Life in Southeast Alaska

Breadmaking Class

I had a fun, educational morning yesterday.  I went to a breadmaking class put on by a lady who is from Palmer.  She owns a business called Wholy Living where she sells Wheat Montana products, other baking supplies, Bosch mixers and Nutrimill grain mills.  It was so fun to spend a few hours learning and meeting ladies who like to bake from scratch and use organic/non-GMO items.

I was pretty impressed with the grain mill.  Even though it is electric, I will be saving up to buy one!  It went through about 12 cups of grain in 10 minutes - I can't even guess how long that would take in my hand crank one! 

The Bosch mixer was pretty neat, but I don't think I could justify the expense for just the two of us.  However...  there is a meat grinding attachment available and that could make it worth it.  Does anyone have one of these and have you used it to grind meat?  I would be very interested to know how well it works for you.  Last year we borrowed a commercial grinder and were able to process all of our moose burger (I forget how many pounds) in 25 minutes - that was twice through too.

The presenter gave alot of good info on different grains.  She explained how most of the nutrients are gone by the time you buy commercial flour from the store (which is why they enrich it).  Fresh ground wheat flour still has the bran which provides much needed fiber for our diets - but it also begins loosing nutrients.  If you grind more that you will use immediately, you should store the rest in the freezer.  She said it is best to grind each time you bake.  She showed how you can grind small amounts of grain in your blender, this is how she makes her breakfast cereal.  She mixes 7 grain mix, millet and amaranth and pulses in the blender.  Mix one part grain to 3 parts water and cook as you would oatmeal.  It came out good, but I would need some brown sugar added!

She used a mixture of grains in her bread - a soft winter wheat (Prairie Gold), kamut and spelt.  She adds a dough enhancer to her bread to help with the shelf-life.  Another thing she said to do is to take the temp of the bread to tell when it is completely cooked.  She took the pan out of the oven, flipped the loaf out upside down and inserted a meat thermometer in the side.  You are looking for a temperature of 180 degrees.  We sampled the bread and like I said, it was good, but the crust was pretty crispy, which isn't like what I make and what Rod likes.  So I will need to do some experimenting until I find a wheat recipe that will work for us.  Right now I'm using organic unbleached white flour from the store, so it will be a big change to fresh ground whole wheat!

I plan to begin incorporating more grains in our diet - now that I know how to use them!  I have a few bags of grains that I haven't tried fixing yet since I really didn't know what to do with them, so I'm looking forward to trying some of her recipes.

Whole grains

4:19 AM, Friday, April 20, 2007 .. Posted by Anonymous

Hi! I am new to whole grains- and I've found success with my husband and kisd by slowly incorporating wheat flour ( I'm still buying mine..) into recipes. I started with 1/4 of the flour wheat and then gradually added more. I've also switched to white whole wheat flour. not as good as fresh of course but i'm taking baby steps! I just purchased the King Arthur Whole Grains Baking book and it is awesome! So far I've made some oatmeal, wheat flour pancakes. But they have a ton of interesting breads and even desserts! Brownies!! The cookbook also has info about a variety of grains- not just whole wheat recipes that you often find.

crunchy crusts no more...

9:09 AM, Friday, April 20, 2007 .. Posted by mulberrylane

When I find good recipes (taste) that end up with very crunchy crusts, I put damp/wet washcloths over the loaves when they are cooling. This moisture goes back into the crust and softens it a bit... just make sure the cloths are not sopping wet. My loaves usually steam for a short while and my wash cloths are usually dry by the time the loaf is cooled. My crusts are rarely crunchy. Also covering the bread into bags or a container as soon as it is cooled is helpful as well, then the bread does not dry out. I try to make bread on one day and slice the next day. I've read something about not eating yeast bread until a day after... I don't remember what or why... sorry, but I've found that cutting is always easier the second day and I can still choose to freeze the bread or use at that point. My bread rarely lasts more than a day after slicing it, so it does not go bad from sitting too long.

Warmly, Melissa

how Exciting!

3:55 AM, Wednesday, April 25, 2007 .. Posted by Rachel

I have been wanting to get a grinder for quite awhile. I would love to make my own flour. :)

www.homesteadingmom.blogspot.com

Untitled Comment

10:46 PM, Wednesday, April 25, 2007 .. Posted by crewchief

OH my goodness, how cool is that?? I met that same woman this week! She was doing our curriculum fair and I bought "Nourishing Traditions" from her. Her bread was yummy! (she had samples at her table)

I signed up for the bread class she'll have at her home in a couple of weeks. She is doing one here in Anchorage sooner than that, but I have to work that afternoon. grrr.

I'm glad you liked her class. I considered not going, since I am a hand kneader and won't be buying the Bosch anytime soon. But if you liked it, maybe I'll go after all. :)