A story to hear and how you can try delicious and nutritious ancient grains today!

How you can try delicious and nutritious ancient grains today!

There’s nothing like a freshly baked loaf of bread – the feeling of comfort and happiness brought on by its smell and taste is wonderful.

My mum had a bread maker and used to bake bread every morning, and the thought chomping into a fresh, thick slice was all the motivation I needed to get out of bed!

These days, fabulous artisan bakers spoil us for choice with their breads. And, ancient grain bread – such as spelt, millet and teff – are becoming more available. As their name suggests, these grains have been around for thousands of years. Untouched and in their natural state, they are more readily digestible for our stomachs.

Next time you’re at your local bakery, ask your baker what their favourite grain is, and maybe have a go at baking an ancient grain loaf yourself! We’d love to se what you bake, so please upload and tag your creations with #herbertpeabody

In the meantime, Herbie has visited his best friend, Theo Knead-a-lot, at his famous bakery, and here’s what happened!

Enjoy the read-a-long with the recording!

It was Thursday afternoon, and Herbert Peabody was busy digging compost into his extraordinary vegetable patch. He was finishing early today as he had another important job to do – to pick up his niece Clementine and nephew Digby from school. They were coming over to Mulberry Tree Farm for the afternoon.

Herbie put away his shovel and headed over to his rumbling green truck to drive into Huffelton, the town near Mulberry Tree Farm, to the primary school.

As Herbie parked his truck, the school bell sounded, and soon the children were heading out.

“Hi, Uncle Herbie!” called Clementine as she approached Herbie’s truck.

“Hi, Clementine! And hello, Digby!”

“Hi, Uncle Herbie!” waved Digby.

Clementine and Digby loved having Uncle Herbie pick them up from school.

“How was school?” asked Herbie.

“Good thank you!” replied Clementine

“Oh, tiring!” said Digby. “We did lots of spelling and maths, and all that thinking has made me hungry!”

“Ahh!” said Herbie. “How about we pop in to Theo Knead-a-lot’s famous bakery on the way home to Mulberry Tree Farm?”

“Yay!” they cheered. Everyone loved Theo Knead-a-lot’s baking. In fact, he was a world famous baker.

Herbie parked the truck nearby the bakery, and the three of them went into see Theo.

“Hello!” boomed Theo. He was jolly and loud and loved having visitors. “How was school?”

“Good thank you, Theo, and we’re happy to be here!” said Clementine.

“Excellent, excellent! Now, what would you like?”

“Something to fill me up, please!” said Digby.

“Well, I have just the thing,” said Theo, “my new cereal bread.”

“Cereal bread?” asked Digby looking somewhat confused. “I thought cereal was for breakfast!”’

“Ah ha, it can be,” said Theo, “but we can also use cereal in baking because it is a type of grain.”

“It is,” said Herbie, “and did you know there are many different kinds of grains that can be used to bake bread?”

“I didn’t know that,” said Digby.

“Indeed there are,” said Theo. “And some of these grains have been around for thousands of years!”

“Wow. That’s a very long time!” said Clementine.

“But how do you know these grains have been around for thousands of years?” asked Digby.

“Excellent question,” said Theo. “We know this because there are records of these ancient grains in recipes from other countries.”

“Wow!” said Digby, “Like an ancient cookbook?”

“Exactly!” said Herbie.

“Theo, do you bake with ancient grains?” asked Clementine.

“I do!” said Theo. “This loaf of bread here is made with quinoa. And quinoa has been grown in Chile and Peru for around 5,000 years.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Digby. “We eat quinoa salad at home sometimes,”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” said Theo. “Quinoa is very nutritious and it can be eaten as a grain, just like rice!

“Ah, we have rice too,” said Clementine. “Can that be made into bread?”

“Yes! It can be ground into flour. Rice has been grown in China for around 7,000 years,” said Theo.

“Wow! Amazing! Are there any other ancient grains?”

“Yes,” said Theo, “there is a grain called teff, which has been used in Ethiopia for around 6,000 years to make delicious sour dough flat bread.”

“Really?” said Digby. “That’s a long time again too!”

“Hmm, sour dough bread,” said Clementine. “I think we’ve eaten that before. It was yummy!”

“I made a batch of sour dough today!” said Theo smiling.

“But what exactly is sour dough bread?” asked Digby.

“Sour dough bread has what’s called a starter. This is a culture that has gone through fermentation and it gives the bread a delicious taste. The culture also makes the bread easier for us to digest.” Said Theo.

“Hmmm, I would like to try some,” said Digby, as his tummy made a very loud rumbling sound. “Because my tummy is about to digest itself!”

So, you might like to research some ancient grains yourself, and see whether you can find a recipe to try them out.

Some bakeries specialise in different types of bread, and you might like to ask your local baker about which grains are their favourite to bake with.