Q: Whole wheat pasta (best) and shelf life.
8 years ago
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- 8 years ago
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Grinding your own wheat
Comments (76)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?...See MoreWhat do I need to know about WHITE whole wheat flour?
Comments (26)Kari & Clare - Kari - My sources for wheat: 1. locally grown hard winter red and white wheat (free or very cheap, but usually NOT chemical-free or organic) 2. Heartland Mill, Marienthal, KS - organic grains 3. Bob's Red Mill - soft white wheat (and other grains) 4. Wal-Mart - Hard Spring White Wheat - Prairie Gold (from Wheat Montana - chemical-free) - they also carry hard red wheat Bronze Chief. Wal-Mart has only recently started carrying Wheat Montana wheat around here - $5 for 25-pounds. Mills: 1. (A very old) Whisper Mill - which is an electric impact mill (now known as a Wonder Mill) - this mills most grains/seeds/beans into a very fine flour - fine flour = fine bread, coarse flour = coarse bread. 2. Marga Mulino Flaker Mill - for cracked grain, flakes, and coarse farina (for cooked cereal) 3. Corona Corn Mill - for coarsely milled grain and corn meal. 4. Porkert Seed Grinder - for small seeds, such as amaranth, poppy seeds, teff, etc. 5. Bosch Coffee/Spice - for milling flaxmeal. 6. Family Grain Mill - a hand mill, that also has an electric-powered motor to run it as well, that has a lot of attachments available for other uses (meat grinders, flakers, etc.). This is my back-up mill. You have to mill the flour twice to get a reasonably fine grind of flour. Source for recipes: I suggest you start by substituting unbleached/bleached flour in your favorite recipes with a portion of wholegrain flour. There are all kinds of books out there on whole wheat baking. I have a collection of 28 beans, seeds, and grains that I use milled and whole - included in that, several types of wheat. I develop many of my own recipes because I use really "odd" ingredients, including gluten-free baking. Here's a few books I like from the large selection in my library: RECIPES FROM THE OLD MILL (Baking with Whole Grains) by Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind WHOLE WHEAT COOKERY (Treasures from the Wheat Bin) by Howard and Anna Ruth Beck THE AMAZING WHEAT BOOK by LeArta Moulton THE SPLENDID GRAIN (all kinds of seeds and grains) by Rebecca Wood WHEAT COOKIN' MADE EASY by Pam Crockett --------------- Clare - Wheat comes in HARD (strong/high-gluten) and SOFT (weak/low-gluten) varieties. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is milled from (low-gluten) soft red wheat, just like you thought. It's best used just as you described - in baked goods where you don't want a lot of gluten development - for the most part, anything other than yeast breads. Low-gluten bleached flour would include White Lily and Martha White - which are great for quick breads, pastry, etc. I purchase soft white wheat berries from Bob's Red Mill to mill into whole wheat pastry flour. I also use freshly-milled spelt and some rye, barley, and triticale for baked goods that need low-gluten flour, as an alternative to soft wheat flour. All wheat has a protein level that determins if the grain is hard or soft. Even in the same field you'll find protein (gluten) level differences from one side of the field to the other. If a portion of the field is shaded(usually at the edge of the field) and/or there's a low place in the field that retains water after a rain, the wheat that receives a lot of water/shade will usually have a low-protein count. Even though hard wheat may have been planted, the protein level is also determined by the amount of rainfall, and other factors. Soft wheats are characteristicly plump (a lot of endosperm), while hard wheat varieties (especially winter wheat) is small, wrinkled, and very hard when you bite it. When soft whole wheat is milled, the flour is exactly that - very soft to the touch. Hard whole wheat is much 'grittier' - due to the higher percentage of bran to endosperm ratio. All bleached/unbleached flour is milled from a combination of wheat protein levels to formulate the amount of protein for the type of flour needed. High-protein wheat is used for yeast breads, a combination of hard and soft wheat is milled for all-purpose flour, and pastry flour is milled from soft wheat. There are also fields of extremely high protein wheats (15% or more), but they are mixed with lower protein wheat to make flour. I've used some wheat that was 16% protein, and it took forever (lots of kneading and a very long fermentation) to develop the gluten in bread - 12-13% protein level is much better for yeast bread. Too much gluten will make a tough loaf of bread. The highest protein level wheat is durum wheat. Unlike hard red and white wheat varieties which are used for yeast breads, durum wheat is used in pasta. I mill durum for whole wheat pasta - NOT red or white varieties of wheat. Commercial whole wheat pasta is made with wholegrain durum wheat. The elements in wheat protein that we call "gluten" are actually a gluten group - GLUTENINS and GLIADINS. Glutenins provide the elasticity quality that allows bread dough to expand. Gliadins contribute to the viscosity and extensibility of bread dough. Red and white wheat varieties have a dominance of GLUTENINS and less GLIADINS. Durum wheat has a dominance of GLIADINS and less GLUTENINS. Therefore, even though durum wheat has a high protein level, it's unsuited for bread making, due to the type of protein. -Grainlady...See MoreWhole Wheat Pizza Dough
Comments (15)If you are into sourdough, this is a simple recipe (for more information, see link below). I use an old-fashioned form of starter called "Everlasting Yeast", but it works essentially like other starters. I make an overnight sponge and in the morning I mix: 1-1/2 c. starter 1 T. oil 1 t. salt 1-1/2 c. freshly-milled whole wheat flour If I'm going to use it immediately, I knead the dough for a few minutes, then let it rest (covered) for 1/2 an hour, form and pre-bake the crusts. If I use it in the evening, I toss the dough in a plastic bag and retard the dough in the refrigerator all day. Take it out about an hour before I need to form the pie/s. You can bake this panned, or on a stone - your choice. I'm with rhome410 - there's nothing like using freshly-milled flour. I think commercial whole wheat flour tastes like "old dirt" (she mentioned "sawdust") compared to freshly-milled. Most of the commercial whole wheat flour products (with a few exceptions) are nothing more than white flour with some of the bran raked back into it. By law, in many places, the wheat germ has to be removed from whole wheat flour so that it has a longer shelf life because the germ oil goes rancid very rapidly. Only by milling your own grain will you ever experience the best of the nutrition and fiber available in the wheat. Once wheat is milled, the nutrition quickly begins to degrade, the germ oil quickly goes rancid, and you'll NEVER experience anything like freshly-milled flour if you use commercially milled whole wheat flour. I also like Montana Wheat Prairie Gold Wheat (Hard Spring White Wheat). I've been able to get it at Wal-Mart recently, $5 for 25-pounds (regularly $11), so I've stocked up hundreds of pounds (I also mill many other grains/seeds/beans - not just wheat). Wheat keeps well for very long periods of time. You can get approximately 90 one-pound loaves of whole wheat bread from a bushel (60-pounds) of wheat (source: Kansas Wheat Commission). I also have an old Whisper Mill (now they are made under the name Wonder Mill), and if I had to replace my Whisper Mill, I'd get a Nutri Mill, as well. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Sourdough Home...See MoreStoring grains, pasta, beans, etc.
Comments (25)I agree with lazygardens. You shouldn't use these beans for human consumption. Those mold spores (mildew) can also be deadly aflatoxins. You need to take care storing grains/beans/seeds to prevent mold, so do some study on the subject to prevent so much waste. Another suggestion... Although they have a good storage time, I'd suggest you purchase only what you can reasonable use within a year or two. and keep it rotated. Old beans don't work well for food preparation, and take a lot longer to cook, which requires a lot more energy. If you do need to use old beans, they will cook faster if you mill the beans into bean flour before cooking. "Fresh" pinto beans will be a creamy tan color. The older they get the darker they will get, so that is one way to check age. -Grainlady...See More- 8 years ago
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