I utilize many
different pieces of equipment in our kitchen. With only the two
of us at home, it is nice having a kitchen servant (machine)
doing a task for me, while I am doing something else. I do grind
wheat for the flour we use. So first off, I will tell you what
wheat grinders I have or have owned in the past. My first grain
grinder was a Magic Mill. It was very loud, but it did a great
job. We then used hand powered grain mills for a short time while
we lived non-electric. We have both a Country Living Grain Mill
and a Family Grain Mill. We bought the CL mill first because it
is all metal, heavy duty and will be something that gets passed
down to future generations. We were given a FG mill and felt it
was much easier to use and set up than the CL mill. Both do a
nice job and make really nice flour. The CL needs to be secured
down or clamped down on something very sturdy. We have friends
that have hooked theirs up to an exercise bicycle and they use
pedal power to run it. :) The FG mill is easy enough that a child
could use it. There are pictures and descriptions of both of them
in our General Store. We then had a Whisper Mill and
used it for a long time. It broke recently and the company is out
of business, so that was the end of that. We now use a Nutrimill
and love it. It is by far the best electric mill I have owned. It
gets the flour so fine it is like store bought white flour. You
can turn the dial to coarser and really get a coarser flour if
you want.
For kneading bread, there are several options. First of all, kneading by hand is always an option if you don't have a physical problem to prohibit it. I have never gotten the art of hand kneading down enough to get a really nice light bread. I have used a DLX for a long time. It is a very useful machine that has served me well. It has a wonderful large stainless steel bowl and I can use the dough hook or the roller attachment. I also use my DLX to make butter. It has many attachments you can get for it. I have and use the blender, the meat grinder, pasta maker and bowl with wire whips. I have many friends who have a Bosch Universal mixer. It also has many attachments and everyone I know who has one loves it. While we lived non-electric, I used a dough bucket. I have been looking for a supplier of them so that I could carry them in my store. They are a wonderful alternative to kneading. There are also other mixers that can do the job as well such as Kitchen Aid type mixers.
I also have and use a Zojirushi bread machine. I only use it for kneading dough at this time. It is a nice heavy duty bread machine that can handle the freshly ground flour. You can also make jam in it and meatloaf and other things. If you do bake your bread in it, it makes a traditional shaped loaf of bread.
With all of my breads, I don't butter the tops when they come out because of the extra calories. I keep a small spray bottle of water and spray the tops of these buns or on my breads, I spray the entire outside surface. I do this as soon as they come out of the oven. It keeps it moist and nice. I have a friend who puts the bread in the bread bags when they are still warm. She lets the condensation keep her crusts soft.
On to some recipes...
Grind 9-10
cups of wheat berries (can be hard red, hard white, spelt,
kamut or a combination of them), Set flour aside.
½ cup of olive oil (cold pressed extra virgin) You can also use
½ cup of applesauce or 1/2 cup of coconut oil in its place
½ cup of honey (raw and local if possible)
3-4 Tbls. of instant yeast
1-2 Tbls. of real salt or sea salt
4 cups of water. Make this very warm.
People laugh at the way I do this. I put my tea kettle on
the stove. I can hear the hum of the gas jets. As soon as I
hear the first new noise of the water heating, I turn it off and
put the 4 cups of water in an 8 cup measuring cup. It is a
bit hotter than you want, but it helps to make the honey mix in
quickly. I then put the oil, and honey in the bowl.
Stir this well to mix in the honey. I then add room temp water
to bring the total liquid to 6 cups, which is around 1 cup.
This makes it just right temperature wise for the yeast (around
110°). I put in 4 heaping cups of flour and the yeast in the
bowl of my DLX. Just put it into whatever you are going to mix
and knead the bread in. Add the liquid mixing it all
together. Once it is well mixed, I let sit (covered) for 10
mins. and then check it to make sure it is bubbling and the yeast
is activated. I then start adding more flour and mixing it
in until you have the right consistency. I like to leave it a bit
sticky as this is worked out in the kneading. If you are using a
DLX, Bosch or some other mixer, this stage is usually reached
when it starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Once you
have the right consistency, add the salt. (I never count how many
cups of flour that I use. The average measure is for every cup of
wheat berries, you get 1 ½ cups of flour. I usually grind 10
cups of berries. Sometimes, I use all the flour and sometimes
there is over a cup left. It depends on the humidity, etc.) Knead
thoroughly ( I let it go about 8 mins.) and then let it sit
covered for about 15 to 20 mins. Then gently pat it down and
divide into loaves... 5-6 medium loaves, or 4 big loaves. Shape
and put into pans. I always cut a design in the top to make sure
there are no air bubbles just under the surface. Let rise
until double (I usually let them go 25 mins.) and then bake
for 25 to 30 mins. at 350°. When your bread comes out of the
oven, you can do several things to help keep your crust soft.
Many people brush melted butter on the tops of their bread. In
trying to save calories, I just take a squirt bottle of water and
spray all the outside surface of the bread loaves as soon as they
come out of the oven. I have another friend who puts her loaves
into the bread bags before they are totally cooled and the
moisture builds up in the bag. Use which ever method suits you
best.
There are lots of ways that you can make dinner rolls. The first way is to just take out dough that would equal one loaf of bread. Divide the dough into at least 12 pieces. You may do more if you like smaller rolls. Then take each piece and roll it into a ball. Place on a greased cookie tray. If you put them closer together, they will expand and get taller. If you spread them out, the will get a bit taller, but will spread out much farther. Knot rolls are also easy to make. Take each piece of dough and roll into a snake like you would with playdough. Then simply tie a simple knot. Clover rolls are a tiny bit more work, but turn out very pretty. Take each of the pieces of dough and make 3 small balls with them. Then put all 3 balls in the bottom of a greased muffin tin. Another thing you can do is to brush the tops of your rolls with melted butter or a beaten egg white. Then you can put on sesame seeds or poppy seeds. All of the rolls are baked at 350° for 15 mins.
Pizza Dough
You can also take some of the bread dough and make a pizza. If you take dough equal to one bread loaf, it will make a thick crust pizza that fits a 12" X 16" pan. You can let it rise a for a short while and it will get really thick, or use it right away and just have a nice thick crust. When you make a pizza, if you don't want to oil your pan, try putting cornmeal on the pan and then put the crust on top of that. It works great, especially on a stone. Here is another recipe just for pizza dough.
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups of freshly ground flour
1 Tbsp. of organic cane crystals (sugar)
1 1/2 tsp. real salt or sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. instant yeast
Mix all of the above together and knead until a nice dough. This is one of the jobs that I have my Zojirushi do for me. I put all the ingredients in and put it on the dough cycle. I can even set a timer and tell it what time I want my dough ready.
French Bread
1 1/2 cups of warm water
4 cups of flour
1/2 cup of gluten (this is one of the few recipes that I use extra gluten in. It really makes a difference here)
1 1/2 tsp. of real salt or sea salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh farm butter
1 Tbsp. instant yeast
Mix the above and knead really well. Let it sit and rise for about 15 mins. Then shape into a long loaf and cut several diagonal slices across the top. Brush the top with beaten egg white. Cover and let rise until double on your pan. I have a French bread pan, that holds 2 loaves and has holes in it to let the entire crust get crusty. :) A regular cookie sheet will work though. When the bread is almost done rising, boil some water. Put a bowl or pan of boiling water on the shelf below the bread as you bake it. Bake it at 425° for about 20 mins. You will see it is done by the golden brown crust. Let it cool on a rack. We use this a lot when we have an Italian meal. We cut the loaf in half lengthwise and butter and garlic and put it under the broiler. Here is a picture of one of my French bread loaves.
Bun Recipe
I got the following recipe off of a Real Foods list I am on. I have changed it a bit, but these are the best buns I have ever made. They are light and fluffy and hold together well.
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons fresh farm butter
1 large farm fresh egg
3 1/2 cups freshly-ground flour
1/4 cup raw honey or Agave nectar
1 1/4 teaspoons Real salt or sea salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast
I just put all the ingredients in the Zojirushi and set it on the dough setting. You can put them all in your mixer or even a bowl and work the dough by hand. Make sure you have a nice soft smooth dough. Cover and let it rise until it's doubled. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape the buns. if you only use 8 pieces the buns will be quite large. I usually do 12. I always put mine pretty close together on the pan. This encourages them to rise up and not out. Let rise at least 25 mins. You can tell when they are the right size. You can brush them with melted butter or egg whites and sprinkle with sesame seeds. I normally don't do either. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 mins.
