Wheat grinders?

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Originally Posted by Elwar

Hmm, I never thought to look in there. I go in there for my chicken feed but haven't noticed wheat.

I went to Whole Foods last week in Tampa and bought a few pounds to test things out at $1.50 a pound.

As an aside, I didn't know there were three of us here from the St. Pete / Tampa / Clearwater / New Port Richey corridor. I used to drive down to Hudson all the time for shits at night. No one is ever on 19 that time and it's very relaxing. There's also a restaurant I used to go to down on the coast in Hudson....forget the name.

[Elwar]

Originally Posted by Austrian Econ Disciple

As an aside, I didn't know there were three of us here from the St. Pete / Tampa / Clearwater / New Port Richey corridor. I used to drive down to Hudson all the time for shits at night. No one is ever on 19 that time and it's very relaxing.

At night, the only people on 19 are drunks and cops. Lots of cops.

There's also a restaurant I used to go to down on the coast in Hudson....forget the name.

Most likely Sam's. I go there often.

[Elwar]

Ok, so I made my first loaf of bread in the breadmaker. Last week I tried doing it by hand and the thing never rose...

I used some hard red wheat berries to grind into flour. I used that for the bread. The bread is ok and all but it's a bit too thick...more of the consistency of banana bread than regular bread. I used a recipe that came with the breadmaker using eggs, milk, molasses and honey along with the flour.

Any suggestions on how I can make some better tasting bread?

[Gleaner]

Originally Posted by Elwar

I went to Whole Foods last week in Tampa and bought a few pounds to test things out at $1.50 a pound.

My gosh thats $90 per bushel!!! (a bushel of wheat is 60 lbs) I raise wheat and todays price to my Farm is $4.62 And last year the New York City news papers were blaming Farmers for the raise in food prices. Even if you double my price to $9.00 per bushel that would only be 10% of what Whole Foods in Tampa is getting.

Contact a Kansas Wheat Farmer and he will sell you some wheat.

[amy31416]

Originally Posted by Elwar

Ok, so I made my first loaf of bread in the breadmaker. Last week I tried doing it by hand and the thing never rose...

I used some hard red wheat berries to grind into flour. I used that for the bread. The bread is ok and all but it's a bit too thick...more of the consistency of banana bread than regular bread. I used a recipe that came with the breadmaker using eggs, milk, molasses and honey along with the flour.

Any suggestions on how I can make some better tasting bread?

Just keep it simple in the beginning. All you need to make bread is flour, salt, yeast and water. You used the right type of flour, so, beyond that, I'd suggest that you also proof your yeast as well, since you've had one incident where it didn't rise, and another where it's overly-dense, which may mean that your yeast is weak.

To proof the yeast, all you do is add one cup of warm water (about 115F) to the yeast with a teaspoon of sugar. Let it sit for about 5min, if it's bubbly and smells yeasty/bready, it's good and you can use it.

I've tried bread machines and think they always come out rather dense, so maybe you could try making it by hand and see how it turns out.

[Dr.3D]

Originally Posted by Elwar

Ok, so I made my first loaf of bread in the breadmaker. Last week I tried doing it by hand and the thing never rose...

I used some hard red wheat berries to grind into flour. I used that for the bread. The bread is ok and all but it's a bit too thick...more of the consistency of banana bread than regular bread. I used a recipe that came with the breadmaker using eggs, milk, molasses and honey along with the flour.

Any suggestions on how I can make some better tasting bread?

As an aside to what amy31416 just posted, it may be since you are using whole wheat flour it will not rise like bread flour. This is a common problem with whole wheat. The germ that was left in the wheat tends to not stick to the gluten enough to make a good seal to keep the carbon dioxide and steam from baking in the bubbles in the dough and it doesn't rise like it should.

When I make whole wheat bread, I always add extra gluten to the dough so it will rise better. You can find vital wheat gluten in many stores and one brand is "Bob's Red Mill".

Some people always add regular white flour to their whole wheat flour to make 'whole wheat bread'. As I recall, it was a 50/50 mixture. I like the nutty flavor of 100% whole wheat bread so I just add extra gluten to make the dough behave itself.

Edit: In an emergency where you can't get any gluten from a store, you can just put some whole wheat flour in a bowl with water and work it with your fingers till it starts to stick together enough to pick up. Once you can pick it up, you hold it under running water and work it with your fingers to let the wheat germ wash out of the flour. It shouldn't take more than a half cup of flour to produce enough gluten to add to your regular recipe for two loaves of bread.

[Ethek]

Does anyone have any information on the suitability of these for rice? I have a friend with Celiacs disease so gluten or even wheat contamination on a grinder is not an option. Its a pretty common condition. I would probably spring for two grinders or one grinder with two hoppers and two sets of milling plates. Baking with rice and millet flours has been a learning experience.

[Krugerrand]

Originally Posted by Elwar

Ok, so I made my first loaf of bread in the breadmaker. Last week I tried doing it by hand and the thing never rose...

I used some hard red wheat berries to grind into flour. I used that for the bread. The bread is ok and all but it's a bit too thick...more of the consistency of banana bread than regular bread. I used a recipe that came with the breadmaker using eggs, milk, molasses and honey along with the flour.

Any suggestions on how I can make some better tasting bread?

The closest Whole Foods to me only sells hard red winter wheat. Spring wheats will produce a better textured bread as they have a higher protein/gluten content.

Gluten enhancers (as noted above) will help make up for the difference. To this point, I haven't used them yet. A simpler option would be to substitute 1-cup to half of the wheat flour with a bread flour or all-purpose flour.

From "A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BAKING BREAD" see post for pdf

Hard Winter Wheat - Planted in the fall; usually dry-land wheat grown
without irrigation. Often grown for animal feed. Tends to be lower
in protein than hard spring wheat, resulting in lowered performance.
Both hard red and hard white winter wheats can be used for yeast
breads.
Hard Spring Wheat - Planted in the spring. Both hard red and hard
white wheats are grown this way. It is not irrigated, thus yielding a
high protein and low moisture content wheat kernel. This wheat
tends to be more expensive because of the higher quality protein content
and because it is known to make the lightest whole wheat bread.
We have found that Montana grown wheat is generally the best quality.
Many husbands and children prefer the milder flavor and lighter
color of hard white wheat made into yeast bread. Hard white spring
wheat makes up about 95% of our grain sales.

I'll add another plug for "Flour Power: A Guide To Modern Home Grain Milling" It's a great resource for trouble shooting and has some recipes that have produced exceptionally light loaves for me.

[Krugerrand]

Originally Posted by Gleaner

My gosh thats $90 per bushel!!! (a bushel of wheat is 60 lbs) I raise wheat and todays price to my Farm is $4.62 And last year the New York City news papers were blaming Farmers for the raise in food prices. Even if you double my price to $9.00 per bushel that would only be 10% of what Whole Foods in Tampa is getting.

Contact a Kansas Wheat Farmer and he will sell you some wheat.

It's all in the shipping and quantity costs. A bushel of apples at an orchard will cost far less per pound than buying 4 apples at the grocery store. It makes more sense to spend a little more for testing than to end up 60 lbs that may not be desired.

[Krugerrand]

Originally Posted by Elwar

Ok, so I made my first loaf of bread in the breadmaker. Last week I tried doing it by hand and the thing never rose...

I used some hard red wheat berries to grind into flour. I used that for the bread. The bread is ok and all but it's a bit too thick...more of the consistency of banana bread than regular bread. I used a recipe that came with the breadmaker using eggs, milk, molasses and honey along with the flour.

Any suggestions on how I can make some better tasting bread?

From the troubleshooting info in "Flour Power" pp.195-196:
A - If loaf is squat or dense inside,
- - - A1 - test the yeast. (half-full measuring cup of 90-100 degree water. Dissolve a few drops of honey or teaspoon of sugar. Add 1 teaspoon of yeast. If there is no foam in 15 min, buy new yeast.
- - - A2 - If yeast okay, repeat recipe but increase liquids by 1 tablespoon.
- - - A3 - If A2 shows some improvement, increase liquids by 2 tablespoons.
- - - A4 - If problem continues, repeat original recipe but increase yeast by 1/4 teaspoon or sweetener by one-half tablespoon.

B - If loaf top mushrooms or caves in, or texture holey or crumbles badly
- - - B1 - repeat original but reduce liquids by one tablespoon.
- - - B2 - if improving, decrease original by two tablespoons.
- - - B3 - If problem continues, repeat original but reduce yeast by 1/4 teaspoon or reduce sweetener by one-half tablespoon.

C - Only make one change per loaf. If problems continue after experimenting with several ingredients, the grain may have insufficient protein.
- - - C1 - test wheat: Use original recipe but replace 1 cup of wholemeal with 1 cup of white bread flour. If this produces a good loaf, the wheat has too little bread proteins.