Almost Raw Sprouted Wheat Berry-Lentil Bread

I call this almost raw because I used our old dehydrator to make it and it doesn't have a temperature control. I can't claim to know how hot the food gets. However, it's a raw-inspired bread because of the ingredients and the spirit in which I "cooked" it - using a dehydrator. I'm creating true raw recipes in our new dehydrator - see the end of this post.

For this bread I used sprouted wheat berries and lentils. The wheat is from Jospeh's Grainery located in the Palouse. A Joseph family member was in attendance at the ifbc - International Food Blogger Conference and was passing out bags of wheat berries and lentils. Lucky me.Sprouting is easy and does not require any special (and plastic) equipment. I use wide-mouth, quart-sized canning jars, a piece of cheese cloth, and a rubber band. To make this almost raw bread I soaked about a heaping cup of lentils and wheat berries in separate bowls in lots of water. I let these soak overnight. The next day I drained, rinsed, and drained each, covered the jars with a thin layer of cheesecloth and fastened the cloth with a rubber band. I set the jars way back on the counter in a dark corner. Twice a day I removed the cheesecloth, rinsed the contents, and drained out as much water as I could before I returned the lentils/wheat berries to the jars. In two days l had a sprout frenzy.

Here is what I put in my almost raw bread:

3 1/2 cups sprouted wheat berries
3 1/2 cups sprouted lentils
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 small yellow summer squash, chopped
1 cup ground flax seed
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup (packed) fresh Italian flat leaf parsely
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tamari
salt and pepper
garlic powder
dried basil
dried oregano
I processed all of these ingredients in the food processor, adding the ground flax seed last. I then tasted and seasoned and re-seasoned. The final dough is wet and gloppy. I used a large serving spoon to spread the mix onto the dehydrator trays, which I had covered with parchment paper. I rubbed a bit of olive oil onto the parchment too. I left the dough relatively thick because it will loose density as it dries. I dehydrated this for about 7 hours, then flipped the bread and removed the parchment paper to allow the other side to dry for another hour or so. How long you dehydrate is up to you.

I like this bread, though It's not as savory as I had hoped. But that's on me since I made this up. I like the texture very much. It's soft yet it has a bit of a "crust" for some tooth. As much as I like sprouted lentils, I'm not so crazy about them in this recipe. I will make plenty more raw bread but not include the lentils. No biggie.
I'm really enjoying playing with these raw bread recipes. At the same time, I'm thinking about using almost the same ingredients in a traditional baked bread.

In regard to the dehydrator, the mother of all dehydrators, the Excalibur, has since arrived and it's da bomb. It's the machine I see 9 out of 10 raw foodists using in videos and blogs. I purchased it straight from the manufacturer. Yes, made in America. Cool, huh? Replacement parts available. I got a smaller model, five trays, and opted for the model with a timer. And, it came with lots of extras AND no shipping AND no tax. We will use it for so many things we just can't do with the machine we have now. Stay tuned for more about the machine and what I create.