BREAD baking

[GLC1968]

It pains me, but I guess I will have to resort to buying processed flour if I want to attempt some of this beautiful bread. My research did not reveal the information that I had hoped. There is an incredibly tedious process you can use to prepare freshly milled flour for artisan bread but all sites said "don't bother, buy a high quality processed flour."

I have a friend in SC who mills and makes a variety of bread styles. I believe she she told me she uses Kamut for her artisan loafs. I will have to get in touch with her. I add spelt and kamut to my whole wheat for a lighter flavor and texture. I have not tried a straight kamut loaf. I ran out last week, so I will need to place a BreadBecker's order. Yippee!

I use King Aurthur in my Airstream pantry because fresh milled has such a short shelf-life and there is little room for a wheat mill and a 45lb bucket. Would KA be a good choice, or is there another recommendation?

But my mill will not sit idle...my men will still want their share of hearty wheat bread. Plus, there are always the tortillas and other goodies we make. In fact, I will have it out later today to mill flour for the cookies I am making for tomorrow's regatta.

How big is your mill that you need a 45lb bucket?!

I have an old but effective table top one that works very well.
http://simplemetamorphosis.blogspot....agic-mill.html

I also get 95% of my flour directly from Bob's Red Mill (local to me) but their stuff is high quality. I don't know if you can get all the varieties on the east coast, but I know I used to be able to find my favorite 10-grain waffle mix from them at Fresh Market when I lived in NC. It's worth a shot. KA stuff is wonderful too, of course.

[Susan Otcenas]

Well, I sent off my broken stone to Pampered Chef. But I still had one loaf's worth of dough left, so last night I made a loaf without the stone.

I put the shaped loaf on a plain ol' aluminum cookie sheet. It came out beautifully. Almost exactly like the ones I made using the stone. So, I don't think I'll wait for the new stone to come before I make more bread.

Susan

[NoNo]

I followed Tulip's suggestion and found the recipe on the NYT site. Mixed it up this morning, let it rise, and have two loaves waiting to go in the oven now While waiting, I threw together my first batch of soap, I'm very interested to see how it turns out.

[papaver]

I followed Tulip's suggestion and found the recipe on the NYT site. Mixed it up this morning, let it rise, and have two loaves waiting to go in the oven now While waiting, I threw together my first batch of soap, I'm very interested to see how it turns out.

soap? Or soup?

[NoNo]

soap? Or soup?

Soap. I'll get around to soup at some point. Right now I have to clean up this mess

[NoNo]

Oh my goodness, is my stomach happy! I will say that I pulled them out because the top seemed to be getting over-brown, but the bottoms were almost slightly undercooked. I'll have to play with leaving the stone in longer to heat up (did about 30min this time) and lowering the temp a tad to let it cook longer.

[papaver]

looks wonderful!

[MommyBird]

How big is your mill that you need a 45lb bucket?!

I buy bulk wheat berries in 45lb buckets. Un-milled, the berries are "alive" and will keep for years if they are kept dry and pest free. Processed flours, even the high quality varieties, are stripped of the most healthy nutrients to prolong their shelf life. The good stuff goes bad fast.

If you buy from a mill whose flour can sit on a shelf for more than a week and not go sour, they have processed out some of the vital nutrients.

I keep three varieties of wheat in 45lb buckets in my pantry. I buy some special varieties and other grains in 5lb pails. I also buy bulk honey for my bread. Next time I order I plan to get 45 lbs of Kamut as I have had such success with it.

I use an electric mill called the WonderMill and a huge capacity mixer called The Elecrolux Assistent. I usually make a six loaf batch which requires up to 15 cups of flour.

I order most of my "Real Bread" making supplies from:
http://breadbeckers.com/

Sue Becker has a great testimony on the site about her family's experience with home milling.

[GLC1968]

I understand the reasoning behind home milling - but I still don't see why you have to mill all the wheat berries at once. In my case, there are only two of us, so I would never mill the whole 45 lb bucket in a single pass. We'd never use it up before it spoiled.

If you are trying to do this on a smaller scale (for a smaller space), why not just mill what you need instead of doing the entire batch at once?

[MommyBird]

I understand the reasoning behind home milling - but I still don't see why you have to mill all the wheat berries at once. In my case, there are only two of us, so I would never mill the whole 45 lb bucket in a single pass. We'd never use it up before it spoiled.

If you are trying to do this on a smaller scale (for a smaller space), why not just mill what you need instead of doing the entire batch at once?

I do not mill the whole 45lbs at once. I scoop out the wheat berries I need for the recipe I am making, mill and store any remaining flour in the freezer. The buckets do not store flour, they store the whole, un-milled wheat berries.

I do mill around ten cups of berries at one time when I make bread. Smaller amounts for tortillas and other uses.

I empty 2-3 of the buckets a year. Wheat berries (seeds, grains) keep for years and it is more economical to buy in bulk than to get a pound here and there at the health food store. I use Gamma Seals on my buckets to make them more moisture and pest proof and easier to open.

We rarely purchase store bread. Only if my schedule has been hectic and I have not gotten a chance to bake.

[NoNo]

Sundried tomato and parmesan loaf:


Inside (sorry about the crappy cell phone picture):


I forgot to brush the top with olive oil and score it, but believe me, it has not affected the taste at all!

[NbyNW]

This thread is so inspiring! Now that my stuff is out of storage I'm looking forward to trying that cast iron pot method!

[GLC1968]

I do not mill the whole 45lbs at once. I scoop out the wheat berries I need for the recipe I am making, mill and store any remaining flour in the freezer. The buckets do not store flour, they store the whole, un-milled wheat berries.

I do mill around ten cups of berries at one time when I make bread. Smaller amounts for tortillas and other uses.

I empty 2-3 of the buckets a year. Wheat berries (seeds, grains) keep for years and it is more economical to buy in bulk than to get a pound here and there at the health food store. I use Gamma Seals on my buckets to make them more moisture and pest proof and easier to open.

We rarely purchase store bread. Only if my schedule has been hectic and I have not gotten a chance to bake.

Ah - got it. I thought you needed the big buckets in order to mill. You just use them to store the berries prior to milling. That makes more sense! I do the same thing - I was just confused by your dilemma of needing to fit a 45lb bucket in a small space.

[MommyBird]

GLC1968-
I had to re-read my posts to see what "small space" you were talking about.
I have a huge pantry in my house, but I do not have a lot of storage space in my Airstream. Trailer, aluminum, twinkie shaped thing.
I use processed flour only while camping because I need the shelf life.
I couldn't figure out why you were so confused. Now I understand.
Sorry for the confusion.

[NoNo]

I have a question to those of you who have made the olive bread. I made it the other day with the olive oil dough and it was fantastic! However, I feel like I need to double the amount of olives they call for, and all of my olives ended up at the top of the loaf. How do you get them to spread more evenly throughout the dough?