Comments on: Homemade Wheat Bread http://www.self-sufficient-home.com/231-homemade-wheat-bread.html Our journey to self sufficiency Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:56:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Steven Hand http://www.self-sufficient-home.com/231-homemade-wheat-bread.html/comment-page-1#comment-308 Steven Hand Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:10:57 +0000 http://www.self-sufficient-home.com/?p=231#comment-308 Grinding your own grain is fun and delicious. We have a Country Living grain mill, too, and like it a lot, although the bulk of what we use is ground with an electric impact mill (Nutrimill). I guess it makes sense that if fresh-ground coffee is better then fresh-ground grain is better. We made the switch and even my 9-yo son says most store-bought bread is rather bland in comparison. I just wanted to commend the book "Flour Power" by Marleeta Basey. It is a great combination of practical points and recipes and background on why whole-grain is better. My wife has found that adding a small amount lecithin or similar dough conditioner really takes out any dry/cardboard tendency and produces a silky moist mouthfeel, so you might like to give that a try. Regarding your experience with the bread machine, my wife and her friends love their Zojirushi bread machines. One idea is to reverse what you did -- let the machine do the hard work of mixing and kneeding, then pop the dough into a conventional oven to bake. Anyway, best wishes on your bread-making adventure, we can't imagine going back. It is one of the reasons why I tell my wife "You enhance the quality of my life." - Steve Grinding your own grain is fun and delicious. We have a Country Living grain mill, too, and like it a lot, although the bulk of what we use is ground with an electric impact mill (Nutrimill). I guess it makes sense that if fresh-ground coffee is better then fresh-ground grain is better. We made the switch and even my 9-yo son says most store-bought bread is rather bland in comparison. I just wanted to commend the book “Flour Power” by Marleeta Basey. It is a great combination of practical points and recipes and background on why whole-grain is better. My wife has found that adding a small amount lecithin or similar dough conditioner really takes out any dry/cardboard tendency and produces a silky moist mouthfeel, so you might like to give that a try. Regarding your experience with the bread machine, my wife and her friends love their Zojirushi bread machines. One idea is to reverse what you did — let the machine do the hard work of mixing and kneeding, then pop the dough into a conventional oven to bake. Anyway, best wishes on your bread-making adventure, we can’t imagine going back. It is one of the reasons why I tell my wife “You enhance the quality of my life.”

- Steve

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