Sprouted wheat bread has a bad rap: it tends to be chewy, dense and coarse unlike those lovely, light sandwich breads to which we’re usually accustomed. This version of sprouted wheat bread is unlike the others: it’s soft, mild and pleasantly sweet. Great for sandwiches, this sprouted wheat bread recipe is flavored by whole milk and fresh honey and is easily sliced, toasted and slathered with fresh raw butter.
Sprouting, like souring and soaking, helps to reduce antinutrients and enzyme inhibitors naturally present in grain. Sprouting also reduces overall carbohydrates and increases both protein and fiber. (Learn more about sprouted grain and baking with sprouted grain flour.)
Sprouted Wheat Bread: The Recipe
Ingredients for Sprouted Wheat Bread
- 4 ½ Cups of Sprouted Wheat Flour (see sources)
- 2 ¼ Cups Whole Milk
- ¼ Cup Honey
- 2 Teaspoons Unrefined Sea Salt
- 1 Package Yeast
- Extra flour for kneading.
- 2 Tablespoons Cream to baste the bread
Instructions for Preparing Sprouted Wheat Bread
- Warm honey and milk together until they reach blood temperature.
- Add yeast to the milk and honey mixture. Set it aside for five minutes or until it becomes foamy.
- In a separate bowl, mix together unrefined sea salt and sprouted grain flour.
- Add the milk, honey and yeast mixture to the flour and salt and mix until it forms one solid ball.
- Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.
- Knead for 10 minutes.
- Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes and then knead the bread for 10 minutes more.
- Set the dough on a clean towel and allow it to rise until double in volume (about 1 ½ – 2 hours).
- Punch the dough down, form it into a loaf and put it into a greased loaf pan.
- Allow it to rise again until double in volume.
- Baste the top of the bread with cream.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 375 ° F for about 45 minutes or until the bread achieves a golden brown color.
- Cool on a rack and serve.
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Looks delicious Jenny! I am gonna have to break down pretty soon and get some sprouted flours…anything I can do with my regular flours to make them better digestible? Soaking? Mixing kefir or yogurt in?
Now that looks easy enough. Great recipe!
Looks great! I’ve been trying to convert my recipes over to soaking, but thet don’t all like that so much- some of my breads have revolted and decided to just become plain gross! Hoping that the sprouted flours will be a bit easier and maybe DH might actually want to eat them (he loves white sandwich bread.) Thanks for the recipe.
Shelley -
I really hope you try it and like it! It’s a stand-by for us. I enjoy using sprouted grain flours. They’re easy to work with, don’t require soaking and result in some super-tasty foods. I still will occasionally soak – in biscuits and some cakes. But mostly we just sour our grains or use sprouted flour.
Take Care -
Jenny
Hello,
What size loaf pan do you use and what kind of yeast? Thank you!
Rebecca
Wow! Just wanted to pop in and tell you what a GREAT recipe this is!! I was afraid to use my sprouted flour for yeast bread – it’s so expensive! But this recipe came out perfect. Thanks so much for sharing!
Have you ever tried sprouted flour in a bread machine? I would love to know how to tweak the recipe so that it would work. If you have any tips I would be grateful!
I made this and it was SO tasty! It has made great toast and wonderful sandwiches. You were right about slathering it in fresh butter, honey is amazing on it too. Mmm…
I’m wondering if the measurement for the flour is off though, I seemed to need to add a lot of extra flour to make it knead-able. Maybe I didn’t mix long enough in step 4, but it never really formed a solid ball and stayed pretty sticky. I turned it out on a floured counter and kneaded in an additional 1/2 c. -1 c. flour by hand. Any thoughts? I’m pretty new to bread baking and want to get it right.
Thanks again for a great recipe. I’ll definitely be making this again!
I, too, had to add some extra flour, but it turned out GREAT! I LOVE this recipe! Maybe it has something to do with elevation?? Above or below sea level?? I don’t know. But it’s a gem of a bread slathered with butter! I had two pieces with a bowl of soup yesterday
I’ll definitely be making this again!
By the way, doing some research, I found SAF, Red Mill, and Bakipan yeasts are non-GMO brands. The only organic, non-GMO yeast on the market is Rapunzel RiZE active dry yeast. It’s certified organic, and from what I’m reading it works well, but requires longer rise times, so if you buy any online, or if you can find it in a store, make sure you plan ahead to give it time, and I’m talking overnight, even a good 24 hours.
This recipe looks great – is there a way to bake it using the sourdough starter rather than yeast?
Very interesting, thanks! I made some sandwich rolls the other week with my usual recipe. The dough was a little too sticky when I finished working with it but I ran out of time (crying children). I still like it though, especially with butter! Will be trying more recipes soon.
LOVE my sprouted flour and my kids tolerate it well, unlike regular flour.
Here’s another resource with some tips for those who enjoy making sprouted grain bread. Check out the article entitled “What I found to Sprout About – Sprouted Grain Recipe.”
The website for the article I mentioned is http://www.foodwithkidappeal.blogspot.com.
I love this recipe!!! I am by no means an experienced bread baker but it is so easy. I found the milk to be too much so I have adjusted it by using a little less and not adding all of it at once. Perfect…Thanks.
I just tried this bread. The dough was very wet and sticky. I added about 3/4 cup more flour while kneading. I kneaded the dough in my kitchen aid mixer, it never really got to the point where I could handle it without it being a sticky mess. I baked the bread for 45 min and the top was nice and golden. However after it cooled and I sliced into it I found that the middle was still completely dough. I put it back in the oven for another hour. The top kept getting more brown and crispy but the middle stayed dough. I’d like this recipe to work but the ingredients are too expensive to for me to have to throw them away again if the it doesn’t work out the next time. Please help! Thanks.
I have experienced the same disappointment, Mandie. I have used whole wheat flour, ground sprouts (in my VitaMix blender) and unbleached flour (to provide the gluten). The loaves have risen beautifully and look wonderful but they are doughy on the inside after baking. Perhaps I didn’t bake them long enough. Only the crust was edible–and we did eat it–delicious flavor! Anyone have any thoughts?
I had the same problem the first time that I attempted making this bread. It looked done after 45 minutes, but was totally doughy in the middle when I went to slice it. Once you slice the bread, you really can’t put it back in the oven. It just won’t bake properly once the crust has been cut. I have a very finicky oven, and I recently learned a great trick for bread that I thought I would share. You can test the doneness of your loaf by sticking a meat thermometer or instant read thermometer into the bread. If it is done, it should be between 200 and 210 degrees. I used this method to check my last loaf of sourdough and it really worked!
I’ve made this recipe a number of times and I’m now making it to sell to my food buying club locally. People love it, especially those who have gluten intolerance. I make the dough in my bread machine and then pour it into mini-loaf pans for a second rise and baking. The first time I made it in a regular loaf pan. It was very gummy. Now I add an extra cup of sprouted flour (which I sprout myself, dry in my dehydrator, and grind with my Kitchen Aid attachment) after a couple of minutes of kneading in the machine and I scrape down the sides to make sure all the flour is evenly incorporated. Even with the extra flour, it is not a very thick dough. I use 3 mini loaf pans per recipe – sprayed with coconut oil and just before putting in the oven, I brush the tops with coconut milk. The bread tends to brown very quickly at the end, so you have to watch it. Turn it out onto a rack and let cool COMPLETELY upside down. The top will be crispier than the rest of the loaf and can support the weight of the bread, keeping it from compacting while it’s hot. I use 3 mini loaf pans per recipe and I bake them about 20 minutes at 375 degrees (but I live at 2800 ft. altitude, so adjust as necessary). Slicing a regular sized loaf is challenging and the bread knife gets very gummy Using mini loaf pans allows you to slice fairly decent slices. I have found that toasting the slices makes them almost the same texture as regular bread and the flavor is simply out of this world. It’s a bit sweet and rich tasting. Add a little butter and you are in for a treat. Do expect a stickier texture! That is the nature of this bread, but it does not mean that it is uncooked. For a different approach, you can also use muffin pans and bake for about 15 minutes for nice little rolls….almost like popovers.
sprouted flour is not expensive if you make it yourself! Cheaper than buying even regular organic flour. Thanks for the recipe and all that you do to promote healthy living!
Just made this bread. I used sprouted wheat flour instead of regular wheat. turned out thinner than I wanted but boy is this a great tasting bread.
I just made this bread and it is sooooooooooooooo tasty. Ok, I agree with the others who say that it is sticky, but, I used my kitchenaid mixer from start to putting it in pan to bake.. I left it sit in the bowl during the 10 minute rest times (all of them), covered with a towel. At the last 10 minute knead it was cleaning the side of the bowl. After resting in the same bowl covered for the 1 1/2 hours it was too sticky to handle without adding more flour, which I chose not to do, so I just scraped it into the bread pan, put it on top of my stove covered with a towel and let it rise again. Put it in the oven, baked it for 45 min. and it came out perfect. My husband and I had a piece of it after it cooled somewhat, (hard to wait, it smelled sooooo gooooood). Yummy yummy yummy. I will be making this bread again and again.
AWESOME!! I made this today and LOVE LOVE LOVE it, turned out perfect. I baked it in a stone loaf pan and it was perfect. I must say it did not do well in my mixer so I did it all by hand and WOW it was worth all the effort. Thank you so so much for sharing. I can say I did let my over heat for about 20 to 30 min past when it beeped.
Hi, Jenny,
I tried this recipe twice and it turned out perfectly both times. The first time I made it exactly as you directed. The second time, I was trying to make something with less gluten so I substituted 4 cups of sprouted spelt and 1/2 cup sprouted barley flour (from To Your Health Sprouted Flour) instead of the sprouted wheat. It was awesome! I didn’t have any problem with it rising. Thanks for the great recipes!
Melissa
What size & type (metal, glass, etc) loaf pan do you use, please?
This bread is BY FAR the best wheat bread I have ever made. Thank you so much!!!!