Milling Grains

Three kinds of wheat, red, soft-white, and a primitive form of wheat called Kamut. Top left to right is winter red, kamut, soft-white, and bottom is buckwheat. Buckwheat is not a grain, it actually is a fruit and related to rhubarb, it does not make a good bread dough, no gluten. However, buckwheat is great for cookies, quick breads, biscuits, and sauces. It has a nutty flavor that takes some getting used to if you have an industrial conditioned palate. Bees love buckwheat flowers!

Hand mill with stone grinder, I have forgotten the brand name of this mill, I bought it with a steel head for grinding wet and oily products, the stone head is for dry products. The mill cost me, if I remember correctly, five years ago, $120.00 dollars. You have to be strong and patient with hand milling grain, it takes at least 45 minutes to hand mill 12 cups of grain into 8-10 cups of flour, it is a pain in the ass. However, if you can't depend on electricity and live up in the woods where driving to town is a pain, it's totally worth it.

First milling of flour includes the hull, coarse middle layer, and soft center. For soft yeast breads I sift out the coarse hull and mill again. Freshly milled flour is nutrient rich, full of oils and nutrients that will spoil quickly. You must freeze unused flour within a couple hours of milling or it will start to oxidize quickly losing its nutritional value. Store bought shelved flours have all the nutrients stripped out for long shelf life.

First sifting of whole wheat flour

First Sifting with only the soft middle of red wheat. Kamut you can mill forever and it will make a coarse bread, it has less gluten than its cousins, modern wheat. Soft-white wheat makes the best flour for pastry bread, but you must mill first sifting again to get that extra fine flour pastries need. I never make pastry, it makes me fat. I mill what is left over from first sifting, sift again, put the hulls aside and add second sifting of flour to my first. I feed the hulls to my chickens, they love it!

Egg Bread

Six eggs blended, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, 1 teaspoon of salt, add enough water to make 4 cups of liquid. Put the liquid in a pan and warm it on the stove, the liquid should be warm to the touch not hot or you will kill the yeast. It only takes a few minutes to heat liquid, pour into a large bowl and add 3 teaspoons of yeast and two cups of flour. Stir until blended into a paste. Let sit for fifteen minutes in a warm place, like an oven that is at 80 to 90 degrees. Take out of the oven and add enough flour so you can easily handle the dough for kneading. You will have to add flour, probably another 4 cups, kneading many times, because freshly milled flour is really sticky. You will have to knead for around fifteen minutes.

When dough is stretchy, it is time to let it rise for one hour in a warm place, rub some olive oil or butter on the surface of the dough, place a damp towel over the bowel and leave in a warm oven for first rise.

After dough has doubled in size punch it down. Shape into what ever form you wish. Once you have shaped the dough, brush on olive oil or melted butter to keep the dough moist. I like the round bun shape because my family cuts it in half for toast, hamburger buns, and sandwiches. It's easier to cut than the loaf shaped bread. Let rise for the second time, usually 15 minutes for freshly milled flour, 30 minutes for industrial processed flour. Freshly milled flour is tricky to work with, too coarse and the dough may not double in size. Let dough sit too long on the second rise and it may deflate. I wouldn't recommend novice bakers try this recipe out. I don't know how many times I had to try again, and again to get fluffy yeasty bread from freshly milled flour. Just a warning, read other blogs on how to make bread from freshly milled flour, sifting out the hull and coarse outer layers are a key part of fluffy, yummy, yeasty breads.