More about bread

After posting the short story of how I came to making my own homemade whole wheat bread, I received a few questions. So, this is an attempt to go into a bit more detail on how it all works.

First of all, I do own some very nice and very expensive machines. However, you do not need to own the specific machines that I do. I own a Nutrimill grain grinder. There are several types and brand names of grain grinders out there. I have never used anything else but I know others who have. From the research my husband and I did we believed that the Nutrimill was the best value. Nutrimill is sold by individual distributers and I'm not sure what the price is but you can always do some price comparison or look for a used machine at yard sales or on craigslist. The grain grinder is an integral part to making wholesome whole grain recipes. You can certainly buy whole wheat flour at the store (which is better than bleached white flour) but it looses much of it's nutrients by just sitting on the shelf. The fresh flour contains much more of the healthy nutrients our bodies need. Plus you can always use your grinder to grind other types of grains as well.

I also use a Bosch Universal mixer. This is very expensive piece of machinery. Like I said yesterday, we scrimped and saved in order to buy ours brand new. But, again, you wouldn't need to have the exact same machine. A Kitchenaid or other type of mixer would do just fine. The Bosh is the sturdiest and probably the longest lasting mixer. They have an excellent warranty and they can handle large quantities of dough. I do have friends that use other types of mixers though. You will just have to experiment with mixing times and amounts of liquids that you will need. The thing I love about the Bosch is that I can mix enough dough for five loaves of bread in just five minutes. I don't know how that compares to other mixers.

This is the website for the woman whom we took our class with. You really don't need to take a class. However, her cookbook called Healthy Recipes from the Heart of Our Homes is really great. All the recipes are designed to work with the Bosch mixer. (It also includes pressure cooker recipes). Click here for her recipe for Foolproof Bread (this is the recipe we use for bread, cinnamon rolls, pizza etc.) Her website also has information about why to grind your own grains and other great informational articles, schedules of classes (for those in Colorado Springs) and product information. If you do purchase your products through her please tell her that you heard about it from me.

Other items you may need in order to start your venture into homemade bread are: several bread pans, yeast, honey, dough enhancer (which can be purchased at a health food store) and lots of oil (veg. oil). We began with glass bread pans purchased at Wal-Mart and they worked just fine. But, we wanted a longer loaf so we ended up purchase 12 inch loaf pans found here. We also purchased yeast in bulk here. We purchase our wheat from a local health food store or from Phyllis. We use Wheat Montana white wheat. It makes a very light wheat flour.

One more quick note. Phyllis recommends using oil on your counter instead of flour when you are making the dough into loaves. The extra flour on can make the bread dryer. The oil doesn't hurt anything and keeps it from sticking.

I hope this has answered some of your questions about starting to make your own flour and your own bread. If you have any other questions please leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer those questions. Also check the links section for all the websites I have referred to in this article.