We’re through the first week of the 28-Day Real Food Challlenge. Here’s what we did:

Day one’s assignment: clean out pantry – check (except hubby’s cereal and sugar for culturing kefir, stored up high)

Day two: shop for healthy stuff – check. Of the suggested foods, those that weren’t already in my pantry were on my weekly shopping list anyway.

Day three: Improve your grains – easy, have mill for making my own fresh flour and well in the habit of soaking grains for pancakes and breads. I’m still looking into a no-knead sourdough recipe, I hear one of the Real Food Media bloggers was working on one…

Day four: Sourdough Starter – not quite check. We were supposed to start a sourdough starter today for use next Thursday, but I don’t have a starter. I could start the recipe from Nourishing Traditions and just be a week behind on this goal, but opted instead to send away for the sourdough started Wardeh blogged about at GNOWFGLINS. I’m sure the family is in no hurry for me to accomplish this goal because other than the barely-soured bread we buy from Twin Forks, no one but me really likes the flavor of sourdough.

Day five: Sprout your grains – check. There’s always something sprouting in the kitchen. Sometimes beans or grains, so I started some wheat. I made double what I expected to use because our guinea pigs just love wheat grass to munch on!

Day six: Milling your own sprouted grain flour – check. Drying and milling sprouted grains is something I don’t do as often as cooking the sprouted grains. Once dehydrated and milled, a quart of grains only makes about a cup of flour, so to make enough sprouted grain flour for my large family’s use, I’d have to have several large pans sprouting and drying continuously, something we just don’t have physical space for.

I do love how the sprouting and drying process brings out a sweet flavor in the grains, and I often use sprouted wheat flour when just a few tablespoons of flour is called for, like coating a piece of fish, or for a crumb muffin topping. I’m down to about 1/2 cup of sprouted wheat flour left in my supply, so I imagine I will be drying and milling this batch of sprouts.

My mill balks at sprouted grains too. The engine is quite happy to grind them, but the “tails” on the sprouts frequently jam the opening, so before I run them through the mill, I’ll rub the grains between my hands. That makes them go through much more easily. All the grains and the rubbed-off tails go through the mill easier that way and I don’t have to sit by the mill unjamming the little tails!

Come join us at Nourished Kitchen and follow along! If you haven’t started yet, you can start day one anytime and benefit from all the comments of those of us already past the days you start!