Simple Sprouts

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by Hannah (BitterSweet)
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Zooming about the kitchen at a manic pace on even a good day, it’s difficult enough to muster the patience for bread to rise, or dough to sit overnight at times. With the instant gratification of simple cookies and rolls tugging at the corners of my pleasure-seeking mind, it’s hard to justify taking more than a day or two to make one single item. It doesn’t help that counter space is at a premium as its teeming with baked goods of all sizes and colors; there’s barely even space to house more time-consuming recipes.

Thus, sprouting seemed an impossible venture to attempt. Despite all of the wonderful reports on how delicious and healthy sprouted grains and beans are, I never took the initiative to go ahead and try it out for myself. Thank goodness I was finally given a reason to step out of my normal pattern and do just that for this month’s Bread Baking Day, as chosen by Zorra, which involves baking with sprouts.

Limited knowledge and supplies both dictated my decision to sprout quinoa, which I’ve heard is faster to sprout than most options. Still figuring that I would have a full 2 or 3 days to wait until the actual bread baking could begin, I nearly gasped in shock when only 24 hours after beginning when I lifted the cheesecloth covering my jar of previously raw grains and discovered this:

Look at those beautiful tails! How they had grown so quickly, I can only attribute to the incredibly humid weather we’ve been experiencing lately. While I hate this wet, clammy warmth, I suppose it’s good for something after all! Tossing in a good handful of my sprouted quinoa and continuing a wholesome theme by using all whole wheat flour and no refined sugars, the dough came together with ease. Before I knew it, I had a beautiful loaf rising and browning in the oven, dispersing its yeasty aroma throughout the kitchen. Really, there are few things that smell as good as freshly baked bread.

Besides just being a lovely, healthy loaf, it has incredible flavor, drawing upon Mediterranean influence; Sun-dried tomato paste is mixed in, as well as a touch of balsamic vinegar for a slightly tangy bite, toasted pine nuts provide a toothsome crunch, and fresh herbs straight from the garden round the whole thing out. A nice change of pace from the usual onslaught of sugar, this could very well take a place of honor as one of my favorite savory recipes.

Yield: Makes 1 Loaf; 10 - 12 Servings

Mediterranean Sprouted Quinoa Bread

Mediterranean Sprouted Quinoa Bread

Besides being packed full of healthy, high-protein sprouted quinoa, this loaf has incredible flavor, drawing upon Mediterranean influence. Sun-dried tomato paste and balsamic vinegar add a tangy bite, toasted pine nuts provide a toothsome crunch, and fresh herbs straight from the garden round the whole thing out.

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Additional Time 2 hours 3 seconds
Total Time 3 hours 3 seconds

Ingredients

  • 3 Tablespoons Sun-Dried Tomato Paste
  • 1 Cup Warm Water
  • 1 Package Active Dry Yeast
  • 2 Teaspoons Agave
  • 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
  • 1 Teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
  • 3 1/2 - 4 Cups Whole Wheat flour
  • 1/3 Cup Toasted Pine Nuts
  • Handful Fresh Parsley and Basil, Finely Chopped
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Cup Sprouted Quinoa
  • 1 Tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten

Instructions

  1. First, stir the tomato paste into your water so that it dissolves, and then add in the agave and yeast. Let that sit for about 5 minutes or so until the yeast reawakens and it becomes frothy.
  2. Toss this mixture into your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, and stir in the oil and vinegar. Add in about 2 cups of the flour, as well as all of the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly to combine, and then add in enough of the remaining flour to create a cohesive dough that is neither very sticky nor dry.
  3. If using a stand mixer, let it kneed on a slow speed with a dough hook for 5 – 10 minutes, or knead by hand for 10 – 15 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Lightly grease a large bowl and let the dough rest there, covered, until doubled in volume.
  4. Press down the risen dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Kneed is very lightly to flatten it out into a rectangle approximately the length of your loaf pan, but much wider. Roll it up tightly and lay the log into greased medium loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled again.
  5. Bake it in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.

Notes

  • If you have a lot of pine nuts on top of your loaf, you might want to tent it with aluminum foil after the first 15 or 20 minutes so that they don’t burn.
  • Kalamata olives or finely chopped artichoke hearts could make a lovely addition to this loaf as well!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 172Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 185mgCarbohydrates: 56gFiber: 16gSugar: 2gProtein: 21g

All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on BitterSweetBlog.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimations.

© Hannah Kaminsky
Cuisine: Mediterranean / Category: Yeast Breads and Rolls

 

32 thoughts on “Simple Sprouts”

  2. Great minds (and palettes) think alike! I wanted to do a quinoa bread for BBD this month! I hadn’t, however, found the recipe I wanted to use…hey, maybe I’ll use yours! :) Looks great!

  10. That looks amazing. I am always in wonder at how much time and effort you must put into your recipes. And yes, few things could smell better than a home that just had bread baked in it.

  12. Wow Hannah!! The description of that bread with the sun dried tomato paste, pine nuts, and balsamic vinegar!! How creative and delicious sounding. I love balsamic vinegar in/on anything but never thought to add it to bread. As for the sprouted grains, I’m wary of doing that…

  15. I’m so amazed by this idea! I love the picture qith all trhe sprouts, they look like little flowers! The bread must have such an interesting flavour!

  16. What an awesome combination of flavors. Hooray for tasty bread! And Hannah, I just found out that you are coming to Portland at the end of this month! Oh my goodness, how exciting! I will be patiently waiting in line at Herbivore with my copy of My Sweet Vegan hoping for an autograph! Thanks for making a trip out west…

  19. How lovely. I always buy sprouted bread–the kind you have to keep in the freezer and defrost. Nice to have a recipe for this….for that magical day that when I am feeling industrious enough to bake!

  20. that’s some quick sprouting quinoa! i would love to have a slice right NOW! i am for sure going to have to try out this recipe!! it looks too perfect!

  24. Your sprouts are fantatic. I sprout wheat all the time, but have not yet tried quinoa. Now I will. I love the bread recipe too!

  26. This blog is the best!!! A friend just gave me a flyer advertising Ms. Kaminsky’s book-signing on Sunday at Borders, and then I saw the article on her book in today’s Hartford Courant with the link to this blog. Wow! As a vegan mom with a vegan child, my spirits soared to learn about this young vegan chef’s joyful, delightful, compassionate cooking. What a splendid example Ms. Kaminsky sets!

  27. that looks yummy. sorry if this a basic question that i should know the
    answer to but what is vital wheat gluten and where do i get it? thanks.

  29. Where do you even GET raw quinoa to sprout? I’ve checked at my local Whole Foods Market and Healthway and not only did they not have raw quinoa, they didn’t even know where to get it!

  31. oh, I love how it’s all whole wheat flour! I’ve been wanting to bake bread with sprouts in it for so long, I’m definitely gonna have to try this. (and also, yum breakfast quinoa!)

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