The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

What to do with whole grains

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

What to do with whole grains

Okay, here's a bit of a poll - what do you do with your organic whole grains?

  1. Soak them whole, then put them into dough
  2. Cook them first
  3. Toast, then soak or cook
  4. Toast, then crush or crack
  5. Toast, crack and soak or cook
  6. Toast and grind into flour

I also have scored a source of various malts (current one is a crystal malt, sort of a medium toast). As this is barley with hulls intact, do I worry about including the hulls in the bread? They're quite crisp and crunchy. Soak first? Crush or crack? What do you think?

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

are you looking for?  :)  

Make a mini bread or roll first and see how whole acts incased in dough.  I might also try crushing in a coffee grinder and see if hard lumps show up in the finished bread.  Then go from there.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

hours and then dehydrate them for 4 hours at 105 F and then grind them into flour but have done most of the other 6 too - they are all good.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

on the type of bread you are doing,  and the kind of grain you are using. For example:

German/European type of rye breads: cracked rye or meal, cooked (mash) or soaked (hot or cold soaker).

Tartine-tye porridge breads: cracked or whole grains, soaked (depending on type of grain) and cooked.

Whole rye grains: soak for 24 hours, then cooked for 30 minutes (or sprout), otherwise they will not soften enough.

Wheat and ancient wheat grains: cook (or sprout), pre-soaking saves cooking time, but is not a necessity.

If you want to toast your grains before using, it's your personal preference, traditional breads don't require it.

Karin