Sprouted Grain Sourdough Bread

A delicious loaf with complex flavour and texture, this whole wheat blend and sprouted grain sourdough is a great addition to your baking rotation.

Why Sprouted Sourdough?

Sprouted grains not only contribute phenomenal texture to a loaf, they’re also considered to be quite healthy, which is a great bonus for those looking to add more whole grain to their diet.

We love a good basic sourdough bread, but this is more of an adaptation on our cinnamon raisin sourdough because it doesn’t require bread flour. Regular all-purpose and whole wheat flours form the dough, while the stretch and folds build the structure.

If you’ve been making sourdough for a while and would like to branch out, this sprouted grain sourdough is an ideal place to start. Sprouting is a natural extension of sourdough baking–especially if you’re milling your own flour–and adding sprouted wheat makes for a more complex and highly textured loaf. It stands up well to just about any topping and toasts like a dream.

You can buy sprouted grain breads at most grocery stores nowadays, with brands like Silver Hills and Ezekiel in the mainstream. We think homemade is better, though. And once you make this loaf, we’re sure you’ll agree.

What’s in this bread?

• All-purpose (white) flour
• Whole wheat flour – red fife in this case (see below for more information)
• Sourdough starter for the levain
• Sea salt
• Water
• Sprouted wheat berries

All about sprouted grains

Sprouted grains are whole grains that have been soaked and germinated (or allowed to sprout). This process allows the vital enzymes to be released which breaks down the starches and make the grain more digestible. The sprouted grains also add a nice chewy texture to the bread.

You can find wheat berries at most health food and bulk stores, or online at places like Flourist. Sprouting them will take a couple of days, so you’ll want to start sprouting at least one day before starting the levain. (See the schedule below for more detailed information.)

If you want to make the sprouted wheat berries in advance, they can be be made and refrigerated several days before using. Sprouted grains are ultra chewy and toothsome, so they add a nice texture to just about anything (they’re great in grain bowls).

How to Make Your Own Sprouted Wheat

Two Days Before Making Bread

Take approximately ¼ cup of wheat berries (about 50 g) and soak them in enough water to fully submerge for 2 hours. Drain the wheat berries well, then transfer them to a mason jar (important for being able to watch their progress), and set them aside in a dark corner of your kitchen.

Rinse and drain the berries a few times throughout the day. By the end of day 1, you should notice small white tails coming from your grains. 

The Day Before Making Bread

The tails of the wheat berries should be a little longer now (see photo above). The grain is now sprouted and will be ready for your bread. You will need to do this step a at least one day before you are ready to make the bread, but can do it several days in advance and store the fully sprouted wheat berries in the fridge until you are ready to bake.

Red Fife Wheat

The whole wheat element in this loaf is whole grain Red Fife flour. Red fife is a heritage variety of wheat that was the Canadian baking standard of wheat from 1860 to 1900. Eventually, Red Fife was replaced with new strains of wheat that were more pest resistant.

Over the last 20 years, Red Fife has seen a resurgence in organic and artisanal bakeries and become more popular for home bakers. It has a similar nuttiness and can be compared to other more popular heritage grains like spelt, khorasan, and einkorn. You can often find it from small distributors such as Flourist.

Substitutions

Just a couple: You can use bread flour in place of all-purpose and regular whole wheat instead of Red Fife. We think another ancient wheat would work, too, like whole grain spelt, but we haven’t tested this yet.

You can use any kind of sprouted grain if you don’t have/can’t find wheat berries. Think sprouted buckwheat, barley, rye, millet, or any other grain that will sprout. We particularly love the texture of wheat berries, though.

Step by step:

Baker’s Schedule

Day 1 

Morning (24-36 hours)

Soak the wheat for sprouting: Place wheat berries in a jar and soak them in water for two hours. Drain and rinse them a few more times. Let them sit in a dark corner of your kitchen to sprout.  See more details above.

Evening (overnight)

Make the Levain: Mix the starter, water, and flour together in a bowl. That’s it. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave it on the counter to ferment overnight for approximately 8-12 hours.

Day 2

Afternoon

Autolyse: (30 minutes). Combine the fermented levain with the additional flours and water in a bowl. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Folding (3 hours): Add the sea salt and sprouted wheat berries to the dough and stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes for the next 3 hours.

Rest, then shape (30 minutes): After the folds are complete, turn your loaf on to the counter and let rest before shaping. Prep your basket, banneton, or bowl for proofing.

Evening (Overnight)

Shape the loaf and place in a floured bowl or banneton (top-down, seam side up). Cover with a tea towel. Set in the fridge overnight.

Day 3 

Morning (1 hour, 20 minutes). Preheat the dutch oven for 30 minutes. Bake the sourdough for 45-50 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven and carefully lift out the loaf using the edges of the parchment paper. Let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Why We Use Levain (Leaven)

While you could use straight starter in your sourdough, and we often do, levain can be easier for a number of reasons. Yes, it adds an extra overnight rise to the process, but it also means that you can use your starter straight from the fridge.

Unless you’re feeding your starter daily and it’s almost always ready to use, making a levain is often a more practical solution because your main starter can stay inactive and stored away. It also means that you can control the type of flour going into your loaf more easily.

You can see in our sourdough sandwich bread, for example, that it almost looks like a whole grain blend. That’s because we used a 100% rye starter, so it looks like there’s some whole wheat flour in the mix. A mostly all-purpose levain, with just a little bit of starter, would solve that.

More Great Sourdough Recipes

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Sourdough Focaccia
Sourdough Dinner Rolls
New York Style Sourdough Bagels
And if you want to keep baking, we have a whole space dedicated to sourdough recipes, including lots of discard recipes!

If you make your own sprouted grain sourdough, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.