There’s a jar of barley sprouting on top of my refrigerator, and it is destined to be part of my first foray into sprouted bread. Manna, also called “Essene” bread is some pretty ancient stuff that apparently dates back to biblical times. I did an image search and came up with the enticing picture above, blogged by someone walking the Silk Road through Turkey and Kyrgyzstan.
Manna is usually made with wheat berries, but I am partial to barley lately, and am hoping that it will turn out like the barley rusks I loved to eat in salads in Greece. There were entire bakeries there devoted to making these dried bread rounds. Rusks are dark, like pumpernickel. The salad was called Dakos and is similar to the Italian panzanella in that you wait for the bread to dry out, and then serve it as a base for or crumble into the salad. It then soaks up all the juices from the vegetables and simple dressing of lemon and olive oil.
My favorite meal in Greece: Bread Salad.
Both rusks and manna bread are baked at low temperature, around 200 to 250 degrees. (Think I’ll try mine in the dehydrator!) Neither one contains yeast or leavening of any kind. Sometimes dried nuts and fruit are ground along with the grain to add flavor and richness. Dates and almonds are my current pick.
Since I learned how to sprout a few months ago–and even made my own sprouting jar, I have found it to be so easy. Mung beans, lentils, chickpeas…I put them on salads, in sandwiches, or just eat out of hand for a snack. Now it’s time to take it to the next level!
The past few weeks have been all about yoga and dark leafy greens for me as I focus on improving my physical state (It’s working!). Manna bread is just what I’m craving to replace traditional baked wheat bread, of which I have been consuming less. I’m curious to know: do you find yourself eating less bread lately? What do you use to replace it?
