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Farm Kitchen:  Bread the Mary Jane Way - With ALTERNATE Grains?  |
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sjs
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Stephanie
Oakland
CA
USA
247 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 08 2009 : 3:51:39 PM
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Hello everyone! I'm starting my sourdough "mother" today with organic unbleached white flour, but I'm trying to cut white/refined grains out of my diet so I probably won't continue with the white flour. Has anyone here has luck using other grains, like whole wheat, spelt, etc?
The instructions say that whole wheat is harder to work with - has anyone here had any success and would be willing to share your secrets/caveats? I'm excited to eat this bread, but I've got to stay away from the white stuff for health reasons...
Stephanie, Farmgirl Sister #513!
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Learning to live is learning to let go.
Visit my food blog! http://www.wasabimon.com - natural cooking to live for.
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
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ruralfarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
4309 Posts
Rene'
Prosser
WA
USA
4309 Posts |
Posted - Mar 09 2009 : 07:13:31 AM
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Stepanie,
A couple of things you could try are:
1) add small amounts of another grain to an exsisting healthy "mother". Adding small amounts at a time.
2) Start a mother with 3/4 the amount Organic White and 1/4 another grain...
Let us know how it goes.
Rene~Prosser Farmgirl #185
http://farmchicksfarm.blogspot.com/http://renenaturallyspeaking.blogspot.com/
Circumstances made us FRIENDS; MaryJane's has made us SISTERS :) |
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Bellepepper
True Blue Farmgirl
1207 Posts
Belle
Coffeyville
KS
USA
1207 Posts |
Posted - Mar 09 2009 : 07:36:37 AM
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| Stepanie, I started my mother yesterday also. And like you, we are trying to eat more whole grains. What I thought I would do is to go with the organic white flour for a few weeks. Then slowly start adding whole wheat. Or, I might seperate my mother and go with a seperate batch for the whole wheat just in case it dosen't do well, I would still have my white mother. |
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sjs
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Stephanie
Oakland
CA
USA
247 Posts |
Posted - Mar 09 2009 : 08:13:10 AM
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Thanks, ladies. I hadn't thought of combining flours. I'm really hoping to try spelt, but I think it might be the most different from white flour. Maybe I'll just make a go of it after I've got a few weeks of white flour under my belt. MaryJane had mentioned in her article that it took doggedly determination to get the whole wheat to work, which makes me a little nervous...
I'll dig through the breadthemaryjaneway thread, but I just looked at it and it's 64 pages long! Is there any way to search a single thread? I haven't quite mastered the forum search yet, and it didn't work for me the first few times I tried it.
Stephanie, Farmgirl Sister #513!
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Learning to live is learning to let go.
Visit my food blog! http://www.wasabimon.com - natural cooking to live for.
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 09 2009 : 3:23:07 PM
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Stephanie - this is a quote from MaryJane about the use of alternate grains. It was in response to someone asking if they could grind their own wheatberries but I think the info will be helpful to you.
"If you mean "soft white wheat" berries, the answer is "no." You will need to grind organic "hard red wheat" berries or "hard white wheat" berries. Soft white wheat is okay for pastries but doesn't have enough gluten to give a good rise to bread. Gluten=protein. When there's an adequate amount of protein available, there's gluten available in due proportion. (This is further complicated by growing conditions but usually you can find out a hard wheat's protein content. 14% is what we used to shoot for when we milled berries for bread bakers.) The flours of hard wheats (11 to 14% protein) develop strong gluten complexes during mixing and are therefore suitable for making bread. Whole soft wheats (9 to 11% protein) yield flours that are used primarily for cakes, cookies, and pastries. Durum wheat is used to produce a relatively coarse flour, semolina, used for manufacture of pasta products. You need to use high protein (high gluten) wheat. Make sense? Here's a little trick Miller Barron taught me when I milled with him. Toss a bunch of raw berries into your mouth and go to work making them into gum. If after a good session, you take it out and you can pull it slightly like gum and it sticks together, you'll have a good loaf of bread.
And just to complicate things for us bread bakers, not all mills bring in high quality berries for grinding. Fudging makes them money, so it's important to get your berries and your flour from reputable companies who CARE that you won't be frustrated when you bake. "
Another member (Leezard) is using Spelt flour and I believe she is having some sucess. You might try contacting her.
Also if you post your questions at this topic http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28238 more people might see your question and respond. I realize 64 pages is long! Just type your questions at the end and we'll be happy to answer them even if they are repeats!
Good luck and glad you have joined us!
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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sjs
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Stephanie
Oakland
CA
USA
247 Posts |
Posted - Mar 09 2009 : 9:39:49 PM
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Thanks, Julie! I'll post this over there now.
Stephanie, Farmgirl Sister #513!
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Learning to live is learning to let go.
Visit my food blog! http://www.wasabimon.com - natural cooking to live for.
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Farm Kitchen: Bread the Mary Jane Way - With ALTERNATE Grains? |
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Bread the Mary Jane Way - With ALTERNATE Grains?
