Milling and Baking with Heritage and Ancient Grains: Bread and Beyond

[ElsieD]

Knowing this group, there is likely to be a rush buying flour mills.

[rotuts]

A friend of mine

 

who now lives in BOS and Woods Hole

 

invited me down to WH some time a go

 

he milled his own grains

 

and I said 

 

Pleeeese

 

but Ive seen some shows 

 

Food Unwrapped  from GB

 

and a few others

 

that suggested that

 

there were grains , currently growns

 

here and there

 

that were older and ancient 

 

that when fresh milled 

 

has a different final taste than what we might buy now

 

in our groceries or King Arthur Flour

 

so :  tow issues :

 

Freshly Groiund

 

of our choice

 

and heritage and ancient grains

 

freshly milled

 

I thought about this

 

my friend makes various breads 

 

autolysis etc

 

from spelt etc

 

so 

 

after some though Id thought of trying this myself

 

sandwich loaf in the CSO

 

eventually when My oven gets fixed

 

or 

in summer 

 

outside

 

on the Weber.

 

interesting , is it not ?

 

if this sort of thing appeals to a Bread Baker ?

 

 

[Okanagancook]

4 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Knowing this group, there is likely to be a rush buying flour mills.

So true😩

 

[Merry Berry]

4 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Knowing this group, there is likely to be a rush buying flour mills.

 

That's ridiculous!!  <Quietly deletes his browsing history to hide evidence of looking into buying a mill) 😛

If I had found one in my price range, I have to admit, I would have ordered one.

[Okanagancook]

I have one in my wish list on amazon😤

Edited June 17, 2019 by Okanagancook (log)

[ElsieD]

7 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I have one in my wish list on amazon😤

 

 

And it will stay on the "wish list" for precisely how long?😅

[Shelby]

I won't lie.  I WANT company here.  I'm so far over my head.   

 

It's a learning curve.  It's not fast and easy.  I took the day off today and probably will tomorrow--gives us time to eat my experiments lol.

 

BUT the bread tastes amazing.  Better than homemade and not making your own flour.  

 

It's that good.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

That mill has been in my wish list for about a year.....some people have restraint.😝

Edited June 17, 2019 by Okanagancook (log)

[keychris]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

I won't lie.  I WANT company here.  I'm so far over my head.   

 

It's a learning curve.  It's not fast and easy.  I took the day off today and probably will tomorrow--gives us time to eat my experiments lol.

 

BUT the bread tastes amazing.  Better than homemade and not making your own flour.  

 

It's that good.

 

 

 

good bread is not fast. but it is easy, in the end. It's just flour, water, salt and yeast, after all

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Merry Berry said:

 

That's ridiculous!!  <Quietly deletes his browsing history to hide evidence of looking into buying a mill) 😛

If I had found one in my price range, I have to admit, I would have ordered one.

 

I beg to help.  The MockMill is less expensive than the KoMo, same man designs the milling mechanism.  Plus, unlike the KoMo, the MockMill, grinds hard corn.  Hard to beat the looks of KoMo though.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

I got the same mill my friend has.  he bakes bread using spelt grains.

 

its going to be more than I need.  My view on hardware

 

[ed.: Hardware = an item you are going to use over and over again.  Software = something you use once ]

 

is to study the item , make sure it does what you want and is well made.  then get the one that's a click above that one, if you can afford it

 

why ?  you're not going to get another one, hopefully , for a very very long time.

 

there are sen hand crank mills.   but at a certain age , Ill let a motor do the work.

 

before you grind away, make sure you have a continuing source of ' fresh ' grain.     not something that has been sitting on a shelf for some time

 

and make sure you understand the cost of heritage and ancient grain is a bit different from AP flour from the A&P

[Merry Berry]

9 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I beg to help.  The MockMill is less expensive than the KoMo, same man designs the milling mechanism.  Plus, unlike the KoMo, the MockMill, grinds hard corn.  Hard to beat the looks of KoMo though.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, both are still outside my price range for now.  But it is definitely on the short list for toys to buy.

[rotuts]

a big difference between the KoKo and MockMill is the housing.

 

KoKo is wood , and Im sure adds significantly to the cost.

 

as far as I can fairly tell from the descriptions on Breadtopia , which sell both mills

 

each mill grinds the same sort of think , inc dry corn.

 

if one is trying to decide between those two brands , call Breadtopia.

 

Ive spoken with them a few times and I think they know what they are talking about

 

and might help you sort things out.

 

 

[donk79]

18 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

The general guidance the Roan Mills people gave me when adapting a white flour recipe to whole grain was to increase the liquid by 15%.  Of course, I don't have enough experience to know anything myself 🙃

 

15% matches my experience with locally grown and milled whole wheat flour.  Unfortunately, the farm I was buying from has folded.  Makes this thread all too tempting!

[rotuts]

My starter has Starter has Started !

 

I used BlueBird Heritage Rye :

 

https://bluebirdgrainfarms.com/product-category/dark-northern-rye/

 

I used the Shelby method of grinding first 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill HW  ( not Heritage  )  as I had it

 

then a second cup of the same.

 

then tried to get the mill to its finest setting , and did the BlueBird.

 

I forgot Shelby's admonition to turn the grinder on first this time.

 

always wise to listen to @Shelby .  doesnt mean you have to do what Shelby suggests , but its wise to note it.

 

Being a very seasoned coffee grinder , I just turned the mill on click coarse , and off it was !

 

turned out back on click.  why not

 

1 cup of BB's HRye   gave me a little less than a qt of flour .  and I used a very clean Mayo jar for the out-put.

 

did the PJ method in a clean 1 qt container , and Im off.

 

I made sure the try flour Mayo container was tight , I use a pice of plastic folded over.

 

and refrigerated that.

 

sorry no pics

 

Soooo 

 

The Game is On.

 

I used a ShopVac on the output spout of the KoKo, to try to get some of the four out of the KK.

 

I wiped the spout w some clean tissue.

 

I have a pantry moth issue.   

 

too bad I couldn't ChamberrVac  the KK between Mills'

 

 

Im doing my best w the whole grain.  Vac'd  the BRR and the seal on the BB-HR looked tight and put that back in the

 

ContainerStore  w seal container   I might have split up the BB-HR and vac'd it

 

but I developed a Thirst !

 

 

[rotuts]

Im thinking os asking this question here :

 

do you know of a WWW  where you get Ancient and Heritage Whole Grains ?

 

Ive found these three places , and has a a modest order from each :

 

https://bluebirdgrainfarms.com/shop/

 

https://breadtopia.com/product-category/grains-flours/whole-berries-grains-flours/

 

and

 

https://www.sunriseflourmill.com/product-category/heritage-wheat/.

 

I did sign up for a 1/2 CSA grain share :

 

https://localgrain.org/heritage-grains/

 

and that's it

 

I hope to start w a pan or two of sourdough sandwich bread soon

 

CSO of course.

[rotuts]

" Ok Ok Ok "

 

one pic :

 

 

BB-HR PJ starter , at 35 min.

 

 

P.S.:  the Baby Starter is the 2 mm disk at the bottom of the container

 

didn't want you to miss it !

Edited June 17, 2019 by rotuts (log)

[HungryChris]

We just don't go through enough bread to justify getting one of these for bread making, but I have always had the strong desire to experiment with making my own mustard blends and the idea of being able to grind the various seed types myself for that effort still exists. Anyone have experience with this? Would this machine  be a good fit, or just plain overkill?

HC

[rotuts]

Id say over kill

 

but maybe a manual one ?

[teonzo]

4 hours ago, HungryChris said:

I have always had the strong desire to experiment with making my own mustard blends and the idea of being able to grind the various seed types myself for that effort still exists

 

I would say your best bet is a spice grinder.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[rotuts]

@ 24 H :  no activity.

 

As expected .

 

@Shelby

 

did you use starter you made your self ?

 

would that ' sandwich bread ' make good croutons ? 

[Shelby]

17 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@ 24 H :  no activity.

 

As expected .

 

@Shelby

 

did you use starter you made your self ?

 

would that ' sandwich bread ' make good croutons ? 

No, my self made starter blew up, blew out of the jar and then died on me lol.  I shall try again.

 

Yes, I think that sandwich bread would make good croutons--but not this time because we are enjoying the toast too much

 

So, some good news and some bad news:

 

My wheat starter is active!  Very bubbly when I took the lid off this morning.  So, I'm moving on to step 3 of the pineapple juice method

Wheat:

 

Bad news:  My rye starter molded!  What the heck????  Same conditions as the wheat version,so I don't know what happened.  You can see the white fuzzy mold on the right side of the container here:

 

 

So, I'm throwing that out.  Sigh.  At least the wheat one is doing good.

 

 

[rotuts]

if the wheat one takes off ,  put 1/2 in a clean container, and 1`/2 in another

 

thee feed wheat to #1 , and rye to #2 .  soon #2 will be rye.

 

 

[Toliver]

12 hours ago, HungryChris said:

We just don't go through enough bread to justify getting one of these for bread making, but I have always had the strong desire to experiment with making my own mustard blends and the idea of being able to grind the various seed types myself for that effort still exists. Anyone have experience with this? Would this machine  be a good fit, or just plain overkill?

HC

@andiesenji just used a blender for her homemade mustard in the eGCI class on Basic Condiments. Click here.

[rotuts]

@48 hours : Nada.

 

topped the goop up as directed.

 

no green mold though !