Caraway & Poppy Seeds, Rye Flakes, & Nutrimill
I thought that a separate thread with a pertinant heading would help others, even though I've included some of this information elsewhere.
I attribute a lot of my "success" with my rye bread to using rolled rye grain or "rye flakes" and caraway seeds. I get my rye flakes from Barry Farms. Here's their link: www.barryfarm.com [1] I got tired of paying almost $4 for less than 2 ounces of Caraway seeds at the local stores. As for Poppy seeds - couldn't find them anywhere. I got on eBay and found Mels Country Acres. There I bought a pound of Caraway seeds and a pound of Poppy seeds for somewhere around $15 delivered. They have a toll-free number: (800) 267-6141. He has a lot of other goodies too at great prices. I was surprised at how fresh my seeds were when they arrived. Excellent scents and they were also clean - very important to me.
My biggest remaining problem is obtaining a good hard wheat flour. This is about to change as I just ordered a Nutrimill yesterday.
Buying my Nutrimill was an experience, to say the least. I sent emails to the sellers who were advertising on eBay. I consider a timely response to be 24 hours. One seller did not respond, period. The second seller responded, but she failed to answer all of my questions (1 out of 3 answered). 3 follow-up emails on my part went unanswered. Don't ask me why I even tried sending that many follow-up emails - a mental lapse, temporary insanity, dunno...lol... The 3rd seller was a charm. She answered in a timely fashion and answered all of my questions. Needless to say, she got my business. Her eBay name is "For Your Kitchen". Here's a link to her auction for a Nutrimill on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/NUTRIMILL-Grain-Mill-Wheat-Grinder-FREE-S-H-Demo... [2] By the way, the second seller who lacked comprehension skills and timing finally emailed me after 5 days! I emailed her back that I couldn't wait any longer for her reply and had bought a Nutrimill elsewhere. What followed was an unbelieveable response of sour grapes. Talk about a bitter person...very sad indeed.
I noticed this morning (7/22/07) that another Nutrimill dealer has a demo unit listed. Starting bid is $165. Dunno how you feel about buying a demo. It will probably go higher. It could end up being a good buy. Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Nutrimill-Grain-Grinder-Demo_W0QQitemZ190085... [3]
I hope that this helps someone, or if you have a better source, let us know!
Cliff.