August 12, 2011 - 1:40pm
Home milling
Hello,
I'd like to ask a real newbie question if I may. I am in the process of choosing a mill to grind my own flour and would like to know how to get flour other than 100% whole wheat. I make a lot of tar tine like bread and that mostly asks for bread flour not whole wheat. Would I just need to sift it or is there something else involved in the process?
Thanks,
Liza
Share
Hi Liza,
Home milling produces a true whole grain flour, that is a flour with complete endosperm, germ and bran. Depending on the type of mill you may, or may not, be able to sift out the bran. This is no where near to "bread flour" which is a product of complex milling that removes the bran, the germ and leaves only the endosperm and even that is segmented for various types of flours. Producing all purpose or bread flour at home would require machinery that is generally far beyond the scope of home milling.
Stone or steel burr mills generally leave the bran intact, high impact mills essentially blast all parts of the grain into flour.
Jeff
Hi Liza,
I just purchased the Nutrimill, I will be using it for the first time this morning; therefore, I'm a newbie at milling my own flour also. I just took a class online by Lori Viets; author of the book "No More Bricks." Lori gives an excellent demonstration of the different grains, how to store them and, what grains blend well and, she provides lessons clear through milling your own grain to baking your loafs. Lori is not an Artisan bread maker, though she does admit to occasionally making a loaf or two of sourdough breads. However, the information she provides is worth a wealth of information for the newbie wanting to mill their own flour.
I have been making my own bread for at least 5 years now; both artisan and whole grain. I primarily make Sourdough Rye and two loafs a week of regular Whole Grain Wheat. If you are interested in purchasing a mill I highly recommend her class. Lori gives all of her demonstrations on the Nutrimill but, she also demonstrates the differences between the various types of mills.
You can check out her class at: BreadClass.com
Cheers,
Francine
Making refined flour at home is problematic. It would involve tempering the grain to the
right moisture level, to toughen the bran, and making multiple passes through
various sized screens. See the posts by
proth. However, you might be quite
satisfied with the high extraction flour you could make with one pass through
an appropriate screen. You may already
have a wide, fine-mesh strainer in your kitchen. If not, you can buy a sieve on ebay.
As already noted, avoid an impact or micronizer mill. The bran particles won’t be much bigger than
the remaining flour.
You can buy a 50 pound bag of Artisan bread flour (100% white) for under $30 at places like Restaurant Depot or similar stores. Easier to do this for you white flour needs for the reasons stated above, which is why I buy bulk bags for my white flour needs while grinding my own whole wheat and rye at home for those flours...
If you have a mill and are thinking 'prepper' but want bread flour ...consider that white flours keep much longer than whole-grain. You can store either a white flour or whole wheat berries for a loong time. I've got some white flour that we've had for years and it works and tastes the same as when new... but we stored it in food-grade 6-gallon plastic buckets with good sealing lids and used dry ice (CO2) to force out air/oxygen and kill bugs before snapping the lid in place.
Brian
Liza,
a vy gde zhivete? V UK hlebopekarnuju muku obychno v supermarkete kupit mozhno. Ili vam nado kakuju-t0 osobuju?
Liza,
where in the world are you? Here in the UK one can usually get a few varieties of bread flour from a supermarket, or order from a mill. Is it some special kind you're looking for?
Thank you for all the comments. I didn't understand why the stone mills are better, is it because one can sift things out easier? And now that we are on the question of mills, any opinions on blendtec? So if I understood all of you correctly, or I must make the transition to whole wheat or just complement it with store bought bread flour. I thought bread flour isn't really the same as all purpose, it doesn't look as white either.
Thanks again,
Liza
PS to the Russian crowd, I live in the states where a most everything is readily available.
I just tasted my first loaf of home milled bread; for my first loaf I used the recipe given by Lori Viets for her Oatmeal Wheat Bread. Wow! The flavor difference was incredible. I had quit eating regular loaf bread many years ago; it was eithre sourdough or Rye. I can't wait for my blending flour to arrive so I can make up some more sourdough.
It was my understanding that you were supposed to wait a period to age your fresh-milled flour before using it. However, I followed the one class given at breadclass.com on milling and making Lori's master loaf for Oatmeal Wheat Bread; I really don't think the taste of the bread could inprove much by hybernating the fresh milled flour.
Another question though; has anyone tried out the new sifting attachment for the Bosch Universal Plus made by Le`Equip? The sifting was worth it but my old sifter has got to go; I will even take recommendations for a really good manual sifter.
These TFL posts have several authentic recipes posted
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2615/russian-recipe-borodinsky-borodinski-bread
In my mind I think of what our great grandparents living on a farm would have done in Russia/Eastern Europe: grind their own rye and wheat using a quern to grind their daily needs, using 100% of the product. The flour was not sifted and fully used. While this approach is impracticle for most bakeries the analogy to me is like comparing to fresh squeezed orange juice. While frozen OJ juice tastes very good, and the stuff from the carton even more so - the taste of fresh squeezed cannot be beat. Milling my own and the resulting breads simply taste far superior than the equivalent store bought including such reputable brands as King Arthur. I have made 85% ryes with 15% whole wheat, long slow fermentations with incredible flavor and keeping characteristics. I often make same with 40% white and 60% rye and wheat combo. Even breads that are only 20% whole wheat or rye and 80% off the shelf flour taste much better using store bought for the whole grain portion. Experiment, have fun and savor the results!
I am going to try the Borodinsky recipe listed here, but quite frankly, I am no pro and baker's percentages etc. frighten me. I'd need something more basic, such as grams. The only time I made something resembling this bread was from Dan Lepard's book, I believe it was called "sweet rye bread " and, well, it was way too sweet. Also, it stuck terribly to the pan. Maybe the two are related. I'd really appreciate some recipes to get me started on whole wheat/rye now that I've ordered my mill and two huge containers, one of wheat and one of rye. 85% rye to 15% whole wheat sounds very enticing. As long as the rrecipe is in grams that is.
Much obliged,
Liza
PS is there a way to search for recipes under whole wheat/rye here, or someone blogging about their adventures?
Liza,
Andy's formula has both baker's percentages and grams.
Bakers percentages are easy. The total amount of flour in your recipe (by weight) is taken as a 100. Then any other ingredients are calculated as a percentage on that, i.e. if your recipe calls for 500g flour and say 90% water, that would be 500g x 90% (or 500g x 0.9) = 450g water. And so on.
Andy or Alex, do either of you have alink to the GOST standards for the various bread types that such standards exists? In addition to the Auermann formulat, surely there must be GOST "standards for other types perhaps? One or all would surely be facilnating reading! Thank you both!
GOST standards were regularly updated ever since they came into force in the early Soviet Republic and until its collapse in 1991. That's not to say there would be substantial changes in GOST for particular foodstuffs every time they were updated, but there could be *some* changes. Many of these GOSTs are searcheable in the Russian Internet, if you're interested I could have a browse when I get the time. The GOST would only list the ingredients and properties of finished bread (e.g. quality of crumb abd crust, colour, taste, aroma, as well as features that would be considered substandard). It doesn't describe the method. So would be of limited use to a baker who would wish to master a recipe he or she has never tried before.
As Andy says he has referenced one of the GOSTs for Borodinsky in his comments to the thread, I also added an English translation in the discussion therewith.
Hi Nick,
Check out my full post on this here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24237/celebrating-rye-breads
Below the recipe/formula/method for the Borodinsky are some extensive notes. Plenty of references for you to follow up there.
The link to the GOST table is just below the notes.
Enjoy!
BW
Andy