questions about wheat

[Leanna1017]

Since we're baking our own bread I thought it might be time to look into buying wheat to grind our own flour. Does anyone have any experience in this and can you offer suggestions? All the options have me confused. Red, white, hard, soft - I'm not sure where to start.

 

I've heard that you can store wheat much longer than flour. Is that correct?

 

Emergency Essentials had some good deals with free shipping this weekend so I purchased a hand grinder. It should be here in about a week.

[LindaLou]

We make all our own bread and handgrind the wheat. We have a Country Living Grain Mill. I also should add that we use a bread machine to for the bread. We use just wheat to make our loaves and don't add any white flour. We also use dough enhancer that we make to get a good rise. Now to answer some wheat questions based on our experience...

 

Difference in wheats:

 

Hard white wheat makes a lighter loaf than hard red wheat but we prefer the texture of hard red wheat. You can mix the two to experiment with text, rise, taste, etc.

 

You can buy wheat with a shelf life of 20 years. You can buy long term storage red and white wheat through the LDS website. Shipping is free. They come in #10 cans. I have ordered a lot through them and I am not LDS. I also order a lot through Walton Feed (Rainy Day Foods). I can order super pails and save my 20 year wheat for long term storage. You do have to pay shipping.

 

Additionally, we order a 9 grain cereal from Walton that contains, among other things, millet, read and white wheat, oats, barley, flax, corn and rye. We have begun grinding that and making bread with it and it makes an incredibly good loaf of bread. We came up with the idea because we would use a little bit in each red wheat loaf we made. Also since we need vital wheat gluten to make the dough enhancer we can order super pails of it through Walton Feeds.

 

Other than the soft white wheat that is in the cereal, I have never ordered anything but hard wheats.

 

Storing flour:

 

We only grind when we use. We don't store already ground flour so I can't answer that question. We do store the dough enhancer in the refrigerator.

 

I hope this helps some.

 

As an aside, the shipping time from most of the long term storage places is long now (I guess people are getting scared). I heard Emergency Essentials was 2 to 3 weeks and I just ordered from Walton Feed and it is 1 to 2 months. I have enough supply that a lag time doesn't matter but if you run out you can always buy wheat at the health food store or many markets have it.

 

Happy bread making.

[Leanna1017]

Thank you so much - this info helps a lot. I can confirm that Emergency Essentials is back ordered on everything in SuperPails and nearly everything in #10 cans. We'll see how long it takes my shortening powder to get here.

 

Our local LDS cannery probably sells long term storage wheat. I'll check with the neighbors.

 

I also use a multi grain cereal in my bread. Sprouts sells a 10 grain hot cereal (a generic version of Bob's Red Mill) in their bulk bins for about $1.19 per pound. The good thing is there is no grinding involved- just add boiling water and let it sit for 30 minutes. That is what we use for the base of our bread.

This recipe is from America's Test Kitchens and it's fabulous. My husband wants sandwich bread that is just like store bought bread and this is as close as I've been able to get.

 

Thanks again!

[Ambergris]

LindaLou, I've been trying to find a way to buy through the LDS website, but kept getting referred to my stake. The local people say that non-LDS people are not allowed to use the cannery or buy from there. So how could I go about buying here?

[themartianchick]

I wasn't sure as to what dough enhancer was, so I Googled it. I learned not only where to buy it but how to make it!!

 

Dough Enhancer Recipe

[LindaLou]

Ambergris:

 

Here is the link I use : https://www.ldscatalog.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10151&langId=-1&storeId=10151&krypto=1uSEhjcmQDusd5Cn9kbBQgu8ChFvq1tWNK6FIV8mLmFdFR3yam08q2l%2Fx0S02pE4P0a%2FsZgvVpHt%0AHNSxqGZTQ%2FZsIB2xn%2BV%2FOmnZEamqAnlc7FpslYerMqw%2F%2FzpDmS0K&ddkey=http:ClickInfo

 

Selection is limited but the staples are there.

 

themartianchick:

 

This is the recipe for dough enhancer we use:

 

1 cup wheat gluten

2 tablespoons lecithin granules

1 teaspoon ascorbic acid crystals

2 tablespoons powdered pectin

2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk

1 teaspoon ginger

[Ambergris]

Thanks!

[Darlene]

In all honesty, all you need is vital wheat gluten and the letithin...all the other stuff is not necessary and gets you the same results.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Hard means high protein and more gluten. Soft is lower protein, less gluten. Yeast breads do better with more gluten. Things like biscuits, pancakes, quick breads, pie crusts, do well with soft wheat. Red has stronger taste than white, whether it is hard or soft. Spring or winter wheat is usually hard. Softer wheat grows better in warm climates than hard wheat, that is why southern cooks are known for biscuits while northern cooks traditionally did more yeast breads.

 

If you want to make cakes and cookies from scratch, I've found oat groats ground into flour make the best soft flour for that. You will, of course, need to use eggs in the recipe or it won't hold together. Whole wheat just doesn't do as well as oat flour for really soft, tender cakes.