bake - January 2019 - 28

breads

results. I've never worked with a grain like Kernza. It's beautiful,
and it's difficult."
Although Kernza grain has made its way into the commercial supply chain in small niche markets, the goal of The Land
Institute is to develop varieties of Kernza that are economical
for farmers to produce at large scale. The breeding program is
currently focused on selecting for traits including yield, shatter

SPROUTED GRAINS

resistance, free threshing ability, seed size and grain quality.

In other areas of development, craft bakers are
experimenting with sprouted grain and specialty
grain breads in all sorts of directions.

Within the next 10 years, the Land Institute aims to have a crop
with seed size that is 50% of annual bread wheat seed size.
Long-term goals include developing a semi-dwarf variety and
improving bread baking quality.
In 1983, using Wes Jackson's vision to develop perennial grain
crops as inspiration and guidance, plant breeders at the Rodale
Institute selected a Eurasian forage grass called intermediate
wheatgrass, a grass species related to wheat, as a promising
perennial grain candidate. Beginning in 1988, researchers with
the USDA and Rodale Institute undertook two cycles of selec-

Bread and pizza expert Peter Reinhart, a Johnson
& Wales University baking instructor and book
author, says that he believes sprouted grains
are going to get bigger and bigger in the US.
"Sprouting the grain makes the grain taste better,
in my opinion," he says. "We are right at the tipping
point of sprouted grains becoming a bigger part of
the American diet."

tion for improved fertility, seed size, and other traits in New
York state.
The Land Institute's breeding program for intermediate wheatgrass began in 2003, guided by Dr. Lee DeHaan. Multiple
rounds of selecting and inter-mating the best plants based on

At Heirloom Bakery & Hearth in Kansas City,
Missouri, owner Scott Meinke says one of the more
unusual breads that is gaining popularity is a spent
grain sourdough, made with spent beer grains from
a local brewer.

their yield, seed size, disease resistance, and other traits have
been performed, resulting in improved populations of intermediate wheatgrass that are currently being evaluated and
further selected at The Land and by collaborators in diverse
environments.

Expect sprouted grains to surge in popularity,
according to Baking & Snack, a sister publication
to bake. A 2017 GlobalData consumer survey noted
that 60% of U.S. shoppers think sprouted grains
and seeds have a positive impact on health.

prairie - putting health into the soil. Kernza seems to taste
different everywhere you grow it," Golper says. "It's going to
taste different based on the soil it's coming out of."
Experiments are underway to pair Kernza with legumes in
intercrop arrangements that achieve greater ecological intensiﬁcation, and to utilize Kernza as a dual-purpose forage and
grain crop in diverse farming operations. "I love working with
The Land Institute," Golper says. "They are breeding around the
clock, and they have something already viable as something to
eat. But they have to iron out the wrinkles before it's ﬁnancially
viable. Bakers get excited about the future of food that is truly
sustainable. But it takes time."

28 < JAN 2019 | bakemag.com

Jim Canterbury, director of sales for Petaluma,
California-based Alvarado Street Bakery, said the
grains' digestibility and energy benefits combat
any negative perception of carbohydrates in bread.
The minimally processed grains used in Alvarado
Street Bakery's Black Label line of sprouted bread
are easier to digest than those made with highly
processed flour, create longer-lasting energy and
can help control blood sugar levels. Canterbury
likened sprouted bread's trajectory to the organic
trend. "Sprouted has the same journey in that
it was also a strange sell a couple years ago,"
he says.

THE LAND INSTITUTE

"No tilling is a beautiful concept; it's almost like recreating the

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