Baking in a Wood-Fired Oven

Our homesteading group is made up of some pretty great people.  And many of those pretty great people have some pretty great talents.  And some of those people take the time to share those talents with the rest of us, which is what makes a great group even better.

This morning I was lucky enough to go to Jackie's breadmaking workshop and see how an outside wood-fired oven works. 

We started with learning how to make the dough to the right consistency and learning how to gently knead it.

While our loaves were rising, we learned about the oven itself and all the prep work that has to happen before it's time to bake.  Then, we scored our loaves and put them in the oven.

 After about 20 minutes, we had beautiful loaves.

And we were able to taste-test a wood-fired baked loaf and one loaf baked in the indoor oven.  They were both amazing.  But the crust of the wood-fired loaf was so crispy and delicious, it was definitely my favorite.  I even thought the butter was super good... come to find out it was from Food Lion!!!

100% Whole Wheat Bread

It's been way too long since I've posted.  I've been trying to prepare for Christmas and I finally learned how to crochet correctly, so instead of being on the computer at night, I usually have yarn in my hands.

One of the things I've been experimenting with lately is milling my own flour from wheat berries.  Two summers ago, I was VERY lucky to find a Nutrimill at a thrift store for $7.  Truthfully, I didn't even know for sure at the time that it was a grinder, but knowing how expensive they were, I was willing to take the chance.  And I'm glad I did!  They are $259 new!

Unfortunately, most of the recipes for wheat bread call for half white flour, and I didn't want to have to use it.  So I decided to buy the book "No More Bricks" by Lori Viets, which is a great one for beginner grinders like me.  There are only like 4 basic recipes in the book, but it teaches you all sorts of ways to use them, along with discussing the different types of grinders and grains.  I have been extremely happy with the bread I've been baking, and even happier that there is no white flour in the loaves.

On a recent trip to the local Amish Bulk Store (it's kind of new, and I was thrilled to discover it!) I bought a package of 7 grain berries, excited about the possibility of turning it into bread.  Normally, I don't pay that much for wheat berries, but normally, I buy in 25 or 50 lbs quantities!

 This is what the Nutrimill looks like, with a pound of berries ready to go.

 And this is the flour that results.  It's just beautiful!

 The recipe for the bread can be found HERE.  (I tripled it) But these are the ingredients:

My apologies to those who are unable to tolerate gluten.  In my experience, it's a needed addition in order to get a great loaf of 100% Whole Wheat.  After dumping the ingredients into my mixer and kneading it, I just shaped the loaves and let them rise in the oven with the light on.

After an hour or so, when the dough is an inch above the pan, bake for about 30 minutes at 350.

 Delicious, healthy whole wheat bread!

Wholesome Homemade Honey Whole Wheat Bread

This recipe makes 4 loaves at a time, so I decided to try it. After years of making my own bread, I am still looking for "THE ONE." I have stopped purchasing flour and am working on using up my supply. When it's gone, I'm going to start grinding my own from wheat berries. I scored a Nutrimill Grinder this past summer at a thrift store for SEVEN dollars. Since we were in the middle of a PCS (Permanent Change of Station... ie, MOVE), it stayed in the back of the van for the MANY weeks we were living in a hotel room before we could close on our house. I absolutely cannot wait to start using it. But I've got a ways to go... lots of flour to use up first, since I tend to buy everything in bulk.

I had a cup of whey leftover from this week's yogurt batch, so I used that and 3 cups of water for the bread. I had to add in about a cup of wheat germ, because the 10 cups of flour just wasn't enough. I also used brown sugar instead of molasses because I didn't have any.

The Verdict? This was some seriously delish bread. The texture was so soft and amazing (some of that might be because of the whey.)  As you can see, baking at 375 really made them brown up. I had to cut the cooking time if I didn't want them burnt to a crisp. I usually do bread at 350, so the next time, it will be at 350. I also think I'll cut it to 3 loaves instead of 4, since the ones baked in the loaf pans came out smaller than I like, despite having plenty of time to rise and using brand new yeast.