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
Well the day is finally winding down, and I think I am done. What a great day it has been. I started off making the kids some home made pancakes from a recipe I found online some time ago. Since they were made from scratch, my youngest calls 'em "Daddy's Scratchy Pancakes". It stuck with the rest of the family as well, so that was their request before they went to bed last night. After the scratchy pancakes were finished off I got to work on my breads.
I decided to add some whole wheat flour to the italian bread this time.
I wasn't paying attention and left the oven high for a little too long... oops. They're a little dark.
The dark crust didn't adversely affect the flavor, though.
Again I made my quick bread. The treacle whole wheat loaf.
It again was a success! I think I have hit the nail on the head! This time the Whole wheat/white ration was 75 WW and 25 White. I kneaded it for 15 mins and even got a windowpane! *falls over in shock*
Heres a picture of the finished loaf. This time slashed and it rose so beautifully. I could cry!
and a front on with slices shot....
