I post this here because I don't know what else to do with it. I just got OSU gardening newsletter and there was info and a link to this atricle about Bob's Red Mill. Nice article and interesting. At least we Portlanders have access to many different whole grains and beans, and have had long before it was popular. Almost everything but Durum flour. 

Gift from founders of Bob's Red Mill will launch new OSU center
A $5 million gift from one of the world's most prominent advocates for whole grains and healthy eating will launch a new research and outreach center at OSU focused on nutrition of whole grain foods.
http://bit.ly/hUEhym   

Hi All,

Just thinking about what Andy said in another forum about really treasuring flours from independent millers. I had a lovely surprise when visiting a friend in Yorkshire recently. Just back from the Lake District she had brought me a present of a packet of Little Salkeld Watermill Four Grain Blend Flour. This contains wheat flour, giant oat flakes, barley flakes and cracked rye grains. I'm looking for something good to bake with this that suits my baking level and the other ingredients I have to hand. Any ideas welcome, either from books or your own creations!

Other ingredients I could add to a formula, include a range of wheat flours, rye, spelt, rice and maize flour, oat flakes and flaxseed/linseed. I have some spices that could go well with this mix, particularly caraway, aniseed and fennel seeds.

I've only returned to baking yeasted breads from January this year and sourdough breads from May. I've made more mixed grain loaves than straight white but with a blend of flours rather than cracked or flaked grains. I'm much better at handling lower rather than higher hydrations doughs but can adapt hydration if needed. 

I'm not limited to recipes in books but in case anyone has a good book-based formula, my growing collection is below. Sadly I can't easily get my hands on other classics by American authors such as Suas. 

Jeffrey Hamelman, Bread

Jan Hedh, Artisan Bread 

Dan Lepard, The Handmade Loaf

Andrew Whitley, Bread Matters

I welcome your ideas - many thanks!   Daisy_A

Has anyone had success with this?  I love his PaL but I am want a 50% (at least) sourdough.  Does anyone have a formula that would help me work this in?  I've had great success with the white and whole wheat PaL, I just want to get a better whole wheat version.  I know that will change the consistency a bit, but hopefully it will still retain some of its lovely chewiness.

I stocked up on grains and seeds but I'm running out of room in my freezer. I would be happy to share. I have enough to send to two people. Everything is Bob's Red Mill brand and still in the original packages, and not expired.

If anyone is interested, let me know.

June 18-20 at Omega Institute in NY, I will teach a gluten-free cooking and baking weekend workshop; My new cookbook, Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook, A Seasonal Vegetarian Cookbook by Leslie Cerier due July 1st, 2010 is full of delicious and easy to follow recipes for gluten-free whole grains and flours.

Gluten-free cooking and baking is fun and easy and delicious. For more information; please join me at www.lesliecerier.com

I look forward to hearing from you. eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%4c%65%73%6c%69%65%40%6c%65%73%6c%69%65%63%65%72%69%65%72%2e%63%6f%6d%22%3e%4c%65%73%6c%69%65%40%6c%65%73%6c%69%65%63%65%72%69%65%72%2e%63%6f%6d%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b'))

Join organic gourmet chef, teacher, and author, Leslie Cerier, for an informative and fun approach to preparing a full spectrum of gluten-free foods.

This hands-on, gluten-free cooking and baking workshop is perfect for people with gluten sensitivities; people who cook for those with gluten sensitivities; and nutritionists, dieticians, and other health professionals. Beginner and experienced cooks are invited. You learn:

• Menu planning for ease of preparation and great taste
• Ways to substitute ingredients according to seasons, schedules, moods, and what’s in your kitchen
• Cooking and baking with various sweeteners, oils, and seasonings
• The magic of global flavors, using local produce, herbs, and spices

Delectable protein-based side dishes highlighting beans, soy foods, pasture-fed dairy, nuts, and seeds

Learn to cook like an artist as you master dishes ranging from appetizers to desserts and breakfasts to one-pot dinners, including pancakes, porridges, soups, salads, pasta dishes, pilafs, bread, sushi, and pastries.

Recommended reading: Cerier, Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook and Going Wild in the Kitchen

To register: www.lesliecerier.com or http://eomega.org/omega/workshops/d6b7adb6b819e1f957a32d21bfe62ad2/

I have just noticed that Peter Reinhart has a new book called "Artisan Breads Every Day ." I have three of his other books, and prize his whole grain book, since whole grain breads have been my focus over the last 20 years. I don't have the new book but in looking "Inside the book" on Amazon, notice that Reinhart addresses the "stretch and fold" and cold fermentation techniques, and he also addresses naturally fermented ("sourdough") breads.  While he has addressed cold fermentation In the past (in his pain I'ancienne recipe in the apprentice book), I'm curious as to how this would apply to whole grain breads.

And, unless I missed it, Reinhart did not talk about "stretch and fold" technique in his whole grain book. 

I don't really feel like buying another bread book, esp. one that's not focused on whole grain baking.  But am wondering how Reinhart's discussion in his new book would affect an whole grainer's approach to baking.  

Any ideas?

Thanks, 

Jeff

I have already written about Bäcker Süpke's wholegrain spelt bread with whole grains in my 'other blog'.
But I think the TFL blog would be a much more appropriate place for this recipe.

I've made this bread several times by now, and it always turned out flawlessly. It's nothing I could claim any credit for, but , seeing how charming Meister Süpke is in his comments, I don't really think he'd mind the extra publicity. So I sat down and translated the original recipe, hoping to spread this around the blogosphere a little.

There are only two minor changes I made to the original recipe, apart from the translation, that is.

For one, I shied away from adding the soft, boiled grains to the dough at the very beginning and kneading them for half an hour. I feared they would completely disintegrate and so I decided to add them only for the last ten minutes. And it works very well, the grains remain whole and apparently it makes for something like a double hydration technique, with the dough being able to build up strength before I add the final bits of liquid with the grains.

Also, the original recipe calls for a bit of 'Brotgewürz', bread spices. Which is all very nice, but also entirely undefined as far as I know. So I guessed and used ground caraway and coriander seeds in equal proportions. Which turned out to be one of my luckier guesses lately. Both spices blend pitch perfectly with the taste of the spelt, warming and brightening the taste without being really distinguishable on their own.

This bread has become a constant fixture of our diet, and I can only stress that it is the least 'healthy' tasting whole-grain bread I've ever come across. It never stops to amaze me that it's really brown and not grey, that it's rather sticky than crumbly, open-crumbed and yet perfectly sliceable with a nice but demure crunch to the crust.

Roasted in the oven with just a few drops of honey until the corners start to turn dark, this bread makes a perfect treat on its own, or a great coaster underneath a grillt goat's cheese, or basically anything that needs a solid, earthy partner.

The only thing I am not really happy with is the name, unwieldy as it is. Even in German with its infatuation with endless strings of words it's a rare thing to need 47 letters to name a single bread. But for a bread with such a long list of strong points, I am more than willing to put up with a lot, even this behemoth of a name.

Bäcker Süpke's wholegrain spelt bread with whole grains
(translation and any mistakes are mine)
(makes two 850g loafs)

for the boiled grains
200g spelt grains
400ml water

for the sourdough
340g wholegrain spelt meal
10g ripe sourdough starter
340g warm water

for the soaker
200g wholegrain spelt flour
20g salt
120g water

for the final dough
190g wholegrain spelt flour
7g dry yeast (one sachet)
[EDIT: The original recipe uses 10g presumably fresh yeast, equaling half a sachet dry yeast.]
40g runny honey
1 heaped teaspoon ground caraway
1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander seeds (or more, to taste)

for decoration
rolled spelt, about 2 tablespoons

On the day before baking, bring the grains and the water to boil in a small pot. Cover and leave to simmer gently for about 10 minutes, then take off the flame, stir, and set aside, covered.

Mix all the ingredients for the sourdough until just incorporated. Cover and set aside.

Mix all the ingredients for the soaker until just incorporated. Cover and set aside. Leave all three bowls to ferment overnight in a cool room, but not the fridge, for a minimum of 16 hours.

On the day of baking, combine the sourdough, the soaker and the final ingredients in the bowl of your mixer and knead at lowest speed for twenty(sic) minutes.
I am not kidding. The original recipe says twenty minutes and the dough really needs every second of it. You'll see, in this case it makes all the difference between wet flour and a dough.

Leave to proof for an hour. Deflate the dough and add the boiled, cold grains.
The original recipe says to discard eventually remaining water, but I add it to keep the amount of added water identical each time. Never had much of it left with the grains, anyway.

Knead at low speed for another ten minutes.
That's half an hour kneading all together. Any wheat dough would be a neat rubber ball by now, but here, it just works perfectly.

Pour into a rectangular baking tin lined with non-stick paper. Even the dough and cover loosely with the rolled spelt. Leave to proof in a warm place for about an hour to one hour and a half.
The dough will increase about 20% in volume at most, and when ready will stop springing back if gently poked.

Preheat your oven to 220°C. Bake with steam for the first minutes and immediately reduce temperature to about 160°C. Bake for 100 minutes. Take out and leave to cool on a rack. Rest a day or at least until fully cooled before cutting.

Freezes perfectly well, and tastes especially well toasted.
We usually bake on stock and freeze the sliced  bread, thawing individual slices in the toaster. Talk about two sparrows and one stone.

Some more wise remarks of Bäcker Süpke:

• Always add all the salt to the soaker. Otherwise, the enzymes of the wholegrain flour will produce harmful byproducts leading to a grumbling stomach.
• Wholegrain doughs, especially wholegrain spelt doughs, have to be wet - rather add a little more water.
• Bake long and 'slow' to get all that moisture out of the bread.
• Always use very little yeast and long final proofs, else you wouldn't get a sliceable bread.
• Playing with the honey and the spices is a great way of tweaking this recipe!

If my bread has more of a homemade muffin texture than bread texture, does that mean I'm not developing the gluten enough? I'm using freshly ground grains and overnight refrigeration. It also passes the window pane test. I never see many, if any, holes. I'm at 65% hydration; if I go any more it doesn't hold it's shape. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Here is a link to an interesting article I found on the web.  This baker uses whole grains, sourdough, and sells his product at the local farmers market and by subscription.  I haven't tried his bread but I will at the next opportunity.  Prairie19

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11food-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Hello, I am wondering if anyone knows of mills that sell their organic products retail in reasonable sizes.  I am looking for a variety of organic flours and whole and cracked grains, as well as meals.  My son has a life-threatening allergy to nuts, and most flours I've found so far are either processed or packaged witn nuts, or both.  I cannot buy from bulk bins as the risk of cross-contamination with nuts (through poorly cleaned bins and customers using wrong scoops) is too high.  Therefore, I have been looking to buy directly from mills, so I am sure that the products are nut-safe.  A lot of them will only sell in 25 pound bags and more, which is OK for some products, but many products I need to buy in smaller quantities (1- 5 lbs).

I have been buying from http://dakota-prairie.com, which is a mill that sells wonderful organic flours retail, but they do not have any whole/cracked grains.  I found Anson Mills, Great River Organic Milling and Bluebird Grain Farms today, but again, they do not have most of the things I am looking for.  If you know of any mills that sells organic products retail by phone or on-line, please please let me know.

I live in Massachusetts, where, unfortunately, grains are generally not grown and/or milled.  All the organic brands available here (Arrowhead Mills, Bob's Red Mill, King Arthur except for 5-lb bags) are not nut-safe.

Best wishes and thank you in advance for your advice,

Yulika