![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Notes on sprouted grain bread
I've played with a lot of different degrees of sproutedness, and come back to grinding the grain when there are about three rootlets, and it looks a little like a bug. More than that, and you start to degrade the crumb - I'm suspecting you start losing gluten, but I haven't work out entirely if that's the case. Less than that and the flavor isn't as well developed.
For some time I wondered why the bread was so much more sour than my old daily bread. I'm increasingly convinced that it's because of bacteria that settle on the sprouting grain. Notably, if I rinse the grain well right before I wash it, I get very flavorful but less sour bread (if I go for a faster processing and rinse the grain it is less sour and less flavorful). I'm awfully pleased with this. I'm pretty sure K prefers the bread more sour, though he seems to like the latest. I'll have to decide if I want to switch off, compromise, or just let him deal.
The sprouting generally seems to increase the readily available carbohydrates (I think that some of the starches are broken down into sugars) making the yeast more active. This changes the timing of everything, and also means that I cook the bread on a lower temperature - I think the sugars caramelize otherwise.
For some time I wondered why the bread was so much more sour than my old daily bread. I'm increasingly convinced that it's because of bacteria that settle on the sprouting grain. Notably, if I rinse the grain well right before I wash it, I get very flavorful but less sour bread (if I go for a faster processing and rinse the grain it is less sour and less flavorful). I'm awfully pleased with this. I'm pretty sure K prefers the bread more sour, though he seems to like the latest. I'll have to decide if I want to switch off, compromise, or just let him deal.
The sprouting generally seems to increase the readily available carbohydrates (I think that some of the starches are broken down into sugars) making the yeast more active. This changes the timing of everything, and also means that I cook the bread on a lower temperature - I think the sugars caramelize otherwise.