Sprouting

In just a few months I will be taking a Artisan baking course at SFBI. I signed on with the encouragement of fellow bloggers/bakers, MC and Susan. It wasn't hard after an interview I had recently with it's founder Michel Suas.

So when I saw both Susan and MC making a sprouted wheat grain bread from a whole grain workshop they both attended, I really wanted to try it. A while back, I had tried a sprouted grain, rather unsuccessfully. It left me worried of the biological hazards I might hatch for failing to follow the steps word for word!

I had seen the formula first via Susan's adaptation. Since then, I have been checking on MC's progress in workshops on her blog. When she finally posted the formula for her adaption of this recipe, MC posted her niece's version on her French language site. My French is just as bad as my German, so I asked her to post it in  English, and she did. Merci, MC!

The recipes are almost the same, but I adapted from both bakers, switching back and forth on my browser. In the end I made my own changes. First, I didn't sprout wheat. Instead I used Kamut, a distant relative of modern wheat. In MC's nieces version she omited the fruits and nuts for caloric reasons. But you only live once, so I say go for the whole thing or nothing! 

I used mixed berries, cherries, raisins, and pecans instead of walnuts, as in Susan's version, though I was leaning for almonds. In both recipes, there was either the option of using a fruit juice or molasses. Lacking juice, I used pomegranate molasses brought back from my trip in Istanbul, a gift from my host Dilara.  Instead of orange zest in Susan's, I added candied orange peel I had intended for a Easter bread but somehow missed baking. I also cut the recipe in half, to make to small loaves weighing at around 450g. Surely I will make the whole recipe the next time, as it's quickly disappearing!

This is a wonderful bread; light, chewy, full of flavor. Good plain or with cheese and fig jam, foie gras, butter, anything!  Make it - that's an order!

And it's going to Susan's  Friday episode of Yeast spotting!