The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

I Make Fancy Do Bread – Now I’m Mad

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

I Make Fancy Do Bread – Now I’m Mad

No not mad like crazy whack job mad but mad as hell none the less.  I go to Whole Foods ….eeeerrr…… whole paycheck, to get my normal load for whole grains – some oats, spelt, Kamut and who knows what else from the bins.  I don’t buy anything else there because I can get the same things I buy much cheaper anywhere else.

 

O don’t get white or red wheat or rye there because I can get them elsewhere for much, much cheaper as well.  Well Well….no whole grains were to be found in the bins at all …..not even wheat or rye at Whole Paycheck!  Things have changed drastically at Whole Foods since Amazon bought them ….except the super extreme high prices of course.

Now I have no reason to go there except to see my doctor of course, since I can’t ever seem to get an appointment to see him in his office and he is the only one I know who is rich enough to shop there.  I figured,since I was there, I went over to their flour aisle to see if they had discontinued all of their flour too.

We like beautiful bottoms.

All the Hayden mills was gone but they were carrying a whole bunch of Bob’s Red Mill flour in its place including Artisan Bread and two sprouted flours – spelt and Khorasan.  I couldn’t say no because that was the only way I was going to get any kind of spelt and Kamut and I would sprout them most of the time anyway if I had found the whole berries.

We love thick grilled pork chops almost as much as T-Bone stakes - and they look about the same too.

I could actually afford them too since they were all on special for some reason.  The normal pricing for all 3 would be way more than I would ever pay for flour of any kind.  Lucy is having a conniption fit and now worries that Smart and Final will quit carrying rye and Winco will cut out the red and white wheat all sold for less than 50 cents a pound in the bins.

Bob's Red Mill flours

We will worry about that when it happens. This week’s bread for Baby is 25% rye, red and white wheat milled from berries at home, 25% sprouted spelt and Khorasan and 50% Bob’s Artisan Bread Flour.  We did our usual 100% hydration. 12% pre-fermented flour (winter) bran levain that was retarded overnight after it doubled.

Looks like sandwich bread to me but was a bit over proofed and the dough not quite enough to proper;y fill put the pan I love so much!  It made fine toast this morning with butter, cherry jam, white cheddar, sausage, bacon and and egg on top for the stacked high breakfast sausage.

After 1 hour autolyse with the PHSS on top, we mixed it up at 80% hydration and immediately knew it was way too dry.  The BRM flours were very thirsty for some reason.  We added water to get it to 90% hydration but it still felt like a 80% hydration dough with this amount of whole grain and kind of flours. After 2 sets of slap and folds of 100 and 25 we did 2 sets of stretch and folds from the compass points letting it rest for half and hour between each on a thin foldalble plastic sheet and a heating pad with a stainless bowl on top covered with a towel.

Instant Pot Texas Beef Chuck, Chunk Chili with kidney beans that they hate so much:-)  Cilantro, green pinion, pepperjack cheese and creama stirred in as a garnish pile on

We then oiled up the bowl and plopped the dough in for a 12 hour bulk retard in the fridge.  After warming up for 2 and half hours, we shaped it into a short log for the non stick sprayed Oriental Pullman pan.  We let it proof till it was a little below level with the rim so the lid would slide on.  We preheated to 500 F but baked it for 18 minutes at 450 F lid on.

Lucy loves her salads and ribs

The lid was slid off and we baked it for 8 minutes at 425 F convection and then removed the bread from the pan and continued baking for 13 more minutes until it reached s07 F on the inside.  If bloomed itself up enough to nearly fill the Pullman with the lid on.  It then browned up nicely out of the on as well.  It would have had nice blisters if the top of the loaf didn’t get squished when it hit the lid.

and chicken noodle soup for lunch

Kale. broccoli, blueberry, cranberry. pomegranate and sunflower seed salad

It smells terrific.   Can’t wait to cut into it but that will have to wait till tomorrow.  Turns out to be very tasty, soft and moist inside and easy to cut the thin slices that my wife likes,  The sprouted grains really make this bread tastier than the ones without them.

Comments

pmccool's picture
pmccool

it has become very difficult to locate rye flour in any of the local supermarkets.  Apparently, there aren’t enough people making their own rye bread to keep the grocers interested in stocking the flour. 

Other flours are still available, so long as you are willing to pay an arm and a leg for the little BRM cello packages.

I think that before long the only way to get the flours I want will be to grind my own from grain that I buy on line. You'd think that KC being a milling town in the middle of the breadbasket would translate to ample variety of flours but that isn’t so.  

Paul

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

up to a month ago.  Rye and the R&W wheat are cheap at Winco but I went ti Smart and Final today and the Rye was not in the bins anymore either.  So now it is just R&W wheat whole berries that I can get locally.  Online is really expensive once you tack the freight on.  I need to check Amazon and see if they have any whole berries on Prime.  This is getting ridiculous.  .

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

and thought “dabrownman” - beautiful as ever!   you will need to find a reasonable source of grain dabrownman - you are inspiration to many of us and we still need our fix of wonderous breads!

look forward to the crumbshot

Leslie

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Yeah, if we can't get reasonably priced whole berries of the grains we need, then the entire whole grain artisan bread making culture is bleak at best.  Maybe Chia head dolls, furniture refinishing or rapping would be better hobbies.  Sad really.   Whole  Foods and Smart and Final are off my list for paybacks and just out of spite!  Maybe Amazon is our last best hope!  It might be true that they might be the only retailer left in the world before long.

Happy baking Leslie

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

I cannot buy grain cheaply at all and courier costs are high too.   As Danni said I close my eyes and just do it.  I was lucky earlier this year to be able to buy spelt, rye, wheat berries and barley flakes at the organic farm that grew them.  I have a year’s supply but next year who knows as this was in our South Island, hundreds of kilometers away and across the Cook Strait! 

We just need for grain merchants to recognise the importance of the artisan bread movement and the role of fresh grain flour in our diets.

Any way bake happy dabrownman, we will prevail! lol

Leslie

clazar123's picture
clazar123

I am still working through wheat bought in South  Dakota by a daughter visiting in-laws (a couple 25 lb sacks), that I picked up from her in Minneapolis and drove back to Milwaukee. Now they have been divided between 2 homes-Minnesota and Florida. I have not been able to source rye in either state reliably-it is all BRM! Forget any "exotics" like Khorasan or spelt. So I buy what I can when I find it. I don't bake often enough these days to warrant ordering online.

Gorgeous pictures-lovely loaf! I learn something every time I read your posts! It could be a single sentence that gives me an "ah-ha" moment so KEEP POSTING, please.

I  don't bake often but I really enjoy when I do. I am into recipe/method development and building smaller products. I am also dabbling in low carb and GF for friends so I can bake SOMETHING that gets eaten and appreciated. My bread and goodie consuming days are very limited so I make sure that what I do eat is wonderful, if small. Most loaves are frozen sliced and it takes me a while to finish a loaf. So small is better so I can bake more often and with more variety.

Happy Holidays to you, Lucy and family! Enjoy every moment right now!

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

daughter.  I did get the all clear from my doctor this week.  A1C is well below 7 again and he said I don't have to see him for another 6 months so I can a piece of bread every once in awhile.  No deserts though but I don't miss them so much.  Instead of apple pies I just eat apples! Instead of pear tarts I eat pears.  Now I can have a small SD pancake with blueberries once in a blue moon too -yea!. at least salads are still good for you:-)

I can't wait for this horrible year to end.  It has been one bad thing after another and now the worst one ever now the daughter is moving to north of Seattle as soon as she finds a job so we won't get to see her any time we want. either.  Can't wait for the New Year and hopefully better news all the way around.  At least we can still post here!

The best to you and yours Clazar and Happy Holidays to you too!.

Elsie_iu's picture
Elsie_iu

There's no better reward than being able to have bread and pancakes again :) To be honest, I prefer fresh apples and pears to the mushy ones buried in pies. Fresh fruits on top of salads just sound so much better to me.

This year is a grateful one for me: I discovered TFL, bought a mill, started sprouting my own grains, met a few friends who love baking and cooking and set a clearer goal about my future path. Hopefully you'd find something great that happened this year too. If not... well, I can only wish you a joyful new year! 

Kidney beans are also my least favourite legumes but I have to say I'd devour them all if they in the form of chili! I hope your wife like the sprouted grains bread and that you'd soon be baking something for yourself :)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

on TFL are wonderful especially someone do young and enthusiastic about bread who feels the same way I do about food and how important it is to keep family and friends together .....even if i can't eat some of it some of the time. I shutter to think how much you must pay for whole grains to mill to make your fine breads.  Can you get them on Alibaba?  I love fruits, nuts and seeds in salad as much as I like them in bread too...and I can eat as much salad as I want

My wife loves the bread and I have ti say it tastes better than the other un-sprouted ones !  She said she isn't going to be buying bread anymore in the store.  Miracles can happen:-)  Next year will be better for sure!

Happy Holidays and Baking to you in the New Year Elsie.

Elsie_iu's picture
Elsie_iu

Though I think grains on Alibaba aren't really for retail but for wholesale instead? Since I saw a minimum order of around 15 metric tons set by quite a few sellers... I'd rather order my grains from breadtopia and pay an extra US$40 for shipping. This way, I get my grains for under US$2.5 per lb on average, which is not too bad before you include the 3 months of waiting :)

That's a great achievement when your wife announces never to buy bread from the store again! I know my mom still prefer store-bought chocolate buns to the SD I bake... Obviously, I still have lots more to work on. 

suave's picture
suave

Yep, same story, Amazon has built a brand new WP about 15 minutes from here - it's a beautiful modern building, but it filled to the brim with hipster-oriented crap.  No grains, and 2 flours in the entire store.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

grains that are on Prime but quite a few are not so the freight will be a killer on them bit only wheat, rye, spelt and Khorasan berries - none of the others but that is better than nothing I guess.  I do love the chocolate raspberry cake at WP and we always split a piece after eating at Biaco's Pizza or his Tratto's right next door in the Country Market Shopping center in central Phoenix, but we can get that at AJ's too.  Thank goodness red wine is still good for you and Total Wine is still going strong!

Hopefully Amazon .com will get a greater assortment of berries on Prime in smaller quantities.  I don;t need 25 pounds of any of them.

Happy baking Suave

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

what I just paid to have 25 lbs each of organic Kamut, Spelt, rye, red Fife, Selkirk, durum, buckwheat and Einkorn shipped from Saskatchewan to Northwestern Ontario! The berries themselves weren’t cheap even with 20% off and the shipping... ?. I just close my eyes and pay the bill. At least, I have enough for the next year. I consider it my Xmas present to myself. 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

lovely loaf you have there. Glad you are able to partake again. 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

someone who has it worse.  For bread that only costs a buck for a loaf in the store, it is amazing how much it can cost to make at home especially if your country grows the best, most abundant and cheapest grains, most efficiently in the world by far - the USA and Canada!  No good deed should go unpunished:-)  At least I can still grow lettuce and tomatoes in the back yard!

Glad you like the bread.  My wife asked me to make a loaf of bread for a friend of hers last night as we were going to bed - that she could take to her on Saturday morning.  Sure and got out of bed and she said where are you going and I said t start making the bread.  She thought I could just make it tomorrow but that is fine if you don't keep your starter in the fridge for half a year:)  So I got the levain going in about two minutes, came back to bed and she said - 'wow that was some fast bread!'  Now I have some baking to do do today .  Think I will make a Holiday Chacon to make it look special.

Happy baking Danni and happy Holidays!

TomK's picture
TomK

My local Whole Foods has also cut way back on the bulk grains although they’ve never really had a lot of different varieties. Plenty of sugar frosted sticky things though, and so many kinds of rice! I’ve taken to ordering whole grains and grinding at home. The shipping is a kille though.  Fortunately my wife works around the corner from Keith Giusto baking supplies so flour is easily obtained 

As an attempted solution I planted some wheat berries in November, the plants are about 9” tall now. We’ll see what happens.

Happy baking,

Tom

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

about growing grain in pots in the winter here in Arizona so I planted 6 different varieties in pots.  They grew great to about 3 feet tall and they they turned golden brown and harvested them.  The one thing I forgot what that I didn't have a threshing machine to get the hulls off the grains so I never could used them except for planting a new crop!  Taking the hulls off of grain by hand is a step too far for a retired guy who stays as far away from work as possible:-)  I bagged them up until I get a farm and a threshing machine so they will be there forever!

I did't even think there were any grains left i the world that would grow over 3' tall.  What variety did you plant Tom?

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

about growing grain in pots in the winter here in Arizona so I planted 6 different varieties in pots.  They grew great to about 3 feet tall and they they turned golden brown and harvested them.  The one thing I forgot what that I didn't have a threshing machine to get the hulls off the grains so I never could used them except for planting a new crop!  Taking the hulls off of grain by hand is a step too far for a retired guy who stays as far away from work as possible:-)  I bagged them up until I get a farm and a threshing machine so they will be there forever!

I did't even think there were any grains left i the world that would grow over 3' tall.  What variety did you plant Tom?

TomK's picture
TomK

This is White Sonora, which supposedly should do well in your area. 

Threshing will be a challenge no doubt but I figure it’s been done for millennia without machines. We’ See how it goes.

Tom