Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[Montegriffo]

Just started a batch of bread and it's sitting by the wood burner starting its first proving.
The wheat we grow on the farm is not particularly good bread flour so I mix it 50/50 with some high gluten strong white flour and add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to help the yeast do its work. I also add a bit of extra virgin olive oil from my mate's olive grove in Portugal.

I had a chat with farmer Paul to get my facts straight and he says that we didn't really have great bread flour in this country until we started importing it from Canada.
The kinds of wheat grown on the farm are old varieties grown for their long stems to use in thatching rather than more modern high yield, high gluten milling flours used for bread. We have a grinder on the farm which we use to turn the wheat into feed for the cows while they're in the cowshed over winter. Paul sieves the roughly ground wheat to make it finer and less gritty.
The strong white I added was British but Paul says that they process wheat to extract the gluten and add it to bread flour these days so it can compete with the high gluten Canadian wheat.

One handy tip that I learned recently is rather than using flour to stop the dough sticking to the surface when you are kneading it use oil instead as you can dry the dough out too much with flour. As a bonus, if you have a nice oak worktop like mine you can just rub it in rather than having to scrub hard at the flour to remove it. Much better for the wood.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Just started a batch of bread and it's sitting by the wood burner starting its first proving.
The wheat we grow on the farm is not particularly good bread flour so I mix it 50/50 with some high gluten strong white flour and add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to help the yeast do its work. I also add a bit of extra virgin olive oil from my mate's olive grove in Portugal.

I had a chat with farmer Paul to get my facts straight and he says that we didn't really have great bread flour in this country until we started importing it from Canada.
The kinds of wheat grown on the farm are old varieties grown for their long stems to use in thatching rather than more modern high yield, high gluten milling flours used for bread. We have a grinder on the farm which we use to turn the wheat into feed for the cows while they're in the cowshed over winter. Paul sieves the roughly ground wheat to make it finer and less gritty.
The strong white I added was British but Paul says that they process wheat to extract the gluten and add it to bread flour these days so it can compete with the high gluten Canadian wheat.

One handy tip that I learned recently is rather than using flour to stop the dough sticking to the surface when you are kneading it use oil instead as you can dry the dough out too much with flour. As a bonus, if you have a nice oak worktop like mine you can just rub it in rather than having to scrub hard at the flour to remove it. Much better for the wood.

Never heard of using oil... that would make the dough pretty slimey and hard to work..

[Montegriffo]

Just started a batch of bread and it's sitting by the wood burner starting its first proving.
The wheat we grow on the farm is not particularly good bread flour so I mix it 50/50 with some high gluten strong white flour and add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to help the yeast do its work. I also add a bit of extra virgin olive oil from my mate's olive grove in Portugal.

I had a chat with farmer Paul to get my facts straight and he says that we didn't really have great bread flour in this country until we started importing it from Canada.
The kinds of wheat grown on the farm are old varieties grown for their long stems to use in thatching rather than more modern high yield, high gluten milling flours used for bread. We have a grinder on the farm which we use to turn the wheat into feed for the cows while they're in the cowshed over winter. Paul sieves the roughly ground wheat to make it finer and less gritty.
The strong white I added was British but Paul says that they process wheat to extract the gluten and add it to bread flour these days so it can compete with the high gluten Canadian wheat.

One handy tip that I learned recently is rather than using flour to stop the dough sticking to the surface when you are kneading it use oil instead as you can dry the dough out too much with flour. As a bonus, if you have a nice oak worktop like mine you can just rub it in rather than having to scrub hard at the flour to remove it. Much better for the wood.

Never heard of using oil... that would make the dough pretty slimey and hard to work..

You only need a tiny amount to stop it sticking about a teaspoon is more than enough for the 3 loaves I'm making now. I've only just heard about it myself from a professional baker.
All I can say is it works fine and my worktop now has a beautiful lustre.
Flour can dry out the dough and make your bread heavy. One of the things that took me a long time to work out was just how wet the dough needs to be to work properly and make a light, airy and well risen loaf.
I'll post a pic when it is finished in an hour or so. The secondary proving is well on the way and I'll be pre-heating the oven and starting to bake it soon.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Just started a batch of bread and it's sitting by the wood burner starting its first proving.
The wheat we grow on the farm is not particularly good bread flour so I mix it 50/50 with some high gluten strong white flour and add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to help the yeast do its work. I also add a bit of extra virgin olive oil from my mate's olive grove in Portugal.

I had a chat with farmer Paul to get my facts straight and he says that we didn't really have great bread flour in this country until we started importing it from Canada.
The kinds of wheat grown on the farm are old varieties grown for their long stems to use in thatching rather than more modern high yield, high gluten milling flours used for bread. We have a grinder on the farm which we use to turn the wheat into feed for the cows while they're in the cowshed over winter. Paul sieves the roughly ground wheat to make it finer and less gritty.
The strong white I added was British but Paul says that they process wheat to extract the gluten and add it to bread flour these days so it can compete with the high gluten Canadian wheat.

One handy tip that I learned recently is rather than using flour to stop the dough sticking to the surface when you are kneading it use oil instead as you can dry the dough out too much with flour. As a bonus, if you have a nice oak worktop like mine you can just rub it in rather than having to scrub hard at the flour to remove it. Much better for the wood.

Never heard of using oil... that would make the dough pretty slimey and hard to work..

You only need a tiny amount to stop it sticking about a teaspoon is more than enough for the 3 loaves I'm making now. I've only just heard about it myself from a professional baker.
All I can say is it works fine and my worktop now has a beautiful lustre.
Flour can dry out the dough and make your bread heavy. One of the things that took me a long time to work out was just how wet the dough needs to be to work properly and make a light, airy and well risen loaf.
I'll post a pic when it is finished in an hour or so. The secondary proving is well on the way and I'll be pre-heating the oven and starting to bake it soon.

That’s always the trick. I figure it’s pretty impossible without hours of kneading, or a mixer to put enough air into it.

[Montegriffo]

Never heard of using oil... that would make the dough pretty slimey and hard to work..

You only need a tiny amount to stop it sticking about a teaspoon is more than enough for the 3 loaves I'm making now. I've only just heard about it myself from a professional baker.
All I can say is it works fine and my worktop now has a beautiful lustre.
Flour can dry out the dough and make your bread heavy. One of the things that took me a long time to work out was just how wet the dough needs to be to work properly and make a light, airy and well risen loaf.
I'll post a pic when it is finished in an hour or so. The secondary proving is well on the way and I'll be pre-heating the oven and starting to bake it soon.

That’s always the trick. I figure it’s pretty impossible without hours of kneading, or a mixer to put enough air into it.

Kneading doesn't put air into it. What kneading does is crack open the starch molecules so that the yeast can work on the sugars in the gluten and do its thing which is turning it into CO2 and alcohol. It's the CO2 that fills your dough with little bubbles and makes it rise.

Making cakes is where you whisk air into the mixture to make it light and fluffy. You beat the air into the butter, sugar and egg mixture then carefully fold the sieved flour into it being gentle so you don't knock the air out again.
You can use your power tools on the butter, fat,sugar mix but it is always best to add the flour by hand with a spatula or spoon with a folding action not a whisking one.

[SuburbanFarmer]

You only need a tiny amount to stop it sticking about a teaspoon is more than enough for the 3 loaves I'm making now. I've only just heard about it myself from a professional baker.
All I can say is it works fine and my worktop now has a beautiful lustre.
Flour can dry out the dough and make your bread heavy. One of the things that took me a long time to work out was just how wet the dough needs to be to work properly and make a light, airy and well risen loaf.
I'll post a pic when it is finished in an hour or so. The secondary proving is well on the way and I'll be pre-heating the oven and starting to bake it soon.

That’s always the trick. I figure it’s pretty impossible without hours of kneading, or a mixer to put enough air into it.

Kneading doesn't put air into it. What kneading does is crack open the starch molecules so that the yeast can work on the sugars in the gluten and do its thing which is turning it into CO2 and alcohol. It's the CO2 that fills your dough with little bubbles and makes it rise.

Making cakes is where you whisk air into the mixture to make it light and fluffy. You beat the air into the butter, sugar and egg mixture then carefully fold the sieved flour into it being gentle so you don't knock the air out again.
You can use your power tools on the butter, fat,sugar mix but it is always best to add the flour by hand with a spatula or spoon with a folding action not a whisking one.

Hmm never knew that. I’ll have to look up what you’re talking about. I just know that pastries and breads use 2 different kinds of wheat, but I’m not that familiar with pastry baking.

[Montegriffo]

That’s always the trick. I figure it’s pretty impossible without hours of kneading, or a mixer to put enough air into it.

Kneading doesn't put air into it. What kneading does is crack open the starch molecules so that the yeast can work on the sugars in the gluten and do its thing which is turning it into CO2 and alcohol. It's the CO2 that fills your dough with little bubbles and makes it rise.

Making cakes is where you whisk air into the mixture to make it light and fluffy. You beat the air into the butter, sugar and egg mixture then carefully fold the sieved flour into it being gentle so you don't knock the air out again.
You can use your power tools on the butter, fat,sugar mix but it is always best to add the flour by hand with a spatula or spoon with a folding action not a whisking one.

Hmm never knew that. I’ll have to look up what you’re talking about. I just know that pastries and breads use 2 different kinds of wheat, but I’m not that familiar with pastry baking.

Look up what I'm taking about? You could just ask, I'm not just some burger-flipping short-order cook like TC you know. Harrumph.

Bread uses what's called strong flour which has a high gluten (or sugars) content for the yeast to eat.
Pastries are made with self-raising flour which is a finer milled lower gluten flour with added baking powder (sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar) as a raising agent.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Kneading doesn't put air into it. What kneading does is crack open the starch molecules so that the yeast can work on the sugars in the gluten and do its thing which is turning it into CO2 and alcohol. It's the CO2 that fills your dough with little bubbles and makes it rise.

Making cakes is where you whisk air into the mixture to make it light and fluffy. You beat the air into the butter, sugar and egg mixture then carefully fold the sieved flour into it being gentle so you don't knock the air out again.
You can use your power tools on the butter, fat,sugar mix but it is always best to add the flour by hand with a spatula or spoon with a folding action not a whisking one.

Hmm never knew that. I’ll have to look up what you’re talking about. I just know that pastries and breads use 2 different kinds of wheat, but I’m not that familiar with pastry baking.

Look up what I'm taking about? You could just ask, I'm not just some burger-flipping short-order cook like TC you know. Harrumph.

Bread uses what's called strong flour which has a high gluten (or sugars) content for the yeast to eat.
Pastries are made with self-raising flour which is a finer milled lower gluten flour with added baking powder (sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar) as a raising agent.

I was referring to hard red vs soft white wheat lol

I meant I’ll have to look up the folding method you mentioned.

[Montegriffo]

Hmm never knew that. I’ll have to look up what you’re talking about. I just know that pastries and breads use 2 different kinds of wheat, but I’m not that familiar with pastry baking.

Look up what I'm taking about? You could just ask, I'm not just some burger-flipping short-order cook like TC you know. Harrumph.

Bread uses what's called strong flour which has a high gluten (or sugars) content for the yeast to eat.
Pastries are made with self-raising flour which is a finer milled lower gluten flour with added baking powder (sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar) as a raising agent.

I was referring to hard red vs soft white wheat lol

I meant I’ll have to look up the folding method you mentioned.

With folding what you are doing is gently mixing the flour in with a vertical circular motion. Lifting it from beneath and turning it over gently so that you don't knock the air out. It's the difference between my sponge cakes and my mother's. She always just mixed it all together in the food mixer with a whisk attachment.
Consequently, her sponges were never as light and fluffy as mine.

[Montegriffo]

My truck smells bloody great right now...