Just Call Me Little Red Hen

I used my new wheat grinder today for the first time. After cracking open one can from my small stash of wheat, I nervously poured a few cups of wheat berries into the hopper and watched as they began to trickle away and disappear into the mill. I put the small lid on top of the hopper, and then made the mistake of peeking too soon into the mill to see if the wheat had all gone through. I got a face full of dust, and soon learned to listen instead of look to know when the wheat had all been ground.

I've been reading about gluten, and wondered if I should get some to make my bread more light and fluffy. Maybe that's only necessary with 100% whole wheat bread. I used our family's tried and true recipe, which has 1/2 wheat, 1/2 white flour. I'm assuming the gluten in the white flour is sufficient, because my bread made today from my freshly ground wheat flour was incredible. I even messed up the recipe and put in too little flour. This is a great fool-proof, no rolling wheat bread dough. It is super wet, though. You definitely need to mix it in a Bosch or Kitchen Aid, then just scoop the dough up and put in your pans.

Bosch Brown Bread

2 TBSP yeast
1/2 c warm water
6 c wheat flour
2/3 c oil
2/3 c honey
2 TBSP salt
5 c hot water
6 c white (or wheat) flour

*I added 2/3 c dry powdered milk, just as an experiment, and think it may have improved the taste of the original recipe! Maybe it even helped my mistake of too little flour.

Combine yeast and 1/2 c water in bowl. Let rest for 2 minutes. Add everything but the white flour and mix well. Then add white flour. Knead 10 minutes. Divide into 4 greased and floured pans. Let rise 1/3 and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Now if only someone were home to help me clean up this mess...