Bread

[jal_ut]

Bread: I suppose we all use some? I like to make my own. Is this out of place in a gardening forum? If so, mod, toss it out.



Hope the picture will post.



I use home grown wheat, and grind the wheat fresh for each batch. All that good fiber and
nutrients from the whole grain wheat is retained.

[rainbowgardener]

Not sure I would have put it under veggie gardening specifically, but it's fine. .. Your bread is beautiful.

So how big a field of wheat do you have to have to generate some usable amount of grain?

I like making bread too, but only with store bought flour.

[applestar]

Mmmmmmm!!! Looks great!
I declare bread a vegetable!

[jal_ut]

"how big a field of wheat do you have to have to generate some usable amount of grain?"

The wheat was grown on my plot out in Avon. About 35 acres were in wheat the year this wheat was grown. That property has been sold and I now just grow on my 2 acre lot where my house is. I have not grown wheat on the 2 acres, have not needed it yet. Still have several bags in the storage bin. It will keep for a long time. Good food storage item.

"Mmmmmmm!!! Looks great!
I declare bread a vegetable!"

I agree! Definitely not of animal origin.......................

[Susan W]

Num Nums! I bake the bread here, multi grain, sweeten with honey (regional, not home grown as you have). I tend to stay away from whole wheat flour as it is heavy and dry (to me), but thinking fresh milled may be really good. Do you mix anything with yours to lighten it? ( have any troubles with rising?)

[cdog222]

That is some fine looking bread! I did try a wheat 'experiment' two years ago that went quite well. I had an area of about 10 x 15 feet that when it was all said and done yielded about 7 pounds of wheat. I cut the wheat by hand, bundled it, threshed it by hand, winnowed it in front of fan, and ground it....by hand. For my efforts, I would up with two loaves of bread and a few rolls. I didn't add any refined flour, so they weren't necessarily nice and fluffy, but they were nice and dense and hearty.

I'm not in a big hurry to do that again, but it was a great experience!

Sorry - not trying to hijack your bread thread, it just brought back some memories

[TheWaterbug]

How much is shipping for 2 loaves to California?

[imafan26]

I want in on that.

[sweetiepie]

I have tried grinding my own wheat for flour and have not had the beautiful results that you have had. I tend to find wheat flour, whether my own or store bought to be heavy and rise poorly.

So now we want to know your secret.

[imafan26]

Breadmaking is an art. I have tried it a couple of times and have gotten better at it, but still a long way to go before it is good. Zucchini bread is probably the easiest since it is a spoon bread. Leavened breads are the hardest.

[TheWaterbug]

Pizza dough is hard, too.

[jal_ut]

"https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/brea ... 0BOSCH.pdf"

OK, here is a link to a recipe.

[Rairdog]

I got a Zojirushi at goodwill for 6 bucks about 5 years ago. They are 250 new. I just wanted it for the mixing and first rise. It beats any dough mixer or kitchenaid IMO. Then I remove it from the Zo and hand knead. The second rise is on a stone sprinkled with cornmeal for the oven. I don't like pans unless I'm doing fruity or veggie bread.

I used to do a lot of sourdough but have slacked lately. I had a good culture for 3 or 4 years but let it die. I mostly do Italian type bread anymore with whole wheat added and herbs. The whole wheat is only 15-20%. I did make my parmesan bread today to go with the venison mostacholi.

[jal_ut]

Clear blue skies here today. Though cool. Not much growing yet. Decided to bake some bread. Its been a while. About forgot how........... Hope it turns out.

[gumbo2176]

Pizza dough is hard, too.

I have a very good pizza dough recipe if you like a thin crust pizza and this is enough to make 2 crusts for pizzas about 14+ inches across.

Ingredients:

1 package yeast
1 tsp. honey
1 cup warm water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. olive oil

Dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/2 cup of warm water and allow to ferment for a couple minutes.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, oil, yeast/honey mixture and remaining water. Mix until a ball forms then knead for 2-3 minutes until the dough is smooth and firm.

Cover and let rise for 2 hours.

Punch it down after it rises and split the dough in half to make the crusts. I'll use a rolling pin to get it started then pick it up and use my hands balled up in fists to work the dough like you see guys in the pizza places do. NO, I don't toss it as I'm not that good. LOL

If you have a pizza peel----(the large paddle like tool to put the pizza in the oven) and a cooking stone for the oven, use a bit of corn meal on the peel before putting your dough on it. Then add your toppings and slide it on the stone in a preheated 425 degree oven.

In about 15 minutes your pizza should be done.

[gumbo2176]

James, that's great looking bread. I too love to bake my own bread and do so every summer when my herbs are really thriving, during holidays or whenever the whim hits me.

I've also gotten into making my own baguettes, the small firm French Breads. I'll make 3-4 of them at a time and use some of it to make my own croutons used in soups and salads. My wife's co-workers love it when I send them with a nice Caesar Salad when they have pot luck lunches. Baguettes take much longer to make than regular bread with the long rise time for the dough and additional steps in making them. Start to finish is about 6 hours-----mostly waiting though.

[Gary350]

I started making bread again about 2 years ago. I use to make a lot of bread 40 years ago. I have forgotten how to make good bread. I make multi grain bread and herb bread. I buy stone ground, wheat, rye, barley, corn, from the local mill, Readyville TN built in 1812. I also use Malted Barley it comes in about 30 flavors. I usually bake only in the winter, I bought a used kitchen stove last week to keep outside on the patio to bake in hot summer weather. When garden vegetables are ripe I will be making pizza crust for garden pizza. I make some of my own flour from Oats and Malted Barley in the kitchen blender. I have never tried rice flour but mash potatoes are good in bread.