Formula

Method

1. Autolyse 20 mins
2. Knead 5-10 mins
3. Bulk ferment two hours with two stretch and folds at 30 mins apart in first hour
4. Preshape and bench rest for 10 mins
5. Shape and proof for one and a quarter hours
6. Bake in preheated covered pot for 10 mins at 250°C then 10mins at 200°C. Remove bread from pot and bake a further 20 mins at 200°C

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This bread will be taken to work for a lunch gathering so I have no crumb shot to show nor time for photos this morning or I will miss my bus :)

Cheers, Phil

Just made a trip out to Central Milling, which is actaully called "Keith Giusto Bakery Supply". They have moved into a new location. 755 Southpoint Blvd, Petaluma, CA. 866-979-2253

They have a very large selection of organic bulk flours. Now, you can call ahead, and they will pack 5lb bags. They ask that you please call ahead though, otherwise, you will wait for some time. If you are buying in 25 or 50lb bags, no problem.

Under construction, is a Bakery School, on site, that will be open soon.

Please email me your contact, if you are intersted in bulk flour. We were told that if enough of us order, they will deliver to SF, as they deliver to the Ferry Bldg twice a week.

Earl

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.

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

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

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

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

Hello, just a quick question which I don't think I've seen addressed here, but are there any Bread cook books that are targeted for those of us who mill our own flour at home?

Thanks,

Dennis

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Belief has no affect on reality.

My Website: http://www.roadtobetterliving.com

Below is a photo of my third attempt at home milling and sifting, which resulted in a flour very similar to my favorite "high extraction flour", Heartland Mills Golden Buffalo flour. The processes used on my second and third tries are explained further below. Additional photos of the process have been posted.

My home sifting project resulted in "middlings", a term I may be using incorrectly. What I mean by middlings is the stuff I sifted out that is finer than bran but was coarser and darker than I wanted for the flour being produced.

Recently, I've been attempting to grind and sift my own flour. The grinding is straightforward with a Retsel Mil-Rite, an excellent home stone buhr mill or my new Meadows 8-inch stone mill. However, the mysteries of sifting the flour have been less straightforward. A subsequent blog entry will deal with my progress on grinding and sifting my own flour. The sifting project motivates the need for measuring the ash content of my flour.

Ash Content

Okay, the say confession is good for the soul. I confess there are two foods that for some reason confound me. One is Jello. For love or money I can't make Jello. It's either unset, runny, hard as a rock, separating, or won't come out of the mold. Mom soon learned not to ask me ever to make it.