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Grinding Your Own

post #1 of 15
8/21/01 at 10:33am
Thread Starter 
In another forum there was a discussion of about grain grinders. It seems to me that the protien percentage of flour is very important to the baking of bread. If I grind my own wheat berries, how do I know what the protien content is?
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post #2 of 15
8/21/01 at 10:39am
Discuss assessing the protein content with a cereal chemist/lab technician. I don't think that domestic test kits are on the market presently.
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post #3 of 15
8/21/01 at 11:02am
Thread Starter 
I do not number any cereal chemist/lab technicians among my friends and aquaintences.
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post #4 of 15
8/21/01 at 11:13am
Okay, Kyle, then contact any of the organic grain mills listed in the back of ARTISAN BAKING ACROSS AMERICA. Ask to speak with their lab technician or cereal chemist to explain the procedure to you. Having taken 4 years of college chemistry, I doubt that it's a procedure cheaply and easily executed let alone done in the home. :D

[ August 21, 2001: Message edited by: kokopuffs ]
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post #5 of 15
8/21/01 at 11:21am
Kokopuffs,

You would be surprised to realize what this guy accomplishes in his easy/bake tiny kitchen...
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post #6 of 15
8/21/01 at 11:31am
Also, Kyle, you'll probably end up with flour at nearly 100% extraction rate unless it's strained through bolts, that is cloth. Will your bolt match that used by a grain mill? Just a heads up. Extraction rate, however, affects protein content very little: plus/minus 0.4% is what the tech at RMFM told me. Yet, extraction rate directly affects ash (read mineral) content.

Next stop, ROCKET SCIENCE 101! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
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post #7 of 15
8/21/01 at 11:41am
It's even simpler than all that--call the mill and ask them to fax you a spec sheet on whatever flour you are interested in. It will have everything on it. As far as grinding your own, I worked at a place where we milled our own whole wheat using hard red spring wheat called Bronze Chief from Montana. You never smelled anything so good as that that flour coming out of that mill. I disremember the name of the farm it came from but will think on it. For a really neat look, wrap up a batard not too tight, proof it upside down, then bake it right side up. We talking rustic.
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post #8 of 15
8/21/01 at 11:55am
Thread Starter 
TBH - Does THIS look familiar? I think I'll stick with ordering From King Arthur's :)
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post #9 of 15
8/21/01 at 12:04pm
Kyle, the KA website lists local distributors where you can purchase a 50 lb sac of KA bread flour for around $11.00 (eleven dollars). That's about the going rate for 50lbs of most any flour.

In a place like NYC, I'm certain that you have access to distributors offering a wide variety of flours. As a matter of fact, why not discuss your needs with a local artisan baker who may be able to help you with flour procurement in bulk.
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post #10 of 15
8/21/01 at 12:14pm
KyleW,

Try Bouley's...tell them Martha sent you!
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post #11 of 15
8/21/01 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
They closed the Bakery storefront!
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post #12 of 15
8/21/01 at 12:20pm
Are you kidding? Are they still operating the restaurant?
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post #13 of 15
8/21/01 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 
Restaurant, oui - bakery, non.
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post #14 of 15
8/21/01 at 12:29pm
kyle,

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post #15 of 15
8/21/01 at 1:46pm
That's the place. Stuff cost 15.95 a 50 lb bag, so it's a little more expensive than flour, but there is no comparison even to King Arthur when you grind your own. Of course, we had a 16" Meadows Mills stone burr mill to do it for us. And all this you read about flour needing to be aged.. we got a lot of oven pop on the whole wheat bread, which supposedly flies in the face of conventional wisdom.
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