Grain Milling and Bread Making Demo!

About a month ago, I hosted several mom friends from my children's school over for a little grain milling/ bread making demo! It was a fun morning watching the ladies sample all of the baked goods I had prepared, and I then enjoyed demo'ing my little hobby for them. I don't think there is a mom out there that doesn't want to learn new ways to bring healthier food to their families table, so most of these mom's were here for that very reason. There is a ton of information under the Health Benefits section of this blog explaining why in the world any normal person would care to mill their own grains.  If this is a new concept to you, that would be a great starting point!  Then take a look at my first post, "How I got started milling my own grains...." for additional background!

For the sampling, I prepared Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls, Kamut Dinner Rolls, Ezekiel Muffins with Millet and Chocolate Chips, Honey Whole Wheat Bread, and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Flax Cookies.

Rachel over at Simple Girl is owed all photo credits for this post. Not only is she savvy with the camera, she also has some mad skills in the kitchen....most notably in making cupcakes! Check out her blog and you will surely be inspired, or at the least, drool a little. We are so very blessed to have a multi-talented mom like Rachel at our children's school as she is constantly using her baking and photography skills (to name a few!) for all types of school events.....and sometimes just to simply bless the teachers with cupcakes!

Here are several of Rachel's beautiful photographs from the demo:

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

Kamut Dinner Rolls

Ezekiel Muffins with Millet and Chocolate Chips

Honey Whole Wheat Bread (not one of my "prettiest" loafs, but still delish)



Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Flax Cookies


Freshly Milled Hard Red Wheat Flour for use in a bread recipe

These are the 6 gallon grain buckets that I purchase from Breadbeckers. The green lid is Kamut, white lid is hard white wheat and the red lid is hard white wheat. I have more info listed under the Supplies tab on this blog detailing how to purchase the grains.

Hard Red Wheat

Ezekiel Blend of Grains and Beans (contains: hard red wheat, spelt, hulled barley, millet, green lentils, great northern beans, red kidney beans and pinto beans). I use this flour mostly for muffins, pancakes and waffles. However, you can also make a loaf of yeast bread with it, it will just be denser since the grain/bean combination lacks the gluten content necessary for a good rise.

Sucanat (this is your healthier alternative to refined brown sugar)

Sucanat with Honey or also called Honey Crystals (this is your healthier alternative to refined white sugar)

Maybe some day I'll charge a small fee to do classes like this? That's for sure a "maybe"........sometimes I just prefer to keep a hobby as a hobby and not as a business endeavor :) Thanks again to the ladies that joined us for the demo and sampling. A few of them have already decided this grain milling/ bread making from home is not at all as complicated or time consuming as they had imagined and have already purchased the goods to do it from their own homes!

Blackberry Bars

We went blackberry picking earlier this week and I now have 2 gallons of ripe, juicy and delicious blackberries to use for a multitude of purposes. We have been enjoying eating them all on their own, baking fabulous blackberry pies and now seeking out additional recipes before freezing the remaining for smoothies!

I was looking for a non-cobbler type recipe, but still a dessert recipe to make and ran across a decent sounding blackberry bar recipe. I changed a few ingredients to make it a bit healthier & more natural (e.g. used freshly milled soft white wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour and used sucanat instead of brown sugar). I also added a few ingredients to my tasting. (e.g. used almond extract instead of vanilla and added a few tsp. of cane sugar to toss with the blackberries). The finished product was absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup freshly milled soft white wheat flour (NOTE: original recipe called for 1 cup of all-purpose flour, so to substitute with soft white wheat flour, add an additional 1/4 cup of flour for every 1 cup called for in recipe)
  
• 3/4 cup Sucanat
  
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
  
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (I prefer almond)
  
• 1 cup fresh blackberries (I used a heaping cup!)
  
• powdered sugar, sifted

Preparation:

Combine freshly milled flour and sucanat; cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press 1 1/3 cups of mixture in bottom of an greased 8-inch square pan.

Combine remaining crumb mixture, sour cream, egg, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla (or almond extract); blend well. Stir in blackberries. (optional: add a few tsp. of cane sugar) Spoon over crust, spreading evenly. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool; cut into 2 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch bars. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 12 bars

Enjoy!

Crunchy Seed Bread

Wow -- I'm a bit behind on adding any new posts! I've definitely been very busy milling/baking and trying new recipes over the past several weeks. I even hosted a fun grain milling/ bread making demo for several interested mom friends from our children's school. I hope to share some photos from that event sometime soon!

I sampled some yummy crunchy seed bread at the Farmer's Market last weekend and I just loved it!! It was about time that I experimented with adding some seeds to my basic whole wheat bread recipe! Seeds are an excellent source of healthy fats like monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. Adding seeds to breads will provide extra flavor and texture.

To prepare, you make your basic bread recipe and then during the kneading cycle, you add the seed combination of your choice. I added 2 TBS of each of the following to my dough: Sunflower Seeds, Flax Seed, Poppy Seed and Millet.
(kind of resembles bird food, huh?!?)

Here's a photo of the seeds as I dump them directly into the Zoji during the kneading cycle. (just look at the times on your settings to know the window of time to do this)


Next, I just closed the lid and let it finish it's kneading and rise/bake cycles. Here is the finished product!


I just love the taste and texture with the assortment of healthy seeds! I can't wait to try other seeds, especially pumpkin!