Wow - just for breads & grains

[mom]

:)great idea

Now - who knows where to get grain without doubling the price through the shipping in East Texas - 50 miles from Shreveport, 180 from Dallas. I can find nothing and I hate to double the price with shipping costs.

[Bruenor]

Sorry, can't help you in Texas. I'm looking for grain in Indiana. I checked the price for to ship Wheat Montana and it was over twice the price of the wheat itself. Better than store bought bread, but not good for the pocket book.

[bee_pipes]

Either of you think of checking out a feed store for bulk wheat? Should be one local to you. If you don't want to mill it, then plant it anc mill your harvest.

Regards,
Pat

[Deberosa]

Either of you think of checking out a feed store for bulk wheat? Should be one local to you. If you don't want to mill it, then plant it anc mill your harvest.

Regards,
Pat

I was just noticing something today about that. Wherever I mulch with straw I get a fantastic wheat crop with no weeds! I used to harvest them off of the sides of my straw bale gardens, but I may try a field of straw mulch next year to see what I get.

[Bruenor]

I found grain at a Tractor Supply that's marketed for horses, but it has molasses added. I guess for some bread recipes that might work, but not for others. ;)

[Deberosa]

Well, not so sure I'd actually eat the feed store grain. ;-)

Grow it maybe though.

[bee_pipes]

...grain at a Tractor Supply... has molasses added...


Naw, that's horse feed. If you can't find straight wheat, check your local CoOp. In most states (I'm guessing all) they are required to provide analysis and label the contents of the bag.

The biggest risk with feed grade grain is there is a greater tolerance for foreign particles. You need to watch for small rocks and grit that could mess up your mill.

If you live near a big town you can find some of the designer health food stores and buy wheat and other grains there. If you live out in the boonies like me, you can go to the CoOp, though we have a local Menonnite community and I have other options. As a last resort, you can get it from Amazon or other vendors on the internet. But, as you pointed out, freight would be so horrible that it would be a frivolous luxury.

The only way internet shopping would be cost effective is to buy a small quantity for seed and grow your own. Then at least you will have control over how much foreign matter gets into the grain.

We are going to start grain this autumn. Right now we're tilling up about a tenth of an acre in back that's not being used and planting soybeans to improve the soil. Soybeans will be tilled under and wheat planted for harvest next year.

There are some excellent resources on the web for small scale grain production:

www.cog.ca/documents/GrainintheGardenWI07.pdf

http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=per-books-poetry-fiction;action=display;num=1210614805

Best of luck to you.

Regards,
Pat

[Shamrock1121]

Ah, MYSTERY wheat. It's like the bags of wheat in the health food store marked "WHEAT". When I quizzed the clerk about what type of wheat it was, she had no idea wheat was other than just plain wheat. It's beneficial to know what type of wheat you are purchasing so you can use it appropriately.

Hard - bread (around 12%-13% protein)
Soft - pastry, quick breads, etc. (6-11% protein)
White - least acidic flavored
Red - most acidic flavor

You don't want really high protein levels (over 14%) in hard wheat or you'll spend half the day kneading it to develop the gluten. You want around 12%-13% protein for bread. Higher than that and the bread will be rubbery unless you use long fermentation techniques.

Low-protein wheat won't work well for bread unless you add gluten. Adding too much vital wheat gluten and you'll end up with tough bread.

You'll get a little more extraction from white wheat. People who hate the taste of whole wheat flour usually don't have a problem with the "taste" when using white whole wheat flour.

Spring wheat has a larger endosperm, and you'll get more flour to bran ratio.

Winter wheat generally has a higher gluten content. Because of the smaller endosperm, you'll also extract a higher bran ratio to flour.

I use a mixture of soft wheat and oats, or soft wheat and spelt for cake flour (low-gluten). Three parts soft wheat and one part oats or spelt. (3:1 ratio)

If you are making whole wheat pasta, then you'll want some durum wheat. This type of wheat has the highest protein count, but it's best used for pasta, not bread.

There are two types of protein that make up the gluten group - glutenins and gliadins. Durum wheat has a higher amount of gliadins which contribute to viscosity and extensibility - perfect for pasta.

Your choice of wheat for bread needs to be "strong" (high in glutenins) for making nice puffy loaves of bread. If the "mystery" wheat happens to have a low amount of glutenins ("weak" wheat) you'll end up with bricks for bread.

Very strong wheats are required for long-fermentation breads - sourdough or long sponge methods.

Know thy grain.....

-Karen

[AlchemyAcres]

I'd be very careful planting non-certified wheat, it's not cleaned the way certified seed wheat is so you risk introducing noxious weeds like field bindweed! :o

If you can't find good seed wheat locally, try Albert Lea or Welter.

http://www.alseed.com/

http://www.welterseed.com/

~Martin