Blog posts

Posted on www.evilshenanigans.com on 4/17/2009

For months I have been trying to decide on buying a good quality grain mill and grinding my own fresh grains. I really don't want to buy what I can purchase easily locally, but we live in a rural area and it's a drive to a decent store that carries Organic. Jmonkey, Bill Wraith, Proth5 and many others have raved about how much better their fresh ground organic flours are. Today I baked up my first batch of Organic  Fresh Ground 100% WW bread. I used Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads Master recipe.

I created these breads and bread recipes to cope with my own multiple food allergies and sensitivities. After mastering and enjoying old fashioned sourdough rye bread I learned I was gluten intolerant and could no longer eat rye. I learned I was also allergic to eggs and dairy products.

Wanting to continue eating bread, I looked at the ingredients in retail gluten free breads and found there was at least one ingredient I needed to avoid in each one. If I was going to be able to eat bread I needed to be able to control the ingredients.

It's been so long since I baked in a loaf pan.  This is just a simple recipe out of my Zo breadmachine book that I hand mixed useing 5 grain cereal mix and added some  K.A. organic white wheat and Bread Flour, reduced the yeast and added a little sourdough.  This is what I got...nice and tender sandwich loaf with a bit of fiber and a nice flavor. 

Modified from Toxo Bread's Ale and Cheddar Bread which I found via Wild Yeast. As made they have a very faint beer flavor and a mild tang of sourdough. The cheese offers up surprise bites of salty goodness. I think if I were to make this again I'd replace some of the water in the final dough with beer for a stronger beer flavor, and possibly add more cheese, possibly sprinkled over the top half-way through baking as well.

Poted on www.evilshenanigans.com on 4/20/2009

If given the choice of any dessert I want, I almost always pick the cookie.  I adore them.  During the Holidays I tend to eat and bake so many cookies that I get a little tired of them and I can't stand to make them until Spring is fully underway. 

Link to formula

One great way to relax is trying a new recipe:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33569048@N05/sets/72157616853314402/

This was created by accident.  Meant to bake a 100% whole wheat loaf but must be dozing off when I added the remaining 30% flour to the sponge:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/33569048@N05/albums/72157616485135015/