it's bread!

I have been "spending" so much time in the kitchen since we've arrived in CT, I LOVE it! I've been experimenting with all sorts of new raw desserts, entrees, and breads. Creating new recipes usually comes in waves. I'll have new ideas coming to me non-stop for a few weeks and then my brain will take a little vacation and just enjoy perfecting the newly inspired recipes. I think of recipe inspirations like little bugs. They are friendly cute little buggers that float up in the sky. When they want to be born into the physical they come down and attach themselves to whoever will listen OR to whoever will bring them into this reality... almost like little idea leeches. You never know when you might catch one of these bugs, there are gagillions of them floating up in the sky. Anyone can catch them, you just have to be open to receiving them!

The bread bug came and attached herself to me last week. I was so excited, so inspired, and so determined to create raw bread that I couldn't sleep. I was waking up every hour with new ideas. The most "realistic" raw bread I've seen has been a variation of an Essene bread. Essene bread is made with sprouted grains and is dehydrated in the sun (Earth's dehydrator.) Now a days, most people don't use the sun, they use their fancy dehydrators in the kitchen. Either way.... I have always been inspired and intrigued by the clarity the Essenes had/have towards "diet" and nutrition. It was about time I used what they have taught and upgraded the technique with my own special sprinkle of love.

This recipe has a long way to go, but after posting photographs of the bread and pesto pasta everyone was extremely excited to try the recipe. I haven't perfected amounts, which really... why perfect anything, you can make this recipe your own. The sprouted grains do all the work, the result.... REAL bread!

Sprouted Rye Bread

4 cups sprouted rye berries (sprouted for 24 hours)
1/4 cup ground flax
1/8 cup caraway seeds
1 tsp. sea salt

1. Toss all ingredients in a large bowl. Put the mixture through a Green Star or Champion juicer with the blank plate. Using the juicer will give the bread an extra dough-like consistency. If you don't own a juicer you can blend until light and dough-like in a blender. If you are using the blender, try blending in small batches to give your blender a break.

2. Form into a small oval shaped loaves, about 1 1/2 inch high on Teflex lined dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate for 4 hours on 105 degrees. Another option is: spread the dough in a 1/4 inch layer on a dehydrator sheet, score into pieces, and dehydrate until dry to make sandwich bread.

3. After four hours, slice the bread into small slices, continue dehydrating for another 12 hours (depending on temperature outside and humidity.) You want the bread to be dried all the way through, but still soft on the inside. It should have a nice crust on the outside and a more sponge-like texture on the inside. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

*I also made a "cinnamon-raisin bread" by adding 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1 cup raisins, add these to the mixture before pressing through the juicer... it makes the most incredibly sweet bread!!

We enjoyed the bread by making a mixture of olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and minced onion. We dipped the bread in this lovely mixture just like at Italian restaurants..... soooo good!

Don't be intimidated by the sprouted grains, sprouting is an extremely simple process. Seeds and grains and designed to sprout, it's what they do! All you have to do is provide the right conditions to help them sprout... and a bit of love!

To sprout:

1. Put 2 1/2 cups of rye berries in a glass jar or bowl and cover with several inches of water. Soak grains about 12 hours to overnight.

2. Rinse and drain the grains extremely well. Set in a dark corner of your kitchen counter.

3. Rinse and drain the grains 2 to 3 times a day, you rinse them to water them, keep them moist, and keep them nourished just like you would a garden or plant. After 24 - 36 hours they will have small tails. They are now ready to use!

* I noticed that this recipe tastes delicious with sprouts that have tiny tails. I made a second batch using sprouts with longer tails and it tasted slightly like wheatgrass... ick! Be sure to use they sprouts before their tails grow too long :0)

happy creating!!!