Readers of this blog know I make a loaf of sprouted wheat bread every week. It’s made from whole wheat, whole barley, and a little salt. That’s all. (Here’s the recipe, with photos.)

I recently lost my source for the barley I use, which is a hulled barley, not pearled barley. I need the grain to contain the germ so it will sprout. I looked around online and found these two from The Grain Place, one is hulled and the other is something I’m unfamiliar with, eBarley which is a “hull-less” grain.

Here’s how The Grain Place describes them:

Hulled Barley: Hulled barley has only the outer husk removed, and is thus more nutritious than pearled barley, which has husk, bran and germ removed.

Ancient Grain eBarley: eBarley or Ethiopian Barley is a hull-less ancient grain barley. The difference between hulled and hull-less barley starts in the field. Hulled barley or “covered barley” has a hull that adheres to the grain. Hull-less barley or “naked barley” has an outer hull that’s loosely attached to the kernel so it generally falls off during harvesting. This form of barley likely has slightly higher fiber content because it requires less processing.

And here’s what happened when I tested their sproutability.  The dry grains are at the bottom, and the sprouts are above them in bowls:

This was after one day soaking and about 36 hours of sprouting. You can see that the eBarley took off, similar to how my wheat looks after this time. The hulled barley was a dud. It looks like it tried to sprout but stopped. It could have been old. Maybe it would have sprouted if given more time, but I need the wheat and barley to sprout together since I mix them at the beginning.

I made my first loaf with the eBarley today. It needs a few days to condition. I’m excited to see how it tastes. If it works out, The Grain Place will have me as a customer for a while.