Jun 24, 2012

Sprouted Grain Breads

 

Sprouted grain breads have made their way into our home....almost overnight.  When I made the switch, my daughter was about 18 months old and hadn't developed a definite taste for breads yet, which made sprouted grain really easy to introduce.  She likes all kinds of bread, but the only one served in my home (for the most part) is sprouted grain.  Why?  Well....why not?

When you think about how children should be getting 6-11 servings of whole grains a day, white bread simply doesn't and will never compare and should just run out your door in mere shame of itself for pretending to be nutritious.  It's a far cry from it.  Even if the bag says, "made with whole grains" as if to redeem itself in some way to it's consumers....don't be fooled!  Do you really think....I mean seriously think, that when it says "made with whole grain on a box of Lucky Charms, a child is receiving a nutritious meal?  If you do, please go back and sit down to think some more. ;)


So, back to white bread.  Let's take a look at this in two parts:  before milling and after.  The grain used to make white bread is the wheatberry, in which the bran and germ layers are completely stripped off and the rest is made into white flour.  When those two layers are removed, so are nutrients such as iron, dietary fiber, micronutrients, B vitamins, and essential fatty acids.  This makes sense since 90 % of the wheat berry's nutrition is held in the wheat germ.  Yes, they put some nutrients back in trying to reconstruct the nutritional part of it, but it's clearly not the same.  And yet,  after they are finished with the flour, the process still continues with bleaching.  And guess what?  You're going to love this....many countries (except the U.S.) BAN these bleaching agents.  Nice, isn't it?  Unfortunately, type 2 diabetes runs it's way through many children in the United States and you can be certain most of these children are eating white bread.  White bread is easily digested and when you have an easily digested carbohydrate such as white bread, candy bars, soda, etc., glucose levels rise.  Yes, sometimes white bread has its place.  My daughter loves having a baguette once in a while and she's entitled to it.  Is this a staple?  No.  The body doesn't break down overnight.  It's years worth of feeding it nutritionally depleted foods that eventually makes our body fail....whether it be Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, headaches, and the list could goes on.

Here are some quick and simple recipes or ways to incorporate sprouted grain breads.  I especially like the tortillas.

Avocado Roll Up:  Spread hummus on a sprouted grain tortilla.  Place avocados and alfalfa sprouts inside and roll.  (You can do this with virtually anything.  For those of you who eat meat, you can do a ham and cheese roll up or cream cheese, etc.)

Quesadillas:  Place one sprouted grain tortilla in a pan.  Spread organic pasta sauce on top (about 1/4 inch thick).  Then place a layer of fresh spinach.  Covering the spinach is raw goat cheese in thin slices.  Then top with another sprouted tortilla.  Heat, flip, heat, serve.  It's a little messy, but my daughter LOVES this.  I do cut it up with a pizza slicer into quarters.  Takes less than 10 minutes to make.  


You can also use sprouted grain bread for dipping into soups, stews or dips. 


Ezekial brand is one that I use the most, but there are other options available.  You will probably only find this in Whole Foods or a natural food store.  You can also make your own!