100% Sprouted Grain Bread

Wow! What a difference a 1/2 a day makes! I mean, look at them! These chick-peas are really doing what they're supposed to! When these peas are placed in water to soak (12 - 24 hrs.), three main chemical changes occur as they germinate: (taken from "Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads") the seeds themselves begin to break-down due to increased enzyme (protein) activity; elements of the seed begin to move around between the endosperm and the germ; and new molecules are formed. In the process, vitamin content and accessibility is increased, especially of vitamins A, B-complex, and C; minerals like calcium, potassium, and iron are released, and the carbohydrates become more easily digested."
This is going to be an amazing bread, for the simple fact that there is absolutely no flour!

There are several ways to make breads with only sprouted grains, and quite a few turn out very dense. The recipe I'm going to follow adds 'vital wheat gluten'. Using the ground-up legumes as the flour means losing the necessary gluten needed to achieve a tall, light, airy loaf that is generally preferable to a more dense bread. The 'vital wheat gluten' is not a required ingredient in making this bread. It's strictly being used due to preference of achieving a particular end result.

As you can see in the pictures, there's a noticeable difference once the peas have been hydrated for a few hours. After soaking them for 12 - 24 hours, they're rinsed and returned to the bowl, at room temperature, until they start sprouting the "tail" common to all seeds we've seen germinated. (the soaking water is great to use to water your plants - - it's full of minerals and enzymes).

This picture shows the beginning of the 'tail' starting to form from the pea. Just a little bit longer and the peas will be ready to be turned into "flour". I have a small coffee-bean grinder I'm going to use to get the consistancy from the peas that I need.

There is NO mother starter used here. The ingredients are: sprouted wheat kernels (in this case the chickpeas), vital wheat gluten (optional), salt, instant yeast, honey, and water.

Is this not getting down to the most natural type of bread you can get? That has some flavor, anyway? I can't wait to taste this. I hope it's really, really, really good. ha.