Technique: Sprouted Wheat
How to Sprout Wheat Berries to make Sprouted Wheat Flour:
1. At a local health-food store, purchase at least 2 cups of wheat berries. If your goal for this flour is to make bread or muffins, buy Hard Red Wheat Berries. If your goal is to make pastries, cookies or cakes, buy Soft White Wheat Berries. Either variety will work well to thicken a gravy or casserole.
2. In a two-quart sprouting jar, pour 2 cups of wheat berries. Return the mesh lid to the jar.
3. Fill the jar 3/4 full with filtered water and soak the berries overnight or for 8 hours.
4. After soaking, drain off the soaking water. Rinse the berries by refilling the jar with water and allowing it to overflow until the foam subsides. Drain off the water again and rest jar upside down at a 60˚ angle in a large bowl or like I use above, an old dish rack. When you tip the jar, allow the wheat berries to rest along the full length of the jar, carefully not to fully cover the mesh lid. If using a bowl, make sure the mesh end of the jar is not flush against the bowl. It needs breathing room to prevent mold on the berries.
5. Rinse the wheat berries morning and night until the berries just barely begin to sprout. The little wheat berries look a bit like a brown version of a very small olive with a little pimento sticking out, when they are ready to be dehydrated.
6. Once sprouted, the wheat berries need to be thoroughly dried to prevent mold using either a dehydrator or an oven, both set to 150˚. I use a dehydrator because it can take 10-24 hours to dry the berries, more time than I would like to keep my oven running. Pour the wheat berries onto a mesh dehydrator tray or oven sheet pan, as seen above.
7. Spread the berries evenly using a spatula or your fingers. Dehydrate in the oven or a dehydrator for 10-24 hours at 150˚ until fully dry. Bite down on a kernel to test for dryness. It should be crunchy. Allow to cool fully before storage.
8. Sprouted wheat berries may now be ground in a grain mill using the same technique as un-sprouted wheat berries.
7 comments
-
Joti
Hi Molly,
Thanks for posting the technique to sprout wheat.I followed this technique, but the wheat berries did not sprout at all. I soaked them overnight for 8-10 hours, and then rinsed and drained them with water twice a day for the following 2 days….but no sprouting at all! (I covered the jar with a cheesecloth, and kept it in a dark & warm place). What did I do wrong?
I was hoping to sprout wheat until it gets long tails. What type of wheat berries are best for sprouting?
Please reply back….I really need help with this.
Thanks!!April 25, 2011 -
-
Molly Chester
Hmmm…. Well, Joti – I would typically think that your home was a little too cool. But, I see that you say “warm”. Other than that, I think I would try a different source for your wheatberries. Try buying ones that come sealed in a bag, instead of bulk. I use bulk all the time, but since you are having trouble, I’d start with the sealed variety. All types of wheatberries sprout. I typically use hard red and soft white, but my mom uses hard white, which also sprout just fine. Let me know how it goes… Warmly, Molly
May 3, 2011
-
-
Chris
Other sites say to let the berries sprout until the sprout is about as long as the berry or 1/8 to 1/4 inch long. However you said only until the begin to sprout which I interpret as soon as you see the white bulge of the sprout. Does it matter?
August 12, 2011 -
-
Molly Chester
Hi Chris, I used to sprout them long, but then I talked to the owners of To Your Health Sprouted Flour Company, and they taught me that all you need is for the sprout the just show the white. At that point, all of the nutrition has been captured, and it will still easily slide into mill grinders. Good luck!
August 15, 2011
-
Pixie
Hi Molly,
I stumbled upon your blog this morning and have spent the last few hours joyfully going through your posts and recipes. I was gifted Nourishing Traditions a few years ago by a nutritionist friend of mine (best gift ever!) and since then I have incorporated many traditional food prep. practices into my diet. What a difference it has made my my (and my partners) life. I too was a recovering vegetarian and it took quite a while to restore balance in my endocrine system. But by incorporating healthy animal fats, meat and lacto-fermented foods into our diet I can say that we have never felt better. We try to soak the majority of our grains (and nuts and seeds) and make our own fully fermented sourdough bread. I haven’t yet tried making sprouted flour, but it would certainly be convenient for when I want to make something without soaking it for 12 hours. I am wondering if you have tried grinding your sprouted grains in the vita mix ‘dry’ container? I plan on eventually purchasing a grain mill but haven’t had a chance yet.
thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and recipes…you are truly an inspiration :)
Molly Chester
I have not tried that yet, Pixie. If you use the vita-mix with unsprouted, I would assume that dehydrated sprouted grains would react the same! Hope that helps, and thanks so much for the kind words…
Brooke
I have tried grinding the sprouted berries in the Vitamix dry container 6 hrs after I let them dry and they turn to mush. They need to be fully dry from a dehydrator for the berries to grind to flour. Hope this helps!