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Sprouting Grains
I have heard more than once that my method of sprouting grains sounds too good to be true. It's really so easy! Here's my routine, with approximate time spent on each step:
I buy organic whole grain (usually spelt or soft wheat) in 25-pound bags through the hfs or co-op - it's usually about $13 for the whole bag. (smaller grains like millet or quinoa don't use the same time frames below - they're much quicker. . .times below are for wheat and spelt.)
In a large bowl soak 4 cups of grain overnight. (2 min.)
In the morning, drain the grain in a large fine-mesh colander, and set the colander on top of the large bowl the grain was in to keep dripping. Leave the colander with the grain there on your counter (somewhere out of the way, where it can stay for the next 2-3 days, but near the sink is good because you will be needing the water occasionally). (2 min.)
3-4 times throughout the day, rinse the grain with water to re-wet it. The top will dry out, but the grain on the bottom will stay wet, so it's also good to mix the grain to keep the moisture evenly distributed. If you do't do this, the grain on the bottom will sprout, but the stuff on top won't. Just mix, rinse with water and set on top of the bowl again where it can drain. (30 seconds, 3-4 times, two days)
Usually the second (but sometimes the third, which sort of depends on the grain, but also kind of the weather/temp, I've found) the grains will all sprout and have little tails. This is when you want to stop the process, when the sprouts are just very thin and very short. It should have no smell. Once we had to leave the house in some sort of emergency (can't remember what now) and were gone for a couple of days and when we got home, my sprouts were like baby grass, and even had a grassy smell, which is much too far along. I tried to dry some of it in hopes of saving the flour, but it was gross. The rest I just kept sprouting and ended up using as wheatgrass juice, which is always your 2nd option if this happens. :)
Okay, so once you have your little sprouts, you are going to dehydrate the grain. Spread thinly on your dehydrator sheets and dry overnight at about 95 degrees. I do use the fruit leather sheets for this. (5 min. for spreading out on MY round sheets - would be quicker if you had square ones)
If you don't have a dehydrator, I recommend you get one, but you can also spread them out on cookie sheets and dry in your oven very slowly. Most ovens don't go low enough, so you have to turn them on for a few minutes, then turn them off, and do that once every couple of hours to keep some low heat in there. In the hot summer, I also sometimes spread them on cookie sheets and just dry outside in the sun. (watch for birds! LOL)
In the morning, your grain should be dry again, the little sprout tails all shrivelled up. At this point you can grind it or just put in glass jars for grinding as you need it.
I usually do half and half - I grind half of it (obviously you need a grain mill for this - make sure you use one that doesn't heat the grain) and store the other half in a large glass jar. I prefer to grind the flour as closely to when I will use it as possible, because once ground, grain goes rancid very quickly. Normally I just start grinding the flour as I am getting all the other ingredients out for whatever we are baking, and by the time we've mixed the wet ingredients and are ready for the dry, it's ready.
(5 min. for removing from the dehydrator trays (this takes me a long time because of the shape of my trays. . .if you have square ones, you could just pour into a large canning funnel and be done with it in 2 minutes), 15 seconds to pour into the grain mill and flip the switch, lol)
So, it's less than 20 minutes of accumulated time over about 3 days, which is really no big deal for the amount of nutrition you are adding to your diet. :)
Article about why you should soak your grains: Be Kind To Your Grains
and/or read the book 'Nourishing Traditions' by Sally Fallon. :)