Blending wet, soaked wheat berries?

So long story short, I have 40 lbs of hard white wheat berries. I no longer have a grain mill. I'd like to soak and/or sprout my wheat berries before pulverizing them in a blender to use them for bread baking.

Has anyone ever made a wheat bread recipe using soaked wheat berries they simply "ground" in a kitchen blender?

I am super-sensitive to all wheat products that have not been fermented. I can handle my own, homemade true sourdough bread. But I've only ever made it with white, store bought flour.

Any ideas, theories, etc for how to use these wheat berries in a soaked grain, sourdough recipe? My first attempt was "meh." I'm working on my second attempt with more honey and/or molasses. Also I think adding an egg to make it more "lecithin-y" would give it a better texture.

I'm still waiting to see if I have a reaction to eating it. If I do, the berries will be given to my chickens. (Which is okay, since I know they won't go to waste.) But I thought y'all might have come up with a good sourdough recipe using this technique.

I do this all the time with grains and legumes. I just make pancakes, though, since I don't have an oven.

My husband used to be a baker at Silver Hills bread. They make their bread by sprouting the grains and, I think, running through a food mill or meat grinder kinda deal. He said they used wheat gluten to get the right texture, though. I'll ask him if he has any tips when he gets home tonight.

I once simmered some grains until tender, then pureed them in a blender. It worked as a batter-bread.

At the bakery, they ran the wet, sprouted grain through a grinder so it was hamburger type consistency. Then they added water, salt, yeast, sweetener (usually malt syrup, sometimes molasses or condensed grape juice, depending on recipe), and usually a bit of wheat gluten. The only recipe that didn't call for wheat gluten was the whole wheat recipe. So no real tips, unfortunately.

Howdy!
Because I'm not yet at a place where I can bake as freely as I used to (I'm forgetful, or just ditzy), I have a bread machine that I use to make sure there's something in the house for quick meals.
I have been working on converting a bread recipe to my new machine and finally seem to have gotten all the bits together. I will happily share that recipe, which I enjoy, but that's not an answer to your question.

I know it's possible to sprout grains, re dry them, and grind the dried, sprouted berries. Technically, if I understand things properly, that's how they make malts.
I haven't experimented with wet grinding grains. It sounds like it would be rather messy. If you were going to drain and pat dry the fermented/sprouted grain, then grind it in a blander or some such, while adding other ingredients, it sounds reasonable to end up with some sort of pancake/flat bread thing.  (Huh. I'll need to see if I can do that for making tortillas ...)

I hope you find someone who has the kind of experience you need for this sort of experimentation. I would be interested in how well the "pancake batter" version turns out, as well as whether there's an great deal of difference between grinding the wet, fermented/sprouted berries and the dry ones.
I guess I'll need to look into this, too! I make my own oat-flour by grinding up whole oats in a food processor and being careful about sifting it before putting it into my recipe or freezer, but the idea of making my own wheat flours without a mill just never occurred to me.

Thank you so much for making me wonder! Always a good thing.
Best thoughts!

Kristine Keeney wrote:If you were going to drain and pat dry the fermented/sprouted grain, then grind it in a blander or some such, while adding other ingredients, it sounds reasonable to end up with some sort of pancake/flat bread thing.  (Huh. I'll need to see if I can do that for making tortillas ...

To make tortillas, you need a dough more than a batter, otherwise you'll end up with crepes 😁 I'd make sure the dough has some kind of elasticity to it as well, so the tortilla doesn't just crack when it's folded. So I wouldn't bother trying with just lentils or anything like that.

I have to say, however, that there's nothing wrong with crepes. I love buckwheat crepes and lentil/rice dosas.

Jan White wrote:At the bakery, they ran the wet, sprouted grain through a grinder so it was hamburger type consistency. Then they added water, salt, yeast, sweetener (usually malt syrup, sometimes molasses or condensed grape juice, depending on recipe), and usually a bit of wheat gluten. The only recipe that didn't call for wheat gluten was the whole wheat recipe. So no real tips, unfortunately.

Actually, this was quite helpful, thank you!

I make my own oat-flour by grinding up whole oats in a food processor and being careful about sifting it before putting it into my recipe or freezer, but the idea of making my own wheat flours without a mill just never occurred to me.

My ninja blender is not getting the dry wheat berries crushed fine enough. Sifting out the finer flour and regrinding the bigger pieces---Ain't nobody got time for that. LOL

I was thinking that a soaked berry might be softer and easier to grind. But the wet berries would mean less liquid necessary in the recipe. Combine in the wetness of a sourdough starter, and my mind is at a loss as to how to make it work!!

so far so good on any reaction to the first recipe I made. So I know that a long ferment, sourdough rise will be okay. I just gotta tweak the recipe so it's actually appetizing! LOL

[quote=Jan White
To make tortillas, you need a dough more than a batter, otherwise you'll end up with crepes 😁 I'd make sure the dough has some kind of elasticity to it as well, so the tortilla doesn't just crack when it's folded. So I wouldn't bother trying with just lentils or anything like that.

I have to say, however, that there's nothing wrong with crepes. I love buckwheat crepes and lentil/rice dosas.  

Howdy!
Thank you. I hadn't gotten that far in thinking about things. Crepes are amazing, and I love that every culture/food style has it's own version of food surrounded by other food for ease of eating/carrying.
I have never managed to make tortillas, so not being able to make them n a new way would at least be a change? (I have not failed, I've just found a bazillion ways to *not* do a thing?)
Thank you, though. You saved some poor innocent grains from being tormented and ultimately fed to livestock.

Stacie Kim wrote:



I was thinking that a soaked berry might be softer and easier to grind. But the wet berries would mean less liquid necessary in the recipe. Combine in the wetness of a sourdough starter, and my mind is at a loss as to how to make it work!!

I wonder if filtering the slurry through a jellybag would help? That would remove at least some of the excess liquid.

I'm wondering if it would work to sprout the grains, grind them with liquid (they'd be a batter), and then add them into a sourdough starter that's ready for more food! Hmmm..sounds like a fun experiment! Anyone tried this?

Bonnie H. - Ha!  An old thread but I happened to find it just a few hours after you posted.  I've played around with grinding wheat in a blender with water as a way of avoiding more expensive grain grinders capable of making fine flour.  I start with water and a little grain, then add more grain slowly till I get something that resembled a thick pancake batter.  Any more grain and the wheat doesn't grind as well and the mixture gets too hot due to blending friction.  I add my yeast to that (never thought of just using it as a starter... thanks!) then add a bit of commercial flour to get a wet high-hydration dough that bakes well.

Everyone - Several years ago I started making sprouted grain "Essene" bread.  I sprout the grain and at the first sign of little "tails" (longer and the bread starts tasting "grassy").  I grind it in a manual "food grinder" or meat grinder.  Then I form the pasty dough into thin loafs and bake at very low temperature for several hours.  I went to this process because good grain grinders are so expensive and I wanted a post-apocalypse process that didn't depend on a $400 grinder.  Not only is the sprouted grain bread more nutritious, but I can use little inexpensive plastic food grinders without a problem.  The grinding forces are so low that even the cheapest plastic units seem to last forever, the throughput is amazing compared with a hand grain grinder, and the process is nearly effortless thanks to the soft sprouted grain.  I picked up a couple spare plastic grinders at Goodwill for under $10 each and after 4-5 years of twice a week bread, I still only use the first one I bought.

Jan White wrote:At the bakery, they ran the wet, sprouted grain through a grinder so it was hamburger type consistency. Then they added water, salt, yeast, sweetener (usually malt syrup, sometimes molasses or condensed grape juice, depending on recipe), and usually a bit of wheat gluten. The only recipe that didn't call for wheat gluten was the whole wheat recipe. So no real tips, unfortunately.

In their grinder, did they have to clean it out immediately to prevent the mash from setting up into a rock hard mess?  I wonder if using the Komo Classic grain mill in this way would be practical. Any thoughts?

Hi! Wondering if the op ever found a solution? I know I’m super late to the party but wondering the same. Wanting to used slightly sprouted berries ground up in place of flour in recipes and wondering how to tweak them..?

I just made tortillas from blended wheat berries...There is a guy on Youtube who makes mini loaves with a batter of blended wheat berries.  And there's a book called Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book...she  has a recipe for Sprout Bread where she grinds the berries up and makes bread.  You don't have to sprout the berries but they need to be soaked, for sure.

Hi Cheryl,

Welcome to Permies.

Thanks John!

Cheryl Meadows wrote:I just made tortillas from blended wheat berries...There is a guy on Youtube who makes mini loaves with a batter of blended wheat berries.  And there's a book called Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book...she  has a recipe for Sprout Bread where she grinds the berries up and makes bread.  You don't have to sprout the berries.

Howdy!
Welcome! More Inquisitive Minds are wonderful to have around.
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