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Country Bread with fresh-milled flours

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Country Bread with fresh-milled flours

 

I've read with great interest discussions of home milling flour since I first joined TFL, but not wanting to get into the more arcane techniques of grain tempering, multiple graduated sifters and the like put me off. My interest was boosted by MC's interviews with Gérard Rubaud, who uses fresh hand milled grains to build his levains. (See Building a levain "à la Gérard": step 1) My recent experience chopping rye berries by hand did it though. I ordered the grain mill attachment for my KitchenAid Accolade mixer.

I'd been looking at grain mills for some time. I considered the Nutrimill, but I don't need to grind pounds and pounds of flour, and, from what I've read, it does not grind as coarse as I'd like to make cracked and chopped grains. Hand-cranked mills look cool, but my tiled kitchen counters don't work with appliances attached by vises. So, the KitchenAid attachment was a nice solution. I used it today for the first time.

KitchenAid Grain Mill

Based on my reading of reviews of this device, I ground some hard red winter wheat and some spelt berries by putting each through three passes of increasing fineness. I just ground about 200 g of each. There was no indication that this strained my mixer motor in the least. Each pass took 30 seconds or less. The resulting flour was a tad coarser than what I buy already milled, but finer than, say, semolina.

Fresh ground spelt flour

Fresh ground hard red winter wheat flour

My formula and procedures take off from Chad Robertson's “Basic Country Bread” in Tartine Bread.

 

Total Dough

 

 

Ingredients

Wt (g)

Baker's %

KAF Sir Galahad (AP) flour*

800

73

Fresh-ground WW

200

18

Fresh-ground Spelt

100

9

Water

850

77

Salt

20

1.8

Total

1970

178.8

*Note: The small amount of WW and Dark Rye in the levain are not calculated separately in the Total Dough.

 

Levain

 

 

Ingredients

Wt (g)

Baker's %

KAF Sir Galahad (AP) flour

70

70

KAF WW

20

20

BRM Dark Rye

10

10

Water

100

100

Ripe levain

40

40

Total

240

240

  1. Dissolve the levain in the water. Add the flours and mix thoroughly.

  2. Ferment at room temperature for 12 hours (overnight).

 

Final Dough

 

Ingredients

Wt (g)

KAF Sir Galahad (AP) flour

700

Fresh-ground WW

200

Fresh-ground Spelt

100

Liquid levain

200

Water (80ºF)

750

Salt

20

Total

1970

Procedures

  1. In a large bowl, dissolve 200 g of the levain in 700 g of the water.

  2. Add all the flours and mix to a shaggy mass. Cover tightly.

  3. Autolyse for 25-30 minutes. (Longer would be okay.)

  4. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and add 50 g of water.

  5. Knead in the bowl by squishing the dough between your fingers until all the water has been incorporated and the salt is well-distributed. Then, still in the bowl, fold the dough over itself a few times.

  6. Transfer the dough to a large clean, lightly oiled bowl or other container, such as a rising bucket. Cover tightly. If possible, place the dough in an ambient temperature of 75-80ºF.

  7. After 30 minutes, stretch and fold the dough in its container 15-20 times. (By the end of this, the dough should be smooth, and it should pull away from the container easily when you stretch it.) Re-cover the dough. Repeat this at 30 minute intervals for two hours, then one more time an hour later. (The dough should have expanded by 25-50% and be light and full of small bubbles which you can see if your container is transparent. If it has been fermented at a cooler temperature, give it another hour, or even 2 hours.)

  8. When the dough is fully fermented, transfer it to a lightly floured board and divide it into two equal pieces.

  9. Pre-shape the pieces as rounds. Cover with plastic or a towel and let them rest for 20-30 minutes.

  10. Shape as boules or bâtards. Place in bannetons or en couche and cover.

  11. Proof for about 90 to 120 minutes, depending on ambient temperature.

  12. Pre-heat your oven to 500ºF. If not baking covered, pre-heat a baking stone and prepare your oven for steaming. (I baked these boules in Lodge Combo Cookers.)

  13. If baking uncovered, bake at 460ºF with steam for about 40 minutes. Then turn off the oven and leave the door ajar for another 10 minutes to dry the crust. If baking covered , bake at 480ºF for 15 minutes, then at 450-460ºF uncovered for another 25-30 minutes.

  14. Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack.

  15. Cool thoroughly before slicing.

Boules after baking 15 minutes, covered

Boule, cooling

Crumb

Chewy crust and tender crumb. Whole wheat dominates the aroma of the bread sliced still warm but the flavor is sweet and mellow without any perceptible sourness. I'm looking forward to tasting it toasted tomorrow morning.

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

 

Comments

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Lovely, David.  

I'll be interested in hearing more about how you like the mill attachment.  That seems like a relatively low cost and effort way to start tinkering with milling your own grain.

Would you mind if I put this up as a feature tomorrow?  I've been looking for a few posts to replace the current features with and this is a wonderful one. 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I'd be honored to have this featured.

Stay tuned. I'm eager to see for myself how fresh milled grains work with some of my favorite breads.

David

hutchndi's picture
hutchndi

I am surprised that someone with all of your experience and obvious curiosity about all things bread has waited this long to try milling some of your own flour! When I started making my own bread I couldn't wait to start grinding, even tried using a coffee mill (which broke soon after) for small additions of fresh milled wheat berries. I ended up buying a family grain mill with the hand crank but quickly ordered the optional bosch electric motor about 7 years ago, still happily using it.  One thing I like about it is that it promises not to overheat the flour. I understand that is a problem with nutrimill and wondermill machines. We have a kitchen aid mixer just like yours and was always curious about the mill attachment, thank you for the write up. Do you know if it has that "overheating the flour" problem?

Nice loaves by the way!

Russ

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Well, my "experience" is that my "curiosity" can be difficult to govern. I saw home milling as, potentially, a major new endeavor, if I were drawn into sifting to mill flours of different extractions, etc. I wasn't (and am still not) ready for that level of commitment. So far, so good. 

With the KA Grain Mill, I don't sense that the flour is heated to any significant degree. Note that I am milling small quantities at a time and using 2 or 3 passes rather than going directly from whole berries to fine flour. I assume that lessens heating. I think I still have plenty to learn about using this attachment optimally and have so many breads I want to try with fresh-ground grains. I figure this will keep me out of trouble for a while.

I have a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread, made entirely with fresh milled flour, from Reinhart's WGB proofing right now. 

David

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Welcome to the Club, David!

and what a wonderful boules you had. I bet the flavor is unbeaten with fresh flours..

Awaiting your 100% wholewheat..

Khalid

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Awaiting your 100% wholewheat.

Me too!

David

ananda's picture
ananda

...David?

Truly great bread.   I guess this beats your chopper, even if you don't get to use that lovely wooden bowl!

It's also a great advert for the Combo Cooker, which I had hoped Santa was bringing for me...never turned up!

So, we'll have to hope it comes for my birthday in February instead.

Wonderful way to finish baking this year, I've really enjoyed reading your posts and even just trying to keep up with them all

Best wishes for 2011

Andy

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I think I should have baked these loaves for another 5 minutes covered or pre-heated the ovens. I didn't get quite the spring and bloom I expected.

Good luck on the Combo Cooker. Hint: I have no inhibition about buying myself the presents I want. Just ask my wife! ;-)

Happy New Year!

David

ananda's picture
ananda

Yes David, that was exactly the "hint" that I got from Alison: buy it for yourself!

So, that's what I'll have to do!

Love the bake on this bread for the crust, despite what you say about hoping for more spring

All good wishes

Andy

arlo's picture
arlo

Great loaves David! And I see your family is taking over the front page blog section of The Fresh Loaf, soon to renamed- The Snyder Loaf.

Between you and Glenn, the great loaves never end.

By the way, do you like the mill attachment? I have been looking at various kinds of mills and have come up undecided on many of the choices.

At work we use a nice big ole mill that grinds by stones but the end result is a very finely ground product that my owner will not let me fiddle with. I understand why, we would have to re-adjust the settings daily if I were to, and that would be a hassle. I do use our whole wheat flour in my baking at home since it is very, very nice. But I too want to experiment with my own milling.

Would you be able to make very coarse rye flour with the kitchen aid attachment? It sounds like you run it through till you get the consistency you desire. This true?

Thanks!

Arlo

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I like the KA grain mill a lot so far, but I think I need more experience with it before offering an assessment. One advantage it does seem to have over the "better" mills is that it can grind coarser meal than they can.

The instructions that come with it are very brief and don't address multiple passes, but the consumer reviews on various sites say that multiple passes strains the mixer motor less. I haven't yet tried the coarsest setting, but I think you can mill the equivalent of rye chops. 

One thing I did notice is that the flour milled more coarsely seems less uniform in particle size.

David

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Gee, David.  You go all do-it-yourself-milling after saying I had a bad baking virus!?  This is pretty hard core.  Congratulations on the expanded horizon.

Cat says she expects to see you dig up the patio and plant wheat by the end of the year.  Sounds like an idea!

Really pretty loaf!

Glenn

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Cat says she expects to see you dig up the patio and plant wheat by the end of the year.  Sounds like an idea!

When you install a steam injected deck oven in your mud room.

David

Bread Buddy's picture
Bread Buddy

Seeing the photos of your milling with the Kitchen Aid attachment has encouraged me to give it a try.  I have the attachment but have never used it. 

I am also interested in hearing if anyone has ever used the VitaMix to mill grains for flour.  If so please share your opinion on this method.

Thanks.

Mary Clare's picture
Mary Clare

Were the combo cookers pre-heated or were they cool when the bread was loaded into them?  Lovely, lovely bread!

I've milled grain with a KA attachment for over 20 years, always putting the grain through in two passes to make fairly fine flour.  For the first pass I would turn the mill about five or six 'clicks' and grind no more than 2 1/2 cups grain.  Then I would send it through again at the finest setting, and then give the motor a rest before doing anything heavy in it.  I did this several times a week for years and years.

 I have a Nutrimill now as well which grinds more at a time and faster, but keep the KA around for milling cereal, cornmeal, etc. I absolutely LOVE having fresh flour!

Yes, it's a bit different than store-bought.  Part of the fun is figuring out what works for you!  Best wishes for a great adventure this New Year!

Mary Clare in MO

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I did not pre-heat the Combo Cookers for this bake, but I might should have.

With all your experience with the KA Grain Mill, any other tips would be appreciated.

I ground some more wheat flour today - some coarse for a soaker and some fine for the final dough - for a 100% WW bread I'll make tomorrow. The fine flour seems a bit less fine than KAF WW. 

Do you find you need to adjust hydration when using recipes written for store bought WW flour?

David

Mary Clare's picture
Mary Clare

I wish I could help you about the hydration.  I've had a digital scale for years, but it's only since I got onto TFL that I really paid much attention to weighing flour.  Although years ago I used Laurel's Bread Book, for more variety I got used to converting white flour recipes to using mostly whole wheat. (I usually use about 70-80% whole grain, with the rest being bread flour).

You're right about the particle size being more variable than with store bought. (Especially cornmeal.  But fresh ground cornmeal is such a treat!)  I find a rest or autolyse to be very helpful in adjusting hydration.  

No bitter taste in fresh ground flour!

Mary Clare in MO

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello David, I really like seeing pictures of your beautiful breads and these boules are no exception.
Wishing you success with grain-milling!
Regards, breadsong

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

With fresh ground flours too!  Nicely written up. Gorgeous crumb.

What a great attachment to the KA.  I can understand not wanting to grind a lot of flours..so this was a good choice.  I'm still playing with the pasta attachments I just recently got for my little ol KAartisan...just love them..especially ravioli...thanks to your pasta posts!  Now your tempting me with your new attachment...sure does look great and a good choice.

Happy New Year,

Sylvia

 

 

 

 

 

 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

wally's picture
wally

With the milling you've ventured into new territory to me, so I look forward to hearing about your adventures.  This should certainly solve the problem of achieving cracked grains and chops!

That's also an interesting mixed grain levain build Robertson uses.

More good baking in 2011!

Larry

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The grain mix was my idea. The procedures were basically Robertson's.

Pretty outstanding baguettes  and boules you posted today.

Best wishes for the New Year to you!

David

Jeremy's picture
Jeremy

David,

As usual outstanding! I just got the mill attachment and wiil give it a go..I used it for rye berries before, borrowed my mill from work!

Looks like the SFBI was a good investment too, great school!

 

Cheers and Happy Baking!

 

Jeremy

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

Franko's picture
Franko

Beautiful crust and crumb David, and with a perfect diamond slash to compliment it. I've wondered about how well the grain mill attachment for the KA works but it sounds like you would recommend it. It obviously did a good job judging by the crumb of your loaf. Great stuff!

Franko

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

So far, I'm happy with the grain mill. The next and bigger test is in the oven right now. Stay tuned!

David

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Of course, I can't imagine you ever baking something that didn't look or taste fantastic, David.

BTW, the KA grain mill is great for grinding your own rice flour.  

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The bread is delicious. The flavor has mellowed and is superior two days after baking, at least to my taste.

So, how do you use rice flour (besides for dusting bannetons)? I know, you make your own mochi and udon!

David

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Sounds like characters from Sesame Street.

Japanese restaurants aren't represented well (if at all) in Northern Michigan,  so I've not tasted Japanese rice cakes and noodles - that I'm aware of.  This summer while in NYC we did have a great dish in Chinatown called rice cakes - but they were noodles. Wish I knew how they were made.

So, no multi-tasking for my rice flour.  I like gluten, plus buying a pound of rice for about 99 cents and grinding it is a much better deal than paying three bucks for 20 ounces of rice flour at the local health food store.  

Happily, that store also carries rye and wheat berries.  

longhorn's picture
longhorn

Happy New Year, David!

Your loaves are beautiful as always! Nicely done! And a great commentary on grinding.

I have a K-Tec mill and also play with freshly milled wheat and grains. One trick that I use to "kick up" my country boules is to add about 5% freshly ground wheat (unsifted, straight whole wheat) when mixing my levain. I feel the fresh wheat adds an aromatic nuance that is missing from commercial or stored whole wheat. To avoid ambiguity, the 5% is based on final flour weight. And I go substantially higher at times - even to 100% but that is a different animal!

Thanks for sharing. Always look forward to your posts!

Jay

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Feeding my starter with fresh-ground flour is definitely on my agenda.

David

Frequent Flyer's picture
Frequent Flyer

I saved the recipe.  I just got a mill for Christmas and am looking for wheat berries.  I look forward to trying it.

 

FF

Farine's picture
Farine

Just mouth-watering and the taste must be heavenly. Since I started baking with freshly milled grains about a year ago, I must say I have never looked back. The flavor is truly unsurpassed.

Re: the mill attachment for the KA. Do you find that it creates a lot of flour dust as it mills the grain? I have mild to severe respiratory problems when there is flour in the air, so I tend to be on the lookout for that. I myself use the Tribest Wolfgang grain mill. The top opening has a cover and the dust is directed downwards into the bowl where the flour comes out of the spigot. To avoid inhaling any dust at all, I nevertheless always walk to the other side of the kitchen when I mill large amounts of grains. I am curious to know whether or not an open mill creates more dust.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The compliment is especially flattering coming from you.

The KA Grain Mill did not throw flour dust at all, except a very little which seemed to stay in the hopper. Now, this was grinding 1-2 cups of berries at a time. It might be worse with greater loads, but I don't expect this. Now that I think about it, milling with this attachment was much less messy than I would have expected.

I've looked at those Tribest Wolfgang mills. They are beautiful. How do you like yours? Can you mill chops?

David

Farine's picture
Farine

I just love it! It is so convenient. I always have it out on the countertop and it is a breeze to just weigh the grains, mill them and feed the levain. It has 8 settings (adjustable by turning the wooden funnel itself even when the mill is working)  and yes, it does mill chops (although I haven't done it yet). I am planning to use it to make cracked rye. I read that it also rolls oats but I don't know about that. What I do know is that if you set it on the finest setting, it mills so fine that the resulting flour looks like face powder.  I usually mill on the third setting and I never sift. 

Glad to hear that the KA doesn't produce dust. It looks very sturdy and it is very convenient to buy an attachment rather than a whole new machine. I don't have a KA (yet) so it wasn't an option for me...

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

Last month I treated myself to one as well and it is easy with wonderful results !

Best,

anna