Food, Recipes
May 3, 2010
Samantha Angela
10 Comments

day 97: sprouted grain hearth bread

This is going to take about 3 days to make, so you have to think about it a bit in advance.

Day 1: Start by sprouting 4 to 6 ounces of dry grain of choice (see how here).

Day 2: Prepare the two pre-doughs (a soaker and a biga)

Soaker - a porridge-like dough that starts the enzyme activity in the grains


  • 2 oz whole wheat flour
  • 6 oz sprouted grain processed to a pulp in a food processor (photo above)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 c. water

Mix all the ingredients together to form a porridge-like dough. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 12-24 hours.


Biga - a pre-fermented dough that gives the bread its flavour


  • 8 oz whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 tsp instant yeast
  • 3/4 c. water (room temperature)

Mix all the ingredients together to form a ball.
Knead with wet hands for about 2 minutes to evenly distribute ingredients. Rest 5 min.
Resume kneading for another minute to get a smooth, tacky dough.
Place dough in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap refrigerate overnight. (Remove 2h prior to making final dough)

Day 3: Prepare the Final Dough

  • soaker
  • biga
  • 2 oz whole wheat flour
  • 5/8 tsp salt
  • 2.25 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter
  • extra whole wheat flour for adjustments

Combine all ingredients (except extra flour) and knead with wet hands to incorporate ingredients to get a soft, sticky dough.
Knead dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes, adding the extra flour as needed to get a soft, tacky dough. Rest 5 minutes.
Knead for a few more minutes until the dough is very tacky. Form it into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl.
Cover and let rise for 45 minutes until it grows 1.5x its size.

Transfer dough to floured surface and form into a boule shape retaining as much gas in the dough as possible.
Place a floured cloth in a bowl and place the dough upside down inside. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes until it grows 1.5x its size.

Preheat oven to 500F.
Place a baking stone in the centre rack of the oven and put a metal baking dish in the oven for a steam bath.
Once the oven is preheated, turn the dough out onto a peel dusted with cornmeal or semolina and transfer the dough onto the stone.
Add a cup of warm water to the baking dish and mist the oven walls with water.
Turn down the temperature to 450F and bake for 20 min.
Rotate the loaf 180Deg.
Bake another 10min until the internal temperature registers 200F.

Transfer to cooling rack and let cool an hour before cutting.

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Samantha Angela is a food and workout fanatic who loves pumping serious iron and baking loaves of bread.

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