My friend brought 4 bushels of wheat back from "Out West". The deal is I get 3 bushels free but I mill the fourth bushel for him. This is the first wheat I have milled with the second hand Retsel Mil-Master I had bought. It does an excellent job of milling the wheat. It comes out just as fine as store bought. The flour is slightly warm but not even close to being hot. It is really quiet too. I am making bread using half bread flour and half whole wheat. I want to make it with 100% whole wheat flour without adding vital glutton. Does anyone have a recipe like that for bread, pizza dough, pasta and others?

I love the 5 minute a day bread! I can't knead bread any more and this has enabled me to have fresh bread at my finger tips without making them ache. I sort of can't believe how many say it lacks salt, has no flavor, etc. This from people who for any other recipe wouldn't hesitate to tweak it. I add more salt than called for and find it has quite a good taste. I do prefer it after it has been in the fridge for at least four or five days. It lasts for up to two weeks with no problem. I often will make the first loaf after only two days but then I try to wait for several more days before using it again. I've never had a problem with it rising and I keep my heat set at 58 degrees [have to remember the code for the degree symbol]. Sure, it takes longer, but as has been said.. dough rises on it's own schedule. I tend to err a little on the over proofing so usually get quite puffy loaves. I have used my enameled cast iron too with good success but the stone seems to do fine with the water in the oven. I made a mistake when using the enameled and heat the lid too... oops.. it chipped off a hunk of the enamel inside the lid. Oh well. How many times have I heard on here that ... it's bread... flour, yeast, salt, water... it makes itself. Well, this bread is that way too. Add some salt or herbs or whatever. Let it sit longer if you like a stronger flavor. It's wonderful for those of us that can't knead any longer, don't have an expensive machine to do the work, or those who like to be able to grab a hunk out and make rolls or a small fresh loaf. Five day dough wouldn't go for crackers unless I really wanted some of those great looking crackers. Five days is primo dough for me. I'd wait until the two week mark looms. Smiles.

I bake in cast iron all the time. I don't have a Romertopf . My cast iron is a Le Creuset and also a very old plain cast iron pot . Both have lids. Both go into the oven at 500 for 30 min. and then I remove them and lower the bread into the preheated pot. I replace the cover, place them back in the oven and lower the oven to 460. Bake 15 min with lid on and 15 min with lid off. I will link pics below. To get your bread into the pot, either hot or cold , simply place a piece of parchment paper over the basket that the bread is rising in and let the bread come out onto the paper. Then I tear off the extra to make a shape with handles and simply lower into the pot. I have been doing this for years...way longer than Chad at the bakery that become famous for baking in cast iron :) Here are some pics. I will be glad to answer any questions. You can look on The Fresh Loaf and do a search for info on this type of baking as well as using your clay pot. I know there are folks on there that have done so. c bread dough rises in cloth lined baskets ( old napkins that are heavily floured with rice/white flour 1/2 and 1/2 combination) dough turned out onto parchment and parchment then torn to make handles dough lowered in to preheated 500 degree pots using the parchment finished loaf still in pot loaves cooling ...I usually bake 6 loaves...just keep placing pots back in oven and reheating with lids on and removing loaves from fridge where they have retarded...turning out onto parchment and lowering into hot pot

There are a whole panoply of Russian and Slavic words for different kinds of dumplings and buns, and I get lost. :) Some are regional and some have morphed over time. I never heard of pierogi until I saw a bag in the freezer section of Trader Joe's. I had to check my definitions because the only ones my mother made were pirozhki. I'm sure it was my grandmother's voice I heard when my mother said "pirozshki". (pier-ohzh-KEY ("pier" like the dock, long "o" (almost a "u"), zh like the medial "g" in the American way of saying "garage", shorter duration of the vowel "i" than the full amount we give to the word "key" (or the end of "donkey". It's a long "i" for a short time.) There are Russian dumplings very similar to pierogi with a different name, and so-called "Russian" pierogi with cabbage. PM, according to Wikipedia a pasty is made with pie crust and baked. Salteñas are a form of empanada, so called (as notes Wikipedia) in reference to their popularity as empanada from the Salteña, the woman from Salta. Like most empanadas, they are baked and have a short dough, but not pie flaky. It's the Salteña filling that's most distinctive. In many ways, empanadas are different from pasties, but are underlyingly the same. It's like the difference between English and American language. The same language but different words and accents. I would call pasties and empanadas "hand pies", whereas pirozhki are risen, fried buns (though some people do bake them) with filling. And a pirog is a whole loaf of yeast bread. But they're all dough wrapped around filling, as are all kinds of other pastries with different heritages and names. Tacos and burritos could also be on the list, though the dough part is usually cooked first, then recooked with the filling. And tacos are usually fried, though not risen. :)