May
9

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Peanut Butter Barley Cookies – Junior Baker Approved

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Jumbo Peanut Butter and Barley cookies

Jumbo Peanut Butter and Barley cookies

Whole barley flour works wonderfully in a host of baked goods – in most cases I prefer it to whole wheat flour for cookies and sweet quick breads – and so does my junior baker.

You might have a bit of trouble finding whole barley flour unless you mill it yourself, but that is one of the advantages of having your own mill.

Barley flour peanut butter cookies ready for the oven

Barley flour peanut butter cookies ready for the oven

While I know that these could be scaled down to bite sized if you engage the junior baker the cookies are always going to be jumbo sized.  It’s not every cookie that will scale up nicely – but these do just fine, and you can adjust the baking time to suit the level of chewiness you desire – from wonderfully chewy to crisp.

Cookies are probably the greatest reason to get and use silicon baking sheets – they practically banish cookies with burnt bottoms, so don’t waste your ingredients or effort by forgoing its acquisition.

So, whether you have a junior baker or not these are great PB cookies so make yourself a batch.

 

 

Apr
22

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Egg ‘n Ham Breakfast Bagels – breakfast on the go done right

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Let’s give credit where credit is due.  Fast food gets loads of flack including the blame for making folks fat.  But consider that McDonalds – the quintessential fast food chain has been around for decades – including a whack load of time during which folks were in pretty good shape.  No question the portion size has a bunch to do with it as well as the frequency of a patron’s visit – but those are in the full dominion of the patron.

Ham and Egg breakfast bagel - whole wheat

Ham and Egg breakfast bagel – whole wheat

OK, so  where am I going with this – well to some of the fast food breakfast offerings.  Not only did the introduction of these mark a capital utilization and financial breakthrough for the fast food joints but also in many respects created many new food  items in the form of breakfast sandwiches.  Moreover, those breakfast sandwiches are great!

But just like you can make a better burger at home you can also upgrade the breakfast sandwiches by making them chez vous.  In my home I know that whenever I make up a batch of whole wheat bagels (which are so simple that you need to try them now) I had better have cream cheese and a fillet of our home smoked salmon or trout as well as eggs so that I can make bagels with lox and then breakfast egg bagels if any last to the next morning.  Failure to properly plan ahead – or at least warn the other occupants of the house that some component is missing (usually we’ve eaten though all of the smoked salmon) – will trigger a cascade of complaints.  And this is for something that is whole grain and pretty healthy no less.

So what are you waiting for?  Take the food you love from out there and make it better at home – starting with whole wheat bagel breakfast sandwiches.

Apr
20

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Whole Wheat Bagels Made Simple

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I think one of the most common afflictions that touch our society is not obesity – though that is certainly a concern, but rather “over-complication-itis”.  OK, so maybe the medical community won’t be adding this affliction to their standard list of diagnoses but that doesn’t mean it isn’t prevalent, nor that it isn’t serious.   So, how would you diagnose someone suffering from “over-complication-itis” – well it’s simple…  or rather it is an individual who lacks the ability to see simplicity.  More precisely, an individual who lacks the ability to examine and break down processes that lead to final products into their simple components.

Brunch - fresh whole wheat bagels with smoked salmon accompanied by asparagus

Brunch – fresh whole wheat bagels with smoked salmon accompanied by asparagus

These bagels provide a case study.  Bagels are awesome, but I bet if you asked most folks who buy them – even those who purchase them from shops that make them right in front of the customer if they could make them – they’d balk at the suggestion.  The complexity exists only in their minds.

 

If you’ve been following these posts we’ve shown our favorite tried and true bread recipe,  we then showed how to take the same recipe and use the dough to make some awesome buns – by forming the dough and baking it in the oven, bagels just add one step to the buns – boiling the formed dough before baking.  That’s it.  Really, no need for a wood fired oven, no need for a food science degree or even to convert to Judaism.  Those things might help but if you make them personal prerequisites you might as well check yourself into an institution with “over-complication-itis” because you won’t be checking out all of the opportunities that exits out here in the real world.

For those of you that haven’t dialed 911, click on the headline for the simple recipe instructions.

Oh, and the solution for obesity – eat reasonable amounts of good food – like these fresh whole wheat bagels and engage in physical activity.

 

Apr
11

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Grind it fine – whole grain flour

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In real estate the three factors that are said to matter are “Location, Location, Location”.  A similar thing might be said of baking – the secret is all in the ingredients.

So, it’s somewhat surprising then when folks use whole grain flour that has the consistency of sand and wonder why their whole grain baking doesn’t match up with what they can produce with the super fine white flour.

Whole grain flour Lower Left - Cracked Top - Second pass Lower Right - Pastry fine

Whole grain flour
Lower Left – Cracked
Top – Second pass
Lower Right – Pastry fine

Really?  It’s all in the ingredients, so when starting with a coarse flour it is hardly surprising that you get a coarse product.

The homestead mill will produce pastry fine flour – and that is the grade that I aim to produce and use in all of my baking.  If anything using fine flour is more important with whole extraction flours than with white since the lower proportion of gluten in whole grain flour and the slower absorption of liquid due to the higher fiber content benefits significantly from the smaller particle size.

Now, I think that one of the reasons folks go coarse is because they expect to produce suitable flour in one pass through the burrs.  I guess that with a tiny mill it might be possible enough to muster the torque to produce that quality

of flour in a single pass – but you certainly wouldn’t be doing it very quickly.  As soon as you step up the burr size that becomes nearly impossible.  Move up to a six inch burr like those on the Homestead Grain Mill and you’re up for a real challenge.

Instead of struggling to do it in one pass I usually do it in at least two passes, and more often three.  The first pass is just to crack the grain, the second brings it down to a much finer but still cracked consistency, with a third pass to get it pastry flour fine.  If I  am using the power drive I usually end doing the reduction in four passes.

With finely ground flour I think you’ll find that your whole grain baking gains a whole new level of endorsement from your family and friends.

 

Apr
6

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Why get a grain mill

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So why would you want a grain mill to produce whole grain flour at home?

Well, I can share a few of the reasons why I value my grain mill.

First, I like the health benefits offered by whole grain, 100% extraction flours.  By producing my own whole grain flour at home I can get everything that is in those seeds and put it in my baking.  I can’t easily buy 100% extraction flour, in part because once the endosperm is ground the oils in the seed start to go rancid.

Second,  I like the financial advantage of baking at home. I can bake a loaf of bread for a fraction of the price of a white loaf from the store – let alone the cost of a premium priced whole grain loaf.  That financial savings is a nice gain especially since it comes not from sacrifice but from a significant gain.

Third,  I like being able to purchase and store whole grains.  Not only can I purchase them in bulk for a fraction of the price of white flour from the store but I can also purchase them at low cost and avoid price fluctuations and provide a hedge against my own income disruption.

Now, let’s be honest.  It does take time to grind grain.  But, if I don’t feel like hand cranking out a loaf worth of flour I can always use my power drive, and quite often grind enough for a couple of days.  Combine the power drive for the grain mill with a bread machine and mechanization does most of the work.

I also find it’s a pain to have to head out to the grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread, and would take considerably more time than producing flour and baking at home.

In my home home ground wins hands down and it has for over a decade.

 

 

 

Apr
3

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Whole Wheat Hot Crossed Buns

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Like so many seasonal or holiday baked goods hot crossed buns can be prepared any time of the year.  It’s not like the bakery gremlins are going to jump out from behind the wheat barrel and confiscate “unseasonal” baking.  But, all the same, there is something to be said about allowing traditions and the flow of the seasons to prompt us to mix up our culinary repertoire.

Let Easter (or now) serve as the reason to mix up your baking by preparing a batch of hot crossed buns.  If you can make buns you can make hot crossed buns – the only difference is the addition of a few spices to our standard whole wheat yeast bread recipe along with a cup of raisins added just before the dough is kneaded for the second time.  When the buns have cooled they get a tiny bit of icing.  That’s it.  Simple, easy, fast and a delicious difference.   Make a batch and the bakery gremlins who make these disappear will end up being your family members.

Click on the title for the recipe details


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