using fresh ground flour?

[Frances]

My kids may drive me up the wall sometimes, but their new favourite bread is my homemade stuff and their new favourite food is homemade pizza. They can get away with quite a lot when they say nice things like that. ...Yours are bound to come round to it sooner or later George.

Jim, what you need to do is buy one of those old wind mills you've been going on about, fix it up, and then you can start milling your own flour in a big way. You could start milling flour for the rest of the forum while your about it.

[Xabia Jim]

Hey Francis, just found out today that they're restoring one of the windmills to actually grind flour ...might be the one in the picture.

...stay tuned, that could be some fun!

Happy Xabia

[gjbingham]

...or build your own mill, miniature style. Just enough to supply your needs, and some for your friends who donate their own products.

[Xabia Jim]

if the wheat prices keep going up I could see that happening.....but I'd opt for a water wheel I think....

[MoonshineBaker]

I have an old Marathon UniMill ( 1/2 HP motor, burr and stone elements with variable spacing between the grinding surfaces to give results from a fine flour to cracked grains) with which I grind hard red winter wheat berries. I'll sometimes throw in 10-15% rye berries. The temperature of the flour coming out is about 100*F. For the last 2-3 years, I have made what family and friends say is excellent whole grain bread.It's been even better since baking it in the outdoor wood fired oven! I follow the recipe, more or less, in the Tassajara Bread book (no dairy products used). The fresh ground whole wheat makes up about 50-60% of the flour; Giusto's Baker's Choice ($21.00 per 25 pounds) makes up most of the rest with maybe 2-4% high gluten flour (70% protein). I add some lemon juice and sometimes raisins and walnuts for a breakfast bread. It kneads well; develops gluten and passes the "window test" per Reinhard. The crumb is denser than the other breads I make but there are plenty of spaces/holes in a piece. The texture is nice and the flavor scrumptious. Hope this helps. Richard

[MoonshineBaker]

"Green" flour is a topic of discussion in other forums. What I'm reading is that freshly ground - green flour will give a denser loaf of bread. At another forum (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/), a person aged their freshly ground flour for a week, I think it was, in the refrigerator and got a lighter loaf of bread. I'll give it a try and see. However, I enjoy using whole grain mixtures in bread and freshly ground just seems somehow healthier - better.

[Dutchoven]

It was mentioned by CJim but fresh flours do make dense bread...when they are allowed to oxidize they will create a lighter loaf...I don't remember if he said why or not...
Best
Dutch

[MoonshineBaker]

Yesterday, I made some more sourdough bread using Allan Scott's recipe with 30% of the flour being whole grain as I've done before (65% hydration, Giusto's Baker's Choice organic unbleached flour + .2% malted barley). This time instead of using my own freshly ground whole wheat and rye berries for the 30% whole grain flour as I've done numerous times, I used store bought wheat and rye flours (Giusto's organic). The results were definitely different with a much greater oven spring and a lighter more open crumb. The flavor was very good. I'll have to do side by side taste test and compare it with bread made from freshly ground flour. The only variable was that I baked these loaves at about 450*F rather than the 550*F. At the higher temperatures I've blacked too many bottoms of bread loaves. Again, thanks to my neighbors who will eat my experiments / mistakes.

[Wiley]

I've been following this thread here and elsewhere and found an interesting bit of information over at "The Fresh Loaf" and some pictures that seem to support what they are saying. And what they are saying is that one does not have to wait the 10 days to two weeks for the freshly ground flour to oxidize IF one uses the flour within 7 hours or so of grinding it.
Here's the link to the posting:
Reinhart -- Alas, right about fresh flour | The Fresh Loaf

Wiley

[MoonshineBaker]

Wiley - thanks for the referral. I'll check it out. Maybe, I'll grind some flour the day before baking when I'm mixing up the poolish or biga. Richard