilliebean
    Twitter:
    says:

    Looks sooo good!

    I’ve tried three times and haven’t yet been successful. The first time I didn’t dehydrate the berries long enough. The second time I didn’t knead the dough. The third time I let the berries sprout too long. I’ll get it figured out eventually. :)

    I should mentioned I’ve never baked any other kind of bread before this so I’m doubly inexperienced!

    • Wardeh says:

      Gillie, I know you will get it. I am sorry it has been troublesome so far. But looking back, I had a few batches that weren’t that great in my learning curve. What are you using for the grain?

      I am wondering why you are kneading the dough? This recipe doesn’t call for any kneading, just mixing to get them combined.

      One of these days, I’ll have a video available to show just how this process is done.

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