Tuesday, March 2, 2010

HBinFive: 100% Whole Wheat with Olive Oil

As usual, I am running behind on posting my experiences with the current bread assignment. We were challenged to make a regular loaf and two variations—Aloo Paratha and Southwestern Focaccia with Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese.


In my last HBin5 post, I mentioned that I was considering a grain mill, and I'm happy to say that I went ahead and bought K-Tec kitchen mill. The best deal I could find was from Harvest Essentials for $179, but they also have a coupon code that is valid for orders over $169 to save another $10 (code: HARVEST) bringing the price down to $169. It seems to grind pretty quickly. Grinding the grain before baking just adds a couple minutes to my overall time. It is a bit noisy so a couple times I've had to put off baking because the kids were napping. I also ordered a large bag of hard white wheat and have been making my bread from my very own freshly ground flour now. This is the first time I've made a recipe from one of the "in five" books with the flour, but I've played around with several other more traditional bread recipes and everything has come out quite delicious.

This time I did something that I don't normally do with the recipes--I weighed my dough to make sure I was getting it in roughly one pound portions when I used it. I wanted to make sure I had the right amount of dough for each recipe. I just made a simple round loaf with some unrefrigerated dough for trying out the dough. It was quite sticky before being refrigerated, but with some flour and quick handling, I shaped it without problem. I still don't have a baking stone, so it just went into the oven on a cookie sheet. Ivy says it is one of the best breads I have made.

Next I made the Aloo Paratha. I skipped the peas because I don't like peas--at all! I can't get ghee in town and found the prices too dear on Amazon. So I figured I would make it myself. Since I couldn't see myself needing a whole pound of it, I just used two sticks of unsalted butter to make mine. Good thing too since I badly burned the first batch and had to start again. Second time I cooked it at a lot lower heat for a lot longer, and it turned out okay. I think it was a bit darker than the pictures on the website that I was using for the directions, but it definitely wasn't the nasty burned mess of the first batch. And it was definitely worth it. This bread was delicious! I could seriously have polished off the whole thing by myself, but stoically resisted. Ivy was all for me making another loaf right then and there, plus extra potato mixture that she could just scarf by itself! I made a pork curry to go along with it from our pork that we raised. It was a delicious meal. My mouth is watering just recalling it!

I haven't made the foccacia bread yet, but plan to tomorrow evening. I needed to pick up a couple things from the store for it. It sounds like it could be a dinner if you add meat to it, so that's what I have planned. Going to be using some of the fresh chevre I made a couple days ago to top it.

Check out what others did with these doughs by visiting the HBin5 Bread Braid hosted at Big Black Dog.


13 comments:

brokenteepee March 3, 2010 at 9:43 PM  

I love this series.
Plus, I was interested to hear about your experience with the grain mill as we are thinking of getting one.

Michelle March 3, 2010 at 10:56 PM  

Congratulations on getting the Flour Mill...how fun! Great price!

Your loaf is gorgeous, in fact the best rise I've seen so far! I'm now wondering if the fresh wheat could have an effect on the rise?

Unknown March 3, 2010 at 11:51 PM  

how fun to have your own mill!! Your bread looks wonderful! I had to "make" my ghee too but I think it's basically brown clarified butter LOL

Mama Peck March 4, 2010 at 2:39 AM  

Beautiful bread! I'll bet it tasted as good as it looks. I do love whole wheat bread. YUM

petra March 4, 2010 at 3:59 AM  

nice looking loaf and yippee for home milled flour. I use ghee here all the time. Fortunatly it's really cheap and goes under the name "butter fat" here.

Nina March 4, 2010 at 10:06 AM  

Congrats on getting the flour mill...thats so interesting.Your bread looks beautiful and so is ur blog:)

Bonnie March 4, 2010 at 11:46 AM  

Jenny, I think that is the same mill I have had for years that is no longer available. Exact same design-different name. I LOVE MINE. Your bread all looks so wonderful. I can't wait to see what you do with the focaccia.

Cathy (Bread Experience) March 4, 2010 at 11:48 AM  

Your loaves look delicious! I really liked this dough as well. My favorite so far. I also mill my own grains so I think that makes a big difference. I used a combination of Hard Red Winter Wheat and Hard Red Spring Wheat. Delicious!

Raelyn March 4, 2010 at 6:05 PM  

Looks great. Glad to hear you got a mill. I too am thinking of getting one and would love future comments on how it is working.

Elwood March 4, 2010 at 7:31 PM  

Great rise on your loaf. Freshly milled flour and homemade ghee, you're my hero!

Guff March 5, 2010 at 7:51 AM  

I too just got a mill, but have not yet tried it out. Look forward to your experiences with home-milled dough.

Judy's Bakery & Test Kitchen March 13, 2010 at 11:46 PM  

Love hearing about all your experiences! Hope to hear more about your new mill.

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About This Blogger

I am a thirty-something mother of two girls and a boy ranging from preschool to middle school. My husband and I keep working and reworking on our goal of raising our family healthier. Our house is a constant work under construction--adding on and remodeling. We're happy to have bought our property a few years ago, but as any homeowners know, owning a home just adds to your list of projects and chores because there's always improvements to be made and maintenance to be done. On our burgeoning homestead, we have chickens, guineas, a few goats, and our most recent additions-rabbits.
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I picked the name Petalz and Finz a couple years ago when I decided to try Etsy out. I wanted to custom make some baby related items and have things for girls and boys. I felt the name incorporated both my kids (at the time) into it--petalz for Ivy and finz for Finn.

I haven't had time to do much of anything with my Etsy for a while, but it's still my in my long term goals. In the mean time, I'm having fun with this blog thing. I've found some creative inspiration through my own posting, but also through many other wonderful blogs out there.
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