Making White and Red Malts From Sprouted Rye, Whole Wheat and Spelt
We were out of red and white rye malt when we made out last batch of SD multi-grain bagels with sprouts. Since our multi-grain bakes that we like the best have been a combination of spelt, rye and whole wheat we decided to make a batch of red and white multi-grain malt using these 3 grains.
First soak the berries in water for 3 hours and then sprout them for 3-4 days between two layers of damp kitchen towels covered in plastic. I re-dampen the towels ever 24 hours so they don't dry out. When they look like this:
Then dry them in the oven on a rimmed cookie sheet. Start out at 150 F, no higher in order to make diastatic white malt. Any higher temperature and you will kill the enzymes you just made by malting. Once dry, about an hour or so, take half the berries and grind them into white malt.
Take the other half of the berries and continue to bake them starting at 200 F and raising the temperature 25 F every 5 minutes until you get to 350 F. Watch them carefully so they don't burn. Grind them into red non diastatic malt when they are cool. Red malt adds flavor and color to any bread. You should get red and white malts that looks like this:
Comments
Mr. D,
Good afternoon. I just had to replenish my malt supply too. I tried the damp towel method of sprouting but found it to be too messy. Some of those dang seeds always wanted to jump out so I now sprout in a jar and it works just as well. I rinse the grains a couple of times a day and drain through the lid which is designed for sprouting. I also got a jar that is big as I like to make a lot of this stuff at a time as it stores just fine - either ground or un-ground.
Not sure if you know about this method or if your seeds are as mischievous as mine are but I thought I'd pass on what I found in case you are interested.
I have never tried sprouting the spelt. Just rye, barley and wheat. What is the flavor difference with the spelt? (I tend to go towards the rye and barley flavors the most.)
Take Care,
Janet
Can you post a photo of your jar with the lid that is meant for sprouting?
I would like to try this and some visuals would be helpful.
Thanks Janet.
The label is half worn off but was made by NOW foods so I would think your WFoods would carry these. (I got mine at a similar store here for less than $5.00) If not, when I worked in a restaurant, jars like this were commonly used for all sorts of condiments - but that was 35 years ago...
As you can see the lid is simply a piece of wire mesh inserted into a plastic lid.
To set up one for yourself I would imagine you can simply use a large Mason canning jar. You could use the lid of a canning jar too and simply cut a piece of wire mesh to fit into it but I think cheese cloth folded over a few times would be easier to use and is what I always use to use with a good old rubber band to hold it in place.
Size is approx. 1/2 gallon.
Easy to do. I generally fill my jar about 1/4 full of the grains I want to use. I rinse them and then let them sit overnight in the water to start the sprouting process. They are then drained and rinsed and the jar is left on it's side so the excess water can drain out and the seeds aren't so clumped together. I rinse several times a day when I think about it. I try to keep the jar in a place that isn't in direct light either. Takes about 2-3 days for the sprouts to be right - speed depends upon temp. In the summer they are done in no time. Now - it takes longer.
I also don't grind all of the grains up at one time. I grind a bit and store the rest in a jar to grind when I need it.
Have Fun,
Janet
mine, it is all black plastic to keep out the light. God forbid that the sprouts would turn green from sunlight :-)
Thanks for the help. One of these days I will give it a go.
Regards,
Ian
My pleasure :-)
From the sounds of what you have been telling us here - you have a lot on your plate at the moment. I am not at all surprised that spouting jars etc are not high on your agenda.....These things can wait, and wait and wait....What you are currently dealing with can not.
Take Care,
Janet
Thanks Janet.
Appreciate your concern.
Regards,
Ian
Can you be more specific about how many rye berries in weight you use and how big the jar is, thank you!
we have a jar somewhere that was used to sprout soy, mung and alfalfa among other things in. I should try to find it. That method would be so much easier than what I am doing. I have never sprouted spelt before and didn't taste them separately since they were sprouted all together. Have always used rye for malting before. Next time we will have to do the spelt separately and see if it makes sense to do it at all.
Thanks for the reminder.
Can only imagine what delicacies you will bake with spelt sprouts, maybe combined with the rye and wheat?
Your two week baking journey was wonderful, thank you for sharing those great pictures. Now, if you need a project for the future....When you do your ebook, you will have to do a section on "Pairings"--but instead of wine and foods, just have the glass of wine and then write about what breads go best with what foods for a variety of types of meals, snacks etc.
combo spelt, rye and ww sprouts and using them to make red and white malt, we combined them with the 24 hour experiment to make bread on the counter without using a levain build or retarding in the fridge.
We begain with 7 g of starter, 700 g of flour (10% whole grain; spelt, rye and ww), 4 g total of red and white malt at 72% hydration and it doubled in 20 hours - right on schedule. We then split the dough and made a SFSD boule with half and added 2 kinds of figs (black adn brown), pistachios, sunflower and pumpkin seeds to the other half. 4 hours later they were ready to bake - 24 hour SFSD counter bread and one with some of out favoring fruits, nuts and seeds. Here is a picture since I will post this bake separately later.
I think If I did an ebook it would be on how best to drink various wines while eating a sandwiches and other stuff :-) Maybe it could be part of my cook book which never seems to get done with all the new stuff I am adding to it every week.
Thanks for the compliments and I will seriously ponder an ebook ..........
I tend to use a wide mouth jar or deli container and the net bag that holds garlic in the super market. The mesh can be cut and stretched, fixed with a rubber band or string or just held in place while rinsing.
Or the bag can be used to hold the growing roots while the sprouts grow out of the bag. Then the sprouts can be clean cut from the root parts.
tub 3" x 6' with holes in the bottom that I use to make cheese in. With a mesh over the open top I can rise the grain once a day to keep the mold off and it the water just drains out of the bottom. I only use the damp paper for 30 hour sprouts that are going straight into the bread or to make flour right after chitting - rather than sprouted for 4 -5 days for malt. I have a black plastic sprouter like Janet uses but I can't find it anywhere. These tubs were another Goodwill find - 2 for a buck:-) Your mason jar with net works great too but it doesn't automatically drain when rinsing and you have to turn it over to get the water out.
A small plastic strainer works too with netting cover works too.
three piece box: bottom, middle straining insert, and non-locking lid. Use it to keep food warm like boiled dumplings and noodles but also could be used for sprouts. I tend to use it more for bulk dough rising w/o the insert. Just the right size for mixing and covering 2kg of dough. From the Salvation Army store for under $2. I have a big box of kitchen items going back to good will when I leave Canada. It's a great resource for transients like myself. :)
at Goodwill. I just love going there and saying 'now what can I use that for?' It is a great resource for folks who move around like you and don't want to ship stuff to the next place and just donate it back to Goodwill when they move, or for those on a limited budget or cheap like me :-) I have to say i have bought all of my bread baking stuff from DO's and clay bakers, to full size baking stones, Pyrex loaf pans, baskets etc at Goodwill and can attest you can be a fully equipped bread baker at home for less than $20 if you are patient and shop on Dollar Thursdays!
First rinse and soak overnight 1 cup of soft wheatberries in plenty of water. Drain in the morning into a large 3 liter jar, cover with cheese cloth and rubber band and set on dish rack upside down so it drains completely. As it happens, my dishrack is in a dark corner with no sunlight and works well. Rinse 3-4 times during the day until the sprout is no longer than the wheatberry. I spread mine onto a large cookie tray with parchment paper and keep in the oven with just the 'warm' option on & off until mostly dry, then set out on the table to make sure all is dry completely. I use a dedicated coffee grinder to grind them up a little at a time and if needed a mortal and pestal if some didn't grind all the way. Store in the frig in a glass jar.
I've never heard or used red malt before and have only used soft wheatberries. I'll have to try other grains in the future as well as making the red malt, but the red malt looks like burnt toast to me.
is one of the great flavor and coloring additive for bread. Even darker roasted grains or malts are required for beer that aren't pale lagers and pilsners - like amber beer and anything darker.
Red malt is instrumental for many rye breads in the dough and in the rye scalds of various kinds like this one
Lucy’s Take on Adri’s Westphalian Rye
I use red malt much more than white malt - probably 10 to 1, Since most store bought flours already have malt added in them the only time I really use white malt is to add .6 of 1% to home milled white flour where I sift out the 30% harder, darker bits and am only using the white 'straight' flour for the recipe and all the minerals, enzymes and other goodies have been sifted out.
I also like to add Toadies to bread for flavoring. Toadies are named after a Fresh Loafian (toad,de,b) who invented them. Take wheat and oat bran, mix in some wheat germ and sifted unused middlings from home milling and then dry toast them in a skillet until nicely browned then cool and grind them. Another one of the great flavoring and coloring additives for bread.
Happy Malting
Toadies!
I'll have to try it out soon!!
I am really nervous about sprouting my own rye grains, can anyone recommend a place that sells fermented red rye malt? I need it for my Russian Bread and kvas recipes!! Thank you
red malts.
Making malts is easier than making bread by far!
You can also buy them on line from King Arthur flour, breadtopia and many other plaves
red rye malt used by Russians in bread and kvas? I was assuming that was the difference between what you find in Russian stores and American homebrewing stores, but if there is no difference than I am excited to go buy some malt from a local homebrewing store. I don't have a mill so grinding my own is not really an option even if I got the courage to malt rye grains, does the mixture for baking bread have to be super fine like a powder or can it be bit coarse?
When you put it in with the SD levainin bread dough then it ferments. I use a coffee grinder to grind them into a fine powder. You can buy it already ground online from many places.