Does anyone here mill their own flour/other grain at home?

Started by Padraig, March 23, 2019, 01:00:46 PM

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Padraig

I do get creative sometimes. I still think the central slash is the most attractive (especially if you put a leaf design next to it), but the large X across the top with small slashes between the arms is another I'm fond of. It looks sort of like a blossom opening up. :) I also had a spiral slash turn out really well, one time.

I found my bread scoring got better when I bought better blades. Astra blades are incredibly sharp, hold their edge really well, and don't rust quickly. I end up losing blades much faster than I use them up.
I think the real key to good slashes, though is developing a good skin on the surface of the bread. That's what causes the "ear" to rise up, so that the slash doesn't stay flat and blend into the surface of the finished loaf. The best way to do this is to do the final rise in the fridge, uncovered. As an added bonus, this is also what causes the loaf not to stick to the rising basket, and it lets you time your bake a little better. You can mix in the evening, rise overnight, and bake in the morning, with the loaf turning out cleanly, and your slash really standing out.  :D

MundaCorMeum

Well, I can cut a central slash all day long, so I guess I'm not as bad as I thought  8).  I always cover my dough in the fridge.  I'll try uncovered next time.  My last boule this past week didn't oven spring.  I think I over proved it.  I was pleased with my cinnamon swirl bread, though.  The kids already devoured both loaves, minus the slices I sent with my husband for breakfast.  I'm baking two more loaves tonight, except one is plain for sandwich bread. 

Maximilian


Padraig

It's a little harder with a loaf pan, but I found baking the boule in a Dutch oven really helps with over spring. That loaf that I posted a picture of was one I was really worried about when I took it out of the fridge, I though I must have underproved it, and it wasn't going to rise. But I kept it in the pot with the lid on for most of the bake time, and it just kept rising. I only took it out of the pot for the last 5 or 10 minutes of the bake.

It's always fun tinkering with the variables, though. Oven temp, dough temp (cold from the fridge v. allowed to come to room temp), steam, slashes, there's always something new to try in the endless search for the perfect loaf :)

MundaCorMeum


Traditionallyruralmom

I have had great fun and success with the "My Bread" book and method.  You use 1/2 tsp yeast and give it an 18 hour ferment, no kneading.  Cook in cast iron dutch oven.  Rustic, artisan, chewy, everything trendy...yet so simple it must have been what the peasants of our ancestry did. 
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.

drummerboy

https://victoriostore.com/deluxe-grain-mill.html

Will be ordering this soon.  My wife is gluten intolerant, and my doctor recommended I avoid it, as gluten can often irritate autoimmune disorders, which being diabetic I have, so  anything gluten free is $$$$.  I'd like to make my own rice and oat flours, but what I really want to do is make pea. lentil, chickpea flours for pasta, which is delicious and extremely nutritious but at $3 a box in store forget it, I'll make it myself.  It can grind coffee beans too, so what's not to love.
- I'll get with the times when the times are worth getting with

"I like grumpy old cusses.  Hope to live long enough to be one" - John Wayne

MundaCorMeum

I'm going to throw caution to the wind and revive this old thread....has anyone been baking lately?  I've been picking up the habit again, now that I am no longer pregnant.  I have been really enjoying it!  I made a sourdough focaccia a few weeks ago that was excellent. I want to make another soon.  What have y'all been baking??

Lynne

I've been baking nothing!   ;)

I would like to bake bread once a month because I love bread. I've been doing intermittent fasting *and* keto but I do miss bread...
In conclusion, I can leave you with no better advice than that given after every sermon by Msgr Vincent Giammarino, who was pastor of St Michael's Church in Atlantic City in the 1950s:

    "My dear good people: Do what you have to do, When you're supposed to do it, The best way you can do it,   For the Love of God. Amen"

MundaCorMeum

Quote from: Lynne on February 13, 2020, 06:58:47 AM
I've been baking nothing!   ;)

I would like to bake bread once a month because I love bread. I've been doing intermittent fasting *and* keto but I do miss bread...

Is sourdough allowed on keto?

Gardener

Could always do cloud bread.

Sourdough would not fall within keto rules for carbs.
"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

MundaCorMeum


Gardener

"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

Lynne

Quote from: MundaCorMeum on February 13, 2020, 01:18:07 PM
Quote from: Lynne on February 13, 2020, 06:58:47 AM
I've been baking nothing!   ;)

I would like to bake bread once a month because I love bread. I've been doing intermittent fasting *and* keto but I do miss bread...

Is sourdough allowed on keto?

In theory, one can eat any food on a keto diet, as long as you stay below 20g of carbs a day... A 4" x 2 1/2" slice of sourdough bread is 32g.  :wag:

:eek:
In conclusion, I can leave you with no better advice than that given after every sermon by Msgr Vincent Giammarino, who was pastor of St Michael's Church in Atlantic City in the 1950s:

    "My dear good people: Do what you have to do, When you're supposed to do it, The best way you can do it,   For the Love of God. Amen"