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Rustic Sprouted-Wheat Bread

11 Feb
You don't need anything more than sprouted wheat berries to make a loaf of rustic bread.

You don’t need anything more than sprouted wheat berries to make a loaf of rustic bread.

Yes, you can make a rustic and tasty loaf with nothing but sprouted wheat seeds. While this isn’t the light and airy bread you might be thinking of for sandwiches, it is a wonderfully chewy loaf that is the perfect accompaniment to soups, stews, or a plate of cheese and fruit. It has a marvelous rich flavor and is moist, with a crisp crust. Best of all, you only need ONE ingredient: wheat seeds. I do provide a few options here, however, for different flavor enhancements if you feel like changing things up. I do find that adding molasses or olive oil improves the texture, but if wheat berries is all you have, you can still make bread.

You will need to sprout wheat berries (wheat seeds) for this. Read my blog post on sprouting wheat berries here for a tutorial, and the health benefits of sprouted wheat berries over non-sprouted. And while this is not a gluten-free bread (it does contain wheat), those who can’t tolerate gluten frequently don’t have as much of a problem with this, simply because it is sprouted grain, which makes it easier to digest. I’ll leave it to you to decide if it would be a safe option to try.

INGREDIENTS

For sprouted wheat berry bread, you want to grind your grains when they are just sprouted, as shown here.

For sprouted wheat berry bread, you want to grind your grains when they are just sprouted, as shown.

Using just wheat berries for this loaf means you can make different additions easily, depending upon what you’re in the mood for. Each recipe makes about 2 servings unless you are really hungry; it’s a dense loaf and goes a long way.

When you sprout your wheat for this recipe, make sure you don’t let the tails get too long; you only want them to just sprout, not to start growing. The longer you let the tails become, the more the flavor of the bread becomes “green” and the texture ends up having strings in it, which is not all that appetizing, trust me.

Recipe 1

  • 1 cup wheat berries, sprouted (see link above on how to do this)

(Seriously…that’s it though the flavor is greatly enhanced with other ingredients…)

Recipe 2

  • 1 cup wheat berries, sprouted (see link above on the how-to)
  • 1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses, honey, or maple syrup (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
  • dash of salt (optional)

Recipe 3

  • 1 cup wheat berries, sprouted (see link above for the how-to)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
  • dash of salt (optional)
I like to grind my wheat berries to include some whole kernels for texture, you may want to grind yours more fine.

I like to grind my wheat berries to include some whole kernels for texture, you may want to grind yours more fine.

HOW-TO

I do this either first thing in the morning for an evening loaf, or at night for a morning loaf. Using the slow cooker means you can leave it cook all day or night while you’re away from home doing other tasks.

Take your slow cooker, line it with some tin foil, and pre-heat it on the low setting. The tin foil will help you to easily remove the loaf when it is done cooking.

While the slow cooker is preheating, grind your sprouted wheat berries. To do this, take your well-drained sprouted grains and place them in a food processor or Vitamix (it’s tough to do this in a blender). Add all of your ingredients and then blend. As you blend the grains into a paste, they will greatly decrease in volume, this is normal! I like to leave a few whole kernels in my loaf; I just like the bite they provide but you can grind the paste until almost smooth. I recommend against making it too smooth, however, as you will make the texture of the bread too dense.

Take a piece of parchment paper and lay it on a plate; the parchment paper will make removing your cooked loaf much easier. Because of how the loaf caramelizes as it cooks, it has a tendency to stick to solid surfaces, even if they are oiled.

Remove your paste and, using your hands, form it into a round loaf. Place it on the parchment paper and leave it rest for about 30 minutes while your slow cooker is heating. After 30 minutes or so, place the parchment paper and your formed loaf into the slow cooker and put the lid on. (If you want to use an oven for this, preheat the oven to 225F and leave the loaf to cook on parchment paper and a cookie sheet for about 4 hours.)

Here's your loaf, fresh from the slow cooker after about 8 hours, ready to eat.

Here’s your loaf, fresh from the slow cooker after about 8 hours, ready to eat.

Leave your bread to cook for about 8 hours (there have been times when I’ve left it for 10 hours by accident…it was still good). During this time, avoid removing the lid from the slow cooker as this causes heat to escape and this will affect cooking.

After about 8 hours, remove the loaf from the slow cooker (I use the corners of the tin foil for this). Let it sit for about 15 minutes, then serve! It is especially tasty with winter soups and stews as it holds up well to soaking up juices. Yum!

 
8 Comments

Posted by on February 11, 2013 in Uncategorized

 

5 Easy Homemade Holiday Liqueurs

26 Oct

Seckel pears are small and make for a wonderful presentation in a glass when used to flavor brandy. But you can use any pears that you like.

Making homemade liqueurs is a fast and easy way to bring a special touch to holiday gatherings. It only takes moments to prepare and no special gear is necessary; the hard part is waiting the two to four weeks necessary to allow your liqueur to steep and age.

For many liqueurs you’ll use a vodka base, which basically lacks taste and color and will take on whatever flavor you want. But you can also use spirits like bourbon, brandy, rum or even tequila, which all do their part to enhance the flavor of the fruits and spices you use. The resulting liqueur can be served on its own, or added to other cocktails such as martinis, or eggnog. Here are some recipes:

BASIC HOW-TO

Marinate fruits and spices with sugar in vodka, brandy, bourbon, or rum for simple liqueurs that whip up in 15 minutes.

For all of the recipes, the process is the same; you take your flavorings and sugar, and place them in an earthen crock or a glass jar with a lid. (Make sure the mouth of the container is large enough to remove the flavorings later.) Cover completely with your alcohol, put on the lid, and shake. Store your concoction in a dark place, shaking every day for the first week or so, then leaving it sit for two to four weeks until the flavors are fully incorporated into your alcohol. When the liqueur is done, strain out your flavorings and either place the liqueur back into its original alcohol bottle, or transfer them to pretty glass bottles for holiday display.

Your flavorings can include fruits, nuts, herbs and spices, and as much sugar as you’d like. The amount of sugar you use is a matter of preference depending upon how sweet you’d like your liqueur. I generally start out with about 1/3 cup of sugar for a basic 750 ml bottle of liquor, and add more after the first week if I find the liqueur I’m making isn’t sweet enough for me.

What do you do with those fruits? I reserve the marinated fruits and use them in holiday desserts. Depending upon the fruit, you can chop them up and add them to holiday baking, or make a tasty topping from them. To do this, take your fruit and place in a saucepan. Mash roughly, and add additional sugar and  some water if there doesn’t seem to be enough liquid with the fruit. Simmer until the additional sugar is dissolved and a syrup forms around the fruits. Serve over ice cream or holiday cakes.

Seckel pears are only about 2″ to 3″ long with a sweet flavor and snappy skin.

SECKEL PEAR BRANDY

Seckel pears are small pears about 2″ long. They are very sweet with a nice skin that has a bit of a “snap” to it. They are not common to see (though marinated seckel pears are wonderful heated through and served whole over ice cream or next to cakes), so you can substitute regular pears for this liqueur. For seckel pears, just slice the top and bottom off and place them in your jar or crock. If you’re using regular pears, slice them into sections or chop roughly and add to your container. Some recipes call for peeling the pears first, but I don’t see the need for this since I am lazy. Add your sugar (I start with 1/2 cup and increase later if needed), fill your container with whatever brandy you’d like, and shake. Shake daily for the first week, and at the end of the week taste to see if it is sweet enough for you. If it’s not, you can add more sugar, making sure you shake regularly to dissolve. Store in a dark place while the liqueur is marinating.

VANILLA AND CINNAMON LIQUEUR

Bourbon lends itself to the taste of vanilla and cinnamon. It produces a wonderful sweet liqueur that can be served on its own, and makes a wonderful addition to eggnog. Simply take a bottle of bourbon and pour it into a jar or crock (you can just use the bottle as your marinating vessel, but realize that it might be difficult to remove the expanded cinnamon sticks later). Add a vanilla bean that has been split open and two to three sticks of whole cinnamon. Add your sugar, shake, and wait. Don’t forget to shake daily during that first week to dissolve all of the sugar.

I like Italian-style plums for plum liqueur, but you can use any kind. Just slit with a knife and marinate with sugar and vodka.

PLUM LIQUEUR

This is a simple but sweet and tasty liqueur that makes a WONDERFUL plum martini for the holidays. For a martini, dilute the liqueur with plain vodka to your taste, and serve with lime zest. To make this liqueur, take plums, slice a sizeable slit or two in each one, place the plums in your container, add sugar, and top with your vodka. Shake and wait. I like to use Italian-style plums for this for their more intense flavor, but you can also use regular plums.

ALMOND AND COFFEE LIQUEUR

This also makes a wonderful addition to a martini, especially a chocolate martini if this is something you want to impress guests with over the holidays. I like this to have a lot of almond flavor, so I roughly grind about 1 cup of almonds in my blender and add about 1/2 cup of whole coffee beans. Top with sugar and a bottle of vodka and shake well. You’ll need to strain this after your month is up to remove all of the almond bits.

This berry liqueur was made with blueberries and blackberries, but you can use any combination you’d like.

BERRY LIQUEUR

This is great because you can use just about any kind of berry for this, or a mix of berries. I like to mix blueberries and blackberries, but you can use whatever kind you want (use about a quart total of berries)! Just slice each fruit in half and put them in your jar or crock. Cover with your sugar and 750 ml bottle of vodka, and shake. Remember to shake daily for the first week to make sure your sugar is dissolved, and intermittently the few weeks following. I like to use a cup of sugar with this recipe, and serve it in cordial glasses with desserts or on its own. Very tasty!

 
5 Comments

Posted by on October 26, 2012 in Holidays, Recipes, Uncategorized

 

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Home-roasted Coffee: Morning Beverage or Nectar of the Gods?

16 Sep

Home roasted coffee is a good argument for scratch-n-sniff photography.

For 10 minutes worth of work, you can have the best damn coffee you’ve ever put in your mouth. No, I’m not exaggerating. Coffee I used to rave over at the local cafe where they roast their own now tastes like swill since I’ve learned to roast my own. The main reason is that coffee begins to lose its flavor after it’s roasted; only seven days after roasting the taste is seriously deteriorated.

There are different methods to roast coffee. You can buy a home roaster, but those cost about $90 and are a waste of money in my book…use that dough to buy a lot of coffee. You can roast the beans in a popcorn popper, either an air-pop style or a stove-top model. I own neither but once you learn the physics behind roasting you’ll be able to adapt roasting to the popcorn popper easily. Here I’ll show you how to roast coffee in a skillet and in the oven (watch a video of this here). 

Green coffee can be purchased from different sources. I get mine from Camping Survival. Their organic green Costa Rican Monte Crisol coffee beans (available here) are canned so I can buy in bulk and they keep on a shelf until needed. After I open a can, I keep the green beans in the freezer until I’m ready to roast a batch, which I do twice a week or so. How often and how much you roast depends upon your own personal needs, but don’t roast less often than once a week or you’ll defeat the purpose of home roasting. One guy I talked to roasts his coffee every evening, ready to grind the next morning when he wakes up. Roasting only takes about 10 minutes, so this is the ideal scenario.

SKILLET ROASTING

A heavy skillet, be it cast iron or heavy stainless steel, is necessary since high heat is needed to roast coffee. And take note: roasting coffee is smoky business, especially if you like darker roasts. The longer and darker the roast, the smokier the process is because you are caramelizing the beans and burning off more and more sugars. Make sure you have your kitchen vent set to high. A window fan doesn’t hurt, either.

To roast in a skillet, place the skillet on the stove (or a hot grill outside) and heat on medium until it is hot. Do NOT put any oil or anything else in the pan; coffee is roasted dry. Dump the green coffee into the skillet and start stirring using a whisk. You’ll need to stir constantly to keep the beans moving for an even roast.

Stir until your desired level of roast is reached, turn off the heat, and immediately dump your beans into a colander. Shake the colander to cool the beans and remove the papery chaff from the beans. That’s it…your done. You can either grind all of the beans immediately, or just what you need each morning. It’s up to you.

OVEN ROASTING

This is easier in many respects, but I prefer the taste of stove top roasted coffee myself. Try it both ways and see which one works for you. For this method, just heat your oven to 500F. Place your green coffee on a heavy duty cookie sheet with plenty of space between beans. You’ll still only want to roast smaller quantities at a time even though your cookie sheet can hold much more; the more coffee you roast, the smokier it is.

After your oven is fully heated, pop the beans into the oven and wait. You’ll have to experiment a little bit with your oven and determine how long it takes for the beans to reach your desired roast. In my oven it takes about 15 minutes to get a very dark roast, which is what I aim for.

Once your desired roast is reached, remove the beans from the oven, dump them into a colander, and shake to remove the chaff and cool the beans. Then you’re done! As with stove-top roasting, you can either grind it all at once or grind each morning. It’s up to you.

THE PHYSICS OF ROASTING

Coffee roasts best between about 375F to 540F and there are several stages coffee goes through while it is being roasted. You’ll quickly learn what these stages are and be able to customize your own roast based upon what you hear, see, and smell.

“First crack” is the auditory signal that a very light roast has been reached.

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The “first crack” occurs at about 3 to 4 minutes. Here the sugars will start to caramelize causing some smoke to appear, and steam starts to escape. First crack indicates a very light roast, which is rarely brewed into coffee but it’s your coffee, so you get to decide on your own whether you like it.

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Second crack indicates that a Full Medium Brown or City Roast has been reached.

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The “second crack” can be heard at about 6 minutes, and is louder than first crack. At this stage you’ll also see the beans jumping around a little bit as the steam escapes; sometimes a bean will explode like popcorn. At second crack the coffee is considered a Full Medium Brown or City Roast. Still not dark enough for me but  this is a common roast for people to drink.

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The roast darkens after this and develops a wonderful oily sheen; at what stage you want to stop roasting the coffee depends upon how dark a roast you want. But be careful, over-roasting coffee can burn it, and then it tastes like charcoal.

I stop roasting at about 13 minutes using the skillet method, when the coffee is a dark roast and shiny. This would be a French or Espresso Roast. Or maybe the Rural Spin Roast. If you like a darker roast, try going a minute or two longer as the beans darken and get even shinier to see if you like that taste; this Dark French or Spanish roast is not readily available in the United States, but is in parts of Europe and elsewhere.

At about 13 minutes, the Rural Spin Roast has been reached…aka a dark or French roast.

 
15 Comments

Posted by on September 16, 2012 in Home and Living, Kitchen Tips, Recipes, Saving Money, Uncategorized

 

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