| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Oct 04 2012 : 6:11:06 PM
Hi girls -
A good friend has offered me her grinding mill attachment for the Kitchenaid (she has never used it, and doesn't plan to). I'm so happy and eager to get started, but I have no experience with this at all. Well, I mean, I've been to a local gristmill and have seen how it works, but I really don't know anything about grinding flour and storing it myself. I sure would like to do this, though!
When I purchase hard white or red wheat to grind myself, what is the estimated yield of flour? In other words, if I were to grind two cups of hard white wheat, how many cups of flour will that be?
Also, do you have a preference as to where you buy your wheat?
How do you store it?
I read somewhere that you really should grind it as you go/as needed -is that true?
I've had buggy problems with flour I've purchased out at our local gristmill a few times... I know that all flour has that "potential," but is there anything I can do to help avoid that? I know I can freeze it, but even when I've done that I've had problems - even after sealing it in jars with my Foodsaver! VERY frustrating! Is there a special way I should store it or something I need to add to help stop that from happening?
My friend also told me that I might need to add something to the flour depending upon what I want to use it for (cake, bread, pastry, etc.).
Is there anything else you think I should know or consider?
I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of this (Can you tell?), but also very excited! I think it'd be so much better to do this myself than to have to drive out to the gristmill on a monthly basis, but, like I said, I'm clueless. I would really, really, REALLY appreciate your insights!
Thanks so much for your help!
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 3:09:59 PM
Thaaaank you!!! You girls are the best! :)
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| Okie Farm Girl |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 2:41:12 PM
Yes, the yeast is at those sites. Just compare prices and pick the cheapest!! :-)
Mary Beth
www.OklahomaPastryCloth.com
www.Oklahomapastrycloth.com/blog
The Sovereign Lord is my strength - Habakkuk 3:19 |
| SandraM |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 2:32:20 PM
With the Kitchen Aid Grinder you have more course settings.
You can just crack the wheat or corn. Which is basically just breaking it in smaller pieces.
You can used cracked wheat for hot cereal etc.
The electric grinder I have does not have course settings like that. When you grind it it comes out flour.
Sandra
www.mittenstatesheepandwool.com |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 1:06:58 PM
Oh WOW! Thank you, girls! THANK YOU!!!
Marybeth - I had no idea what a gamma seal was... and I've never used mylar bags or dessicants or oxygen absorbers, either. I'm a total newbie, but I think with your help, I'll be on track in no time! Thank you! The gamma lids should fit on the bucket the wheat berries arrive in, then? And, oh WOW!, I had no idea that you could make Cream of Wheat like that! I am SO excited because that's one of my favorite winter breakfasts! YUM!!! I knew I could count on you! I will visit those sites tonight, for sure! YAY!!! And I'm going to have to invest in a sifter...Mine fell apart a while ago. I totally forgot about that - I'm so glad you mentioned it! Oh, and SAF yeast - will it be on those sites, too, or is that something I can find at Costco or the grocery store?
Sandra - when you say you crack your wheat beforehand...I'm embarrassed to ask, but I have to, because I want to do this right... What does that mean, exactly? I will definitely heed the KitchenAid's recommendations, too, thank you for sharing that. I love my KitchenAid!!! And I'm REALLY excited about the wheat and bread handouts on that link you've shared! AWESOME! Thank you! ('Really love YOUR website, too!)
If you all were nearby, I'd drive right over to hug you! Thank you SO much!!! SO much!
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| SandraM |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 05:47:47 AM
http://everydayfoodstorage.net/everyday-food-storage-handouts-downloads
Here is a website/printable on breadmaking. It has some information about enhancers etc..
I have tried some of the recipes on her site.
I have not tried her bread recipe. But she does explain about enhancers and some other things when making bread with wheat.
Sandra
www.mittenstatesheepandwool.com |
| SandraM |
Posted - Oct 08 2012 : 05:28:50 AM
When I only had the Kitchen Aid Mill I would crack the wheat berries and then I would run it through to make flour
You will want to check but you can only run so many cups of wheat at a time. They give a recommended amount. Your Kitchen Aid will get HOT if you run too much.
It doesn't take too long to make flour.
I use Hard White Wheat for just about everything. It is milder than the red. I use it for pizza dough, bread, rolls, cookies, cakes etc...Whenever I am trying something new I add half wheat/half white.
Pizza dough I like half and half. Breads I add all wheat flour except 1-2 cups white flour.
I have used the soft white wheat for some pastry but it does not last as long as hard wheat. Shelf Life less than a year.
Hard wheat can be stored for a VERY long time! 30 plus years is the shelf life.
I store my wheat in buckets. The buckets from Wheat Montana are sealed. But after I open one I keep the wheat in the original bucket.
Never had any problems.
I don't usually add dough enhancers. But I do usually add a cup or two of unbleached white flour to my breads.
Sandra
www.mittenstatesheepandwool.com |
| Okie Farm Girl |
Posted - Oct 07 2012 : 7:42:50 PM
Nini, ditto on what these smart Farmgirls are telling you. I have two grinders - one is a stone mill and the other is a nutramill. I can do 20 lbs of wheat berries on my nutramill in no time flat. But it would take all day on the stone grinder, so if I use it, I do smaller amounts. I also freeze my flour and have had absolutely no problems with bugs.
I buy Oklahoma Hard Red Wheat berries and the Prairie Gold Hard White wheat plus soft white wheat from a couple of sources: Azurestandard.com, Sonrisewg.com and pleasanthillgrain.com . I usually buy quite a few bags because we use so much and it's cheaper for shipping. I store mine by putting a mylar bag into a bucket and then pour the wheat into the bag. I add one activated desicant and three 1000cc oxygen absorbers, squish as much of the air out as I can and heat seal the bag with a hot hair straightening iron all the way across the bag and about 2" wide. Then I put the lid on and store it. When I open a bucket for use, I cut open the bag and then put a gamma lid which costs around $9.00 onto the bucket. The beauty of the gamma lid is that it has two parts - the ring that fits on the bucket and then a 'top' that screws into the ring. You can unscrew the top instead of having to pry the lid off every time you need to use the wheat. It is awesome and soooo worth the money. Then you can snap it off and put it onto another bucket when you are finished with that bucket.
As Linda said, you need to sift your flour. Our commercial flour today is presifted and so if you were to add unsifted amounts to a recipe, your result would be too dense and too heavy. Sifting adds air to the flour and makes it lighter. I sift mine 4 or 5 times before I store it in the freezer and then sift once before use. My bread is as light as a feather. And when I do those initial siftings, I save out the larger wheat germ that is left in the sifter and store that in a baggie in the freezer. It is good for sprinkling on salad, or you can cook it like Ralston and make a hot "cream of wheat" cereal.
Regarding adding anything to your flour - they are probably talking about gluten, which is only needed if your wheat has a low gluten content, and you want to make yeast breads. I have never had to add gluten and I think it's because I use SAF yeast which will blow the roof off of a loaf of bread anyway. :-) I do add lecithin or what is called 'dough enhancer' sometimes if I am making sandwich bread for a more uniform texture that slices nicely for sandwiches. You can get that from Sonrisewg.com or PleasantHillGrain.com. Hope that helps. Have mucho fun!!!
Mary Beth
www.OklahomaPastryCloth.com
www.Oklahomapastrycloth.com/blog
The Sovereign Lord is my strength - Habakkuk 3:19 |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Oct 07 2012 : 7:37:48 PM
Oh - and how long does it take to grind flour? Will I need to dedicate a few hours to do 10 lbs., or does it go fairly quickly?
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| Ninibini |
Posted - Oct 07 2012 : 7:36:16 PM
Thank you SO much, Sandra! I really appreciate your insight! You know, I was reading online that with the KitchenAid mill that you probably want to run it through twice to get a finer flour. Have you ever done that? I'm not overly concerned about the flour being super fine. I mostly make no-knead artisan bread (or rolls or pizza dough) with flour from the local grist mill, and we really like it. I did have a bit of a problem with it for certain things, but some other farmgirls recommended I add wheat gluten. I did that, but I don't think I had the right ratio going - didn't see much difference at all, to be honest. Do you add anything to your flour or do you just use it straight from the mill? I'm really excited to use it. We're supposed to get together one night this week and then once I purchase some wheat berries she's going to come over and "play" with me.
Girls - do the wheat berries go rancid or anything? If I store them without an oxygen absorber, is that okay? Or do you think I should use them for storage? I'm honestly not sure how much to buy or how quickly we'll go through it. I do think, though, that my friend and I are going to buy some to store for a while, given that prices are going to really go up. The deal is, she gives me the grinder, we both buy the berries, and I make the flour! LOL!
And I saw that there are different kinds of wheat berries for different kinds of foods you want to make. Is there one that's fairly all-purpose? I want to make breads, pizza dough, pie crust dough, and maybe try making my own pasta. I don't really want to have to buy for different kinds of wheat berries if I don't have to. I will do it as I get the hang of things, but for now, I'd like just a generic all-purpose kind of flour. We do use white AND wheat flours - usually a mix of both.
Thanks again, girls - I really, really appreciate your help!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| SandraM |
Posted - Oct 07 2012 : 4:47:01 PM
I have a kitchen aid grinder too.
I do have a K-tec grinder as well that I use on the a regular basis.
But the Kitchen Aid is the first one I had. I kept it and use it to crack wheat and corn.
You can only grind about 10 cups at a time. If you do more than that your kitchen aid will get too hot. If I remember correctly 10 cups is what is recommended at one time. I am sure you can look up Kitchen Aid help online if it didn't come with manual.
If you crack the wheat first (with the grinder) it will go to flour easier and be a little finer.
The flour in the Kitchen Aid grinder isn't as fine and with other electric mills.
THe one nice thing about the Kitchen Aid is you can crack the wheat too.
I put my flour in gallon size freezer bags and place them in the freezer too.
Have fun :) I love being able to grind my own flour.
Sandra
www.mittenstatesheepandwool.com |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Oct 07 2012 : 3:15:28 PM
Thank you so much, Linda! You've been extremely helpful! I guess I was concerned about grinding more than I need at once, but if you are having success with it by freezing, then I'm sure that makes a lot more sense. And THANK YOU for letting me know that there is no waste when you grind... I honestly wasn't sure what quantity of wheat berries to start with, because I wasn't sure what I'd get out of it. I'm really thinking that I will start with a bucket full - I much prefer to make our bread and in the cooler months I bake a lot! I will definitely check out Montana wheat online? And yes! Mary Beth's word is Gospel with all things kitchen, in my book! She is AWESOME!! I believe she will be a great help with this! I will have to email her if I don't see her post in a few days. I want to say that last year or the year before she mentioned a grain company she purchases from. I'm going to have to ask her about that, too!
Thanks again so much! I can't tell you how happy I am to have this information! You ROCK farmgirl! :)
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| wooliespinner |
Posted - Oct 07 2012 : 10:10:09 AM
Nini,
I have always purchased wheat from Montana wheat. I buy their hard white for bread making. If you want wheat thats better suited for cakes,cookies and quick breads I use a soft white wheat and sift it with a manual sifter.
Okie farm girls really knows about sifting and using soft wheat for baking. She is the farmgirl I purchased my flour sifter from and also the pastry clothes. She is super helpful.
As far as how much wheat you get grinding....If you have five pounds of the wheat berries you end up with five pounds ground cause their is no waste. I don't know how that measures out in cups. Never really measured it that way. You will just have to experiment with grinding a cup and measuring how many cups it comes out ground and let me know.
I grind about 20 lbs of flour at a time. I store mine in the freezer in plastic containers or bags.Fresh ground wheat left out will go rancid due to the natural germ in the flour. It will keep fresh for a long time in the freezer. Before I make bread I just set it out the night before to come to room tempature.
I have never had bug problems with wheat stored in the freezer.
I store my wheat berries in plastic food grade buckets with an oxygen pack if I am storing it for a long time.Hope this helps.
Linda
Raspberry Run Farm
Nubian Dairy Goats |
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