Mar. 2, 2006 - Sprouting and drying wheat berries

When I visited my mom yesterday, I picked up her old dehydrator. Dh did not want to buy a new one. (He thinks that it when the newness wears off it will disappear into the back of a cabinet, never to be seen again.) So, I ventured into Mom's basement and found it in a dusty corner.

I have been sprouting 2 cups of berries at a time, because that is all that I could dry in the oven. With the dehydrator, I will be able to dry five cups at a time. This morning I dried two cups of berries in the dehydrator, and they were dry by noon! (It had been taking all day.) I have five more cups soaking, so tomorrow, I should have more to dry.

To sprout the wheat, I put one cup of berries in a quart canning jar with two cups of water. I leave it for 12 hours, and then drain the jar. I then leave the jar for 12 to 24 hours. (I have heard that you don't want to let the sprouts get very big, or the flour won't work very well.) Then I dry the berries. (Either in a dehydrator, or in the oven set at 100 degrees.)

Last week I made some pizza dough with sprouted wheat. It was O.K, but not great. I had to halve the recipe because I did not have enough wheat dried. I think that I did not add enough liquid.

I am going to try some sprouted wheat bread. I plan to use my old recipe. The only change will be that I will use sprouted wheat. Hopefully it will turn out.