The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Milling

Maggie Lou's picture

Sprouting for Ezekiel Bread

March 14, 2011 - 6:57pm -- Maggie Lou
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Hi everyone,

I have begun making my own Ezekiel bread and it is fantastic. I have gone the way of the sprouting intrigues... sprouting my own lentils, ww berries, and barley and to my delight, my coffee grinder grinds it all just right once they've been dried in a 200 degree oven.

The risen product is very pleasing. Ezekiel bread has been my favorite for years but the cost has gotten .... oooh boy. So, now I am heading to whole foods for bulk grain, storing it in the freezer, and having a blast!

proth5's picture
proth5

Lest any of you consider that my life is all flights across the Pacific and raw squid for breakfast, I recently found myself in driving (in my little green convertible - top down - adorned with my "I Love Okinawa" magnet) from Colorado's Front Range to the great wheat growing region of Kansas for a tour of the Heartland Mill in Marienthall, KS.

Some of you may know Heartland Mill (www.heartlandmill.com) as the producer of Golden Buffalo flour -  a high extraction organic flour.  And so here comes the first of my shameless plugs.  Heartland Mill mills a variety of flours - all organic - either stone ground or on their long-flow roller mill. They also produce oat products and sell whole grains.  Why shamelessly plug them? Because the mill is farmer owned and they are very interested in producing flours that support the artisan bread baking community .  I believe in supporting businesses like these that can make decisions not only on profitability (as I am a great believer in making a profit) but on what they think will support their employees and their community.  So that's my first plug.  If you are interested, they sell directly to the consumer - their small bags are very lovely cloth bags - for use after emptying for small sewing projects. 

So I will now give the second  of my shameless plugs.  This tour was sponsored by the Bread Baker's Guild of America (BBGA)  (www.bbga.org) (Hello, Laverne!  It's me again!) without whose hard work I would not have had such a marvelous opportunity.  I have said before that the educational opportunities they provide are well worth the membership fee - even for this raggedy home baker - and I mean it sincerely.  So, that being said, I don't think it is fair to try and write a "tell-all" of the tour because I don't want to give the impression that folks who hunger for this kind of education just need to wait long enough and I will post it all here, and that there is no need to join.  I support a lot of their efforts and membership fees support those.

But some highlights are well worth sharing with other bread baking and milling enthusiasts.

First, for all that I have been out and about in the world, my travels have neglected actual drives through what is often referred to as "the flyover zone."  Since my trip started from Denver in the pre-dawn hours, I got to see the sun rising over the fields of Eastern Colorado, the magenta clouds reaching down to the frost covered fields, a gentle mist making the entire scene something out of a fantasy.  Yes, our mountains are beautiful, but I have never been so struck by the beauty of our plains.  I believe someone once wrote a song about it.

Then I hit the great wheat growing region.  For those of you in coastal states, or countries with less acreage, the scale of these farms is quite striking.  They are immense.   Not big, not really big - immense.  I was not exactly driving slowly and it took quite a while to drive between any areas where I could spot houses.    I cannot help but wonder how these immense farms could ever become the small farms that so many food enthusiasts promote, but this trip was not about that.

After five hours of driving, I arrived at Heartland Mill. it is a very small operation both in size and staffing.  Their head miller said that he had no particular expertise but was just "an old farm boy."  I instinctively put my hand to my wallet... :>)  They had the mills shut down so we could both tour the mill and talk.  (So sorry about no pictures, but not only are my photography skills not up to the task, but only pictures by the official photographer were allowed. ) 

We talked a great deal about the millstones themselves.  There is a type of millstone called a French millstone that is constructed of stones that are only 2 hardness points softer than diamonds.  What was discussed was that this type of millstone (which is not yet in operation in the mill) will produce a caramelization of the flour that is the "ultimate" in flour taste - or so it is according to B.W. Dedrick's "Practical Milling". Also interesting is that this type of millstone is not a monolith, but is pieced together so that there the hardness and composition of the stone is more consistent.

We then moved on to the stone milling area where we took a look at the Meadows mills.   To get their high extraction flour, Heartland is milling in one pass and bolting the flour (through a number 40 mesh sieve).  Of course I had to ask questions about this.  They found that grinding un tempered wheat (9-10% moisture) was most successful, but then the miller similarly claimed that it was a characteristic of stone milling itself that made this possible.  No one seems think about burr milling with steel, but our exchanges lead me to believe that my approach of treating my process similar to the roller milling process might (and I emphasize "might") be a good one.

We also discussed stone milling vs. roller milling and how the difference in the processes might influence the flavor profile of the flour. While there is one school of thought that the stones themselves impart a better flavor, Craig Ponsford put out the thought that the fact that the parts of the grain were never separated (as they are in roller milling) created a better flavor profile.  All were in agreement that in blind tests, bread made with stone ground flour tasted "better."

We also had an interesting discussion about the words "stone ground" when applied to flour and how various labeling regulations made it imperative to "know your miller" so that you know that the flour was really 100% stone ground, not just run through stones to meet the labeling requirements.

We went over the tempering process (for roller milling) in detail.  I have some things to think about...

The long flow roller mill is run at speeds where the flour comes off "cool."  They had experimented with milling very "un aggressively" and found that they did not create enough starch damage in the flour for it to be used in baking. 

We talked a bit about aging flour.  The maxim of "use right away or wait two weeks" was discussed.  Thom Leonard tells me that this is true - because there is enzymatic action that takes place soon (but not immediately) after milling that will impact baking qualities until oxidation takes place.  However, we also discussed that for whole wheat flours this impact is negligible and that he has used whole wheat flour at various ages with little impact on the final product. (Thom- if you are listening in, please log in and fill in the exact details - there are people here who want to know...)

On the whole, I came away with the feeling that I have a lot more research to do on milling and that that even though I have taken a lot of factors into account in my process, I have a lot more things to consider.

We then spent a little time in the lab to watch the alveograph.   I've read a lot about these tests and how to interpret them, but I've never seen the thing in operation.  Essentially this machine blows a bubble (think bubble gum) from a specially prepared disk of dough and measures the pressure required to blow the bubble and the time it takes the bubble to burst.  If you've made it this far in the blog, and you are not familiar with this test, you need to look up source material in any one of the excellent books available to home bakers that discuss rheological testing for flour.  In short, the pressure gives an indication of elasticity and the time an indicator of extensibility.  We, as home bakers, care about this because it is the perfect balance of extensibility and elasticity that give us well shaped, but open crumbed breads that we so seek.  (More about this later.)  The importance of the results of this test cannot be overemphasized (for white flours - the bran in whole wheat flours cuts the gluten so that the bubble pops prematurely).  I want one of those bad boys.  Bad. (They talk about "boys and their toys" - I'm possibly worse - and for those that don't know - I'm a girl.)

At lunch I had the opportunity to chat with P. Stephen Baenziger of the University of Nebraska.  He works on selective breeding and improving small grains (including my favorite - triticale.  "You probably haven't heard of it," he said.  "Actually, I've milled it and baked with it...").  We talked about the local heirloom wheat - Red Turkey.  We discussed that while these heirloom breeds try to keep their genetic lines pure, the various diseases that attack them keep evolving and eventually a once disease resistant variety needs to be crossed with other plants to produce reliably, especially in an organic situation (heirloom breed enthusiasts - hold off!  He is dealing with very, very large commercial operations.  Results on a smaller scale will be different.) I did have to agree with him somewhat because my own experience with heirloom plants in my home garden (which sometimes gets less than optimal care because of my work/travel schedule) has been very similar and I've begun to love my hybrids for reliable, yet still tasty production.

We did have a more formal presentation on wheat breeding and what it takes to get a new breed to the point where it can be released for large scale planting.  Now here is where even I began to glaze over a bit, for truthfully little me and little you (unless "little you" are a professional artisan baker) have little influence in this process.  But the overall takeaway was pretty profound.  He discussed that various strains of wheat - that might have better baking qualities for the artisan baker - were being abandoned because there is no perceived market for them.  In the context of a BBGA educational event, the discussion wound around to how such an organization can change this (back to the second shameless plug.)

We talked a bit about alveograph tests and how to compensate for a flour that was not ideal.  Here's where I want to put some emphasis - yes, hydration was mentioned (proper fermentation is a given in this company) - but another factor for correcting flour properties was the amount of flour pre fermented.  I found this out for myself when I was tuning up my baguette formula, but it gets very little play on these pages - I wish it would get more.

This winds me around to our last discussion.  We talked a bit about "protein levels" in wheat and how American bakers are all about the absolute number and not how the flour actually performs under the conditions of artisan bakers.  Professional bakers who have baked in Europe expressed that the absolute protein number was not as important as how the flour acted as far as its baking qualities.  Unfortunately the industry accepted tests are not designed for the kind of breads being produced by artisan bakers.  It was expressed that Heartland would like to mill these lower protein flours, but there is no market for them because bakers have been trained to look for certain protein numbers.  A lot of this was discussed within the context of how the BBGA might help, but my takeaway was this: It is not that Europe is a superior place to produce wheat; it is not that we don't have wonderful millers; it is that there is no perceived market for these flours.   I have considered this for a long time.  Maybe it was the sight of those immense fields of wheat.  North America is a great place to grow wheat - but we, as consumers and bakers don't show enough demand for these flours to make production economically viable.  Back to my shameless plug - here is where organizations like BBGA can make changes.

(I also had a lively discussion about the difference in economic incentives for small businesses/farms in Europe/Canada vs. the US, but do- not - get - me - started. Really.)

My last memorable quip was a gentleman who asked me why a raggedy home baker would know so many technical details about wheat, milling, and flour.  "Was it that your bread didn't turn out well and you decided to find out why?"  "No, I was always a pretty good baker," I replied.  "The bread was always good.  It's just that I - can't - help - myself."

I decided rather than stay for the dinner that I had spent enough time away from home and drove back to watch the sun set over the Rockies.  To wrap up this long, long post, as I drove I pondered that this had been one of the most satisfying days that I had had in a long time. (A long drive on clear roads in nice weather in a sports car might have had something to do with it, but the mill tour played a large part.)  And I thought of those words uttered by that most famous Kansas girl:

"...if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.."

Dorothy Gale

 

Happy Baking!

mcs's picture

Ellison Milling Company

February 15, 2010 - 5:51pm -- mcs
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Hey there everyone.  I'm wondering if anyone in the Northwest U.S. or Southwest Canada has any experience with flour from the Ellison Milling Company out of Lethbridge, Alberta.  If so, which of the flours have you tried, and can you make any comparisons to more 'mainstream' flours that I might know?  I've heard good things about their products, but not from people who make artisan type breads.  It'd be nice to hear some feedback before I buy a 50# bag of their stuff.  Thanks.

-Mark

mizrachi's picture

Home Milling Confusion!

July 21, 2009 - 10:54am -- mizrachi

I'm just getting started in milling my own grains and I wanted to be certain I know what I'm doing.  I've read some conflicting reports from all over the web and I have a few basic questions that I'm still unclear about. 

Any help is of course appreciated.

1. Is it recommended that I freeze my whole grains before using or storing?  How long should I do this?  I've read that a 48 hour freeze will kill the eggs of any critters that may be in there but I've also read that it's not much of an issue. 

proth5's picture
proth5

I don't know if it is my enduring love of the classic Star Trek Episode (remember - the tribbles ate all the quadrotriticale) or longing for the wee great mountains and lochs of Scotland (one of my past "homes away from home") but lately I've been obsessed with triticale - the wheat/rye hybrid developed in Scotland.

 Now 90% of the time, I am all about the research - reading, questioning, and studying before I make a move.  Of course, there's that 10% of the time where I just jump in - and the triticale was definitely in the 10%.  And as our story unfolds, we can all see why I usually do research.

 I tempered the triticale and achieved a 13% moisture reading.  I then milled it as I would wheat to about 85% extraction.  It milled mostly like wheat - although to get good bran separation, I needed to mill finer than usual.  But I would have been able to easily mill a "near white" flour as I can with wheat.

 I then proceeded to mix up my usual high extraction formula (levain based, 12% of the flour pre-fermented, lean dough, 72% hydration) with the aim to "go by the numbers" and see how triticale would be different.

 First bump in the road - when I brought the dough together, I realized that I had a dough with the characteristics of high percentage rye dough.

 As I passed the time between my 20 "folds in the bowl" - I did what I should have done and looked up triticale.  It was first bred in the laboratory in 1875 by a Scottish biologist and now is mostly available as a second generation hybrid (2 types of triticale are crossed.)  It is an interesting grain in that it has the high yield of wheat with the range tolerance of rye.  This in itself is interesting as it has the potential to produce a useable grain outside the range of wheat.  It is supposed to combine the taste of wheat with the taste of rye, which might make it interesting for those bakers who like a little rye in most of their baked products.  There are some claims that it is incredibly "good for you" although I take those lightly.

 Of course, the downside is that the gluten content is low and it is considered less desirable for bread baking than wheat - but more so than rye.

 So with the dough in the bowl, I decided to treat it somewhat like a rye dough.  Fortunately the base was already a levain.  I continued to mix it 6 times with the "fold in the bowl" method (as I would for a whole wheat - but it never did get any significant gluten development) then shaped it and put it in a banneton moderately dusted with a rice flour/wheat flour blend.  I allowed it to proof for 1 hour 15 minutes and it did rise fairly nicely.  It did not seem particularly over proofed, but seemed fragile enough that I wanted to get it into the oven.  For the first time ever, I "cheated" (by my definition) by using parchment on the peel as I just felt that it would not survive the slightest roughness while loading.  After a feather soft landing on the peel - the dough flattened considerably.  No need to score, but I did lightly dock it.  I baked it in a receding oven starting at 500F with copious steam.

 The result?

 Well, I wouldn't call it good (I gotta be me...), but I wouldn't call it bad.  It had a wonderful wheaty aroma while baking and did have a small amount of oven spring, but I was expecting a rock.

 See below - It was really, really flat.  I put an egg cup in the shot to give an idea of how flat it was.

Triticale Loaf

 

The crumb, however, although very fine was fairly light.  It was not really heavy. (See below.)

Triticale Crumb

 

The taste was actually quite nice - like red whole wheat with just a hint of rye.  Just enough to add complexity, but not to overwhelm the wheat. I probably should have let it settle for a day - but given that this was not destined to be a truly fine bread - I felt it didn't matter.

 Now this isn't a question of "what went wrong with my bread?"  I know what went wrong.  I went off the deep end and used a grain that wasn't going to give me the best results.  But it didn't give me horrible results and the taste was quite nice.

 The question is really - how do we take this somewhat marginal grain and make a much better bread?

 My thoughts are as follows:

  • Add wheat flour - this is the obvious one and one that I'd like to avoid for now.
  • Bake it as enriched pan bread - I should not have so much trouble with collapse and spreading.
  • Use commercial yeast to supplement the levain.  The oven spring with a levain is always somewhat less than with commercial yeast.  Oven spring may have made up a bit for the collapse.
  • Any suggestions?

 So I call upon the collective wisdom of the TFLer's to come up with suggestions...  I'll certainly be willing to try them if they seem reasonable. This seems like a grain that just hasn't had the right marketing campaign...

 Happy Baking!

proth5's picture

Treadle Milling?

May 22, 2009 - 11:06am -- proth5

OK, so I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.  And although I am an engineer - I am not a mechanical engineer and I'm not 100% confident when I try to innovate - especially when it comes to my (beloved) Diamant Mill.

So I'm putting this out to you-all because it seems like many of you do have that mechanical thinking ability that I lack.

janij's picture

Red and White wheat blend

November 7, 2008 - 4:28pm -- janij

I am fairly new here.  I have been baking for about 10 yrs on and off but got really serious about it about 1 yr ago.  I no longer buy any store bought bread, tortillas etc.  I love this site and have learned a great deal from all of you.  I hope someone can give me some imput here.  I know I read about this somewhere but can't find it.

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