What if you didn't have to Plan in Advance??? What if you could just say - Yes - I want some???

SameDay
One of my 'tester families' said that people just don't like to plan in advance.  So, to think today (Thursday pm) about ordering bread for delivery on Monday  - well that's just not on their radar.

True?  Is bread an impulse thing?  Certainly, ordering a day or three in advance of cutting it open isn't really an impulse thing - it takes planning.

Dill-Onion Artisan Bread - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside

Ok - what if .....

What if you gave me your email address.  What if I make a couple extra loaves each time I bake to order.  Then, when I have bread, you get an email telling you what kind of bread is ready and a link to the web store item.  If interested follow the link and buy it - first come, first served.

The web store will know the quantity available - and when it's gone, no more orders will be accepted.

If you are in my 'delivery zone', I will deliver it.   If outside - you have to come get it before 7pm.

How is that for almost instant gratification?

But, I cannot email you if I don't have your email address!!   Send it to me.

some details (aka, the fine print):
You will be notified by noon on either Monday or Thursday (the baking days) as to what variety is available.
You are on the email list - until you tell me you want to be removed.
There is no obligation on your part - until you buy (and pay) for a loaf.  Then, your obligation is to pick it up if you are outside of the delivery zone.  But, you are under no obligation to buy anything - any time.  
There are no preservatives in the bread - so please enjoy it soon after you get it (and don't forget to toast some).  
If the bread is delivered to the address you used to order and you are not home, the bread will be placed on your doorstep.  It's yours.
If you are outside of the delivery area, I will give you my address for pickup in an email acknowledging your purchase.
If you are to pick up the bread - and fail to do so by 7pm that night - you have made a gift of the loaf to me.  I can do whatever I deem proper with it.  But, I want you to have it - so please show up.

What Kind of Bread do we eat at My House?

Interesting question - because my house is the center of the experiments.
I eat toast most mornings.  My office is in my home, so I often have a sandwich for lunch.  And, though we rarely have bread with the evening meal, I do often have a piece of toast when the hunger bug hits in the evening.  So, we eat a lot of bread in my house - and I think I eat the most.

But, I want bread that I want to eat.  That said, I don't always have choices.

IF I had a choice, I would ALWAYS choose fresh bread.  I like soft and tasty bread.
I would always choose bread that is good for me - that is soft and tasty.

This morning, we had some Asiago Olive bread from a regional bakery - I think that part of the attraction is that you have to go 40 miles to get it.  It is a couple days old.  It has lots of items on the ingredient list including words I cannot pronounce.  But, it is soft and tasty.

I also have some 6 day old whole wheat bread left over from an experiment.

I was toasting the bread and putting a slice of chicken sausage and microwaved eggs (soft yolk) on top - basically burying the toast literally and flavor wise.

I chose the whole wheat bread for breakfast today - sliced very thin and toasted with butter on it.  With the hot sausage and egg on it, and then sliced into bite sized pieces, I ate it with a fork.  It was nice.

Yesterday, for lunch, I had chicken breast (sliced from a Costco rotisserie chicken) on the Asiago/Olive bread with mayo and a touch of salt.  It was very good.  The wheat bread was a little old for a sandwich, but the loaf bread was great.

My favorite bread is the Rosemary Thyme bread.  It's great for poultry sandwiches, toast with butter or just buttered.  But, it doesn't have any whole wheat in it = and that bothers me a little bit.  "They" say that whole wheat can be added to any recipe - at 20% with no ill effects and often at 40% with no heaviness - and dough conditioners can be added (lecithin, potato flakes, or oil) can be added to 'lighten up' dough made heavy with whole wheat.  Alas - do I want to complicate it?

But, a big part of the attraction of the Rosemary Thyme bread is the softness.  I don't think that a stiffer crumb, though tasty, would be as good.

That said, I am looking forward to some Onion Dill bread that is in fermentation right now.  Similar crumb and crust, but a different taste.  Best uses??  Hmmmm, I am not sure.  It certainly would be good with soups.  I think it would be good with poultry sandwiches.  And, I am sure it would be great just buttered - whether plain or toasted.

Rosemary Garlic Wow

Subtle Garlic.  Smooth and light Rosemary.  Flavors made for each other.  Blended in a creamy dough right from the oven.  Oh - and those chunks of garlic and here and there a whole clove - garlic with flavor softened by baking.  Soft crumb with crispy crust and sweet baked garlic.

That's the Rosemary Garlic Artisan Bread.
Pictures don't do it justice.

Pictures don't show the softness of the crumb

Pictures don't show the subtle smell of garlic and rosemary

Pictures don't show the crispness of the crust

Only a loaf of Fresh Fresh Bread can show the crumb, crust and taste of the bread.

My Fresh Bread Company's breads are prepared over 24 hours or more so the flour, water, salt and yeast ferment and, in this case, the garlic chunks permeate the dough.  Each loaf is baked individually and tested individually for doneness and then cooled to complete the baking process.  The immediate result is a crispy outer shell and a soft and tasty crumb. In this case, that crumb is infused with the flavors of dried rosemary and pieces of garlic cloves.

A simple pleasure.

White Sandwich Bread???

Bread making, to me, is a kind of art.  The combination of making the contents, giving it character and flavor and then making it into a form that is attractive are all parts of creating each loaf of bread.  And, when I think of an Artisanal Bread, white bread does not come to mind.

But, some people want white bread for a sandwich.  Even PB&J.  These sandwiches are just not the same with rosemary thyme bread or crusty double flax bread or caraway rye.  Sometimes, it seems, you just want soft white bread.

In fact, simple white bread is the easiest of all of the varieties to make.  It's a little different baking in a pan, but that's even easier than a free form loaf that needs to hold it's form to so a taller loaf comes out of the oven than what went into the oven.

Here it is - with the mushroom head and fluffy white crumb.  The crust is softer, but not soft.  Keep it in a plastic bag and it gets/stays soft.

Sometimes- white bread:  It's what's for lunch.

Wheat Grinders - what about a coffee grinder?

I've been looking at wheat grinders (aka, mills) lately.  First I look at what I have in the house.

The Vitamix we got a year ago said it makes flour.  Well, it's kind of coarse - and it seems that it is either all done that way or with big pieces.  That is, you can't simply grind all to various levels of coarseness.

My under $50 coffee grinder does a good job on coffee, though it is messy.  As it recently broke, I found out that this model is criticized for 'coffee dust'.  I have tried grinding grain in it in the past - which might be responsible for it breaking.  I cleaned the unit and then grinded (sp?) rice to clean it more and then tried the wheat.  Not much better than the Vitamix - and a real hassle to go from coffee to wheat.

By the way, I found that wheat berries (particularly the hard varieties) are harder than coffee and as the coffee grinder is meant for coffee - it's not meant for grain.  Also, we use teaspoons of coffee at a sitting - but cups of flour.   As I shopped on line for coffee grinders, I found that very few even talk about grain grinding.

I do have a hand crank grain grinder.  It is what I use to make fine flour and course ground wheat.  It does fine, but takes a lot of time.  I could buy a motor that connects where the crank connects, but no, I don't think it is good enough to invest more into.  And, the idea of being able to grind wheat even if there is no power seems to be the main attraction.  Yes, buying a motor doesn't eliminate the ability to crank it by hand, but as I said, it's not so great that it should serve as my every day mill.

added - As other 'grinders' in our house do much better for fine ground wheat, I tried the hand cranker for course ground wheat.  I put this into my whole wheat bread to give it more texture.  I soak it before mixing up the final dough - so it is moist.  The hand grinder does well - when set right - and makes pretty quick work of a couple cups of wheat berries.  So - for the preppers or those with a small budget - don't overlook the hand cranker.  Use your energy in the kitchen - not in the gym.

This hand cranker seems to be a steel roller style mill.  Others are ceramic or stone wheels and are either flat or conical grinders.  From what I read, the state of the art (for coffee or wheat) is conical burr style.  The burrs can be made of steel or ceramic or stone.  As I understand it, the heads do not (or should not) ever touch, but, by decreasing the space between the two heads (one of which moves and one is static) a finer flour is attained.  I don't know what would happen if the harder wheat berries were used in this small space.

The home wheat mills can also be steel or stone or ceramic heads.  The move very fast.  Most mills say that you start the motor and then add the wheat so you are slowly (relatively) increasing the burden on the heads.

They say that excess heat during milling will kill some of the nutrients of the wheat.  But, a couple sites said that by introducing refrigerated or frozen berries, you overcome the heat issue.  Other issues include noise, size of machine, and fineness of flour - though most will create fairly fine flour.

As said in a previous post, many flours are blends of several (or at least a couple) types of wheat in order to obtain certain characteristics (protein for example) in the flour.  When you mill your own flour, you don't have access to a whole bunch of different types of berries (or a chemist to measure certain qualities) so you get out of the mill the flour from the grain you load in the top.  And, there is some variety - probably field to field and surely farmer region to farmer region - in wheat berries from different sources.   So, although it is difficult to get a variety of characteristics from a batch of wheat berries once milled, you do get what you get.  It is important to use those characteristics to the best advantage.

So, my search for a coffee grinder ended up with two solutions:  A) a replacement part for the part broken in my flat burr coffee grinder, in part, because I don't know the long term solution, and B) I purchased a hand cranking well reviewed conical burr coffee grinder.  This hand cranker is known for the ability to make very fine coffee grounds, but has a shortfall when grinding more coarse grounds for a french press or drip coffee maker.

And, I have given up in a grinder that can handle coffee beans AND hard wheat berries.

In the future, I think, is a grain mill to grind fine bread flour from whole berries IF I can develop recipes/processes that will result in whole wheat bread that has great flavor, great crumb and crust and great appearance while being good for the eater.  If it was as tasty as current recipes with more than 50% whole wheat flour - it would be a winner.  But, that discovery is yet to be found.

Wheat R&D - Bread, Goodness and Cereal?

Bread R&D?  Why?  Isn't Bread - Bread?

Simple answer - No.  Good bread is good - and then there's the rest.

Longer answer - No.
There are lots of kinds of bread.  Many of them are good.  And, Good is in the Mouth of the Taster (to modify a common phrase).   But there are lots that are not good.

I prefer lighter, more flavorful bread and this can come from the ingredients and/or the process.  So, if it is too much in these following areas, the recipe/approach is rejected

• Too dense - and this generally means that it is not tall.  I think it needs to reach about 4" tall for a one pound loaf.
• Undesired flavors - I want the wheat goodness to come through without odd flavors.  Red wheat berries have more "wheat flavor" than the white variety.  Some people say that the white wheat can impart a sweet taste - which is ok, if not too extreme.  
• Ugly - the finished crust that is rough; has uncontrolled bursts in the crust (that are not my fault for scoring the crust poorly)

Summarizing, it is Crumb, Flavor and Crust along with overall Appearance when I evaluate a bread I am making.  Nothing can be terrible - and everything has to be good (that's why the White Whole Wheat Artisan Bread contains whole wheat.  A little 'wheat density' is tolerated in return for the flavor. )

I search for a very tasty, high ratio whole wheat bread with a good crust and good rise.  

So, I do 'experiments' with fermenting fresh coarse milled wheat berries and then mixing them with fresh ground wheat or rye flours and then ultimately with bread flour.  The 'rule' is that if whole wheat flour exceeds 40% of the total, you either need flour conditioners or end up with a more dense loaf due to the bran's effect on the gluten strands.  Although flour conditioners can be natural (lecithin, potato flakes and oils), I choose not to depend on them for production breads, so I don't use them in my testing.
My understanding is that home milled whole wheat flour differs from commercial whole wheat flour. Differences come from the methods of milling and freshness of the product. Commercial roller mills 'spin off' the germ and bran and then the endosperm is milled into flour.  The germ, which is subject to spoiling and tainting the entire lot, must be treated to kill the live part (frozen, steamed or ??).  The white flour (milled endosperm) can last for a long time because there is nothing to spoil in it.
Commercially made whole wheat flour adds the treated germ and bran back to the white flour - re creating whole wheat flour.   In some cases, wheat is 'stone ground' which means that the entire wheat berry is ground at once into flour.  I am not sure how they deal with the short shelf life of the germ.

Home milled wheat results in a product where the baker knows the freshness and all parts of the berry are included in the flour.  In some cases, it can be sifted to extract the larger bran, so that what is left has some ground bran, but not 'too much'.  The grain that I have milled on a very fine setting doesn't have anything big enough to be sifted out.  Coarse ground grain is truly coarse and there is fine flour and gritty wheat in it.  I am able to sift the coarse from the fine and it is this course grain that I have been experimenting with (and in some cases, eating as hot cereal).   My mill is hand powered and I know that it isn't building up heat and I can see the output.

Fresh and whole whole wheat flour.  It seems that this is the ideal flour for healthy bread.  My experiments, in part, are aimed at using this healthy flour to make fresh healthy bread - that tastes food, has a good fluffy crumb, a good crust and looks good overall.


With 48-72 total hours in fermenting different stages of this dough, there is a long waiting period between the 'cause and effect'.  I had a bread that had 2 of the 4 characteristics with a heavy coarse ground wheat base.  I tried to replicate the good parts and to improve the other two - and failed.  I will try again, but this long period between start and finish is not conducive to the learning curve.

That said, I still believe that there is a healthy bread that people want to eat without adding sugar.
But, if the goal is to ingest healthy wheat AND to have bread you like to eat when you want to eat it - maybe the answer is two different products - great tasting bread made without respect to the whole wheat and separately, good tasting freshly milled whole wheat cereal for breakfast.

Pepper Cheese Bread - Without the Cheese?

Pepper cheese bread (made with serrano peppers and sharp cheddar cheese) is very nice, particularly the day it is baked.  Soft with that peppery taste dotted with chewy cheese.  It spices up a sandwich, but it is risky to stick in the toaster because of the cheese.  What would pepper cheese bread be without the cheese?

In addition to sandwiches, toasted it would welcome jelly.  That mix of sweet and spicy sounds great.

But, how would this be done?  In the pepper cheese bread, the pepper is sliced raw and placed in the dough before it is kneaded.  The result is that the pepper pieces are spread throughout the crumb, but the flavor is spotty.  That is, if you get a bite of pepper, you really know it.  If you get a bite without a pepper, there is barely a hint of pepper taste.  Wouldn't it be better if the flavor was more uniform - without being too spread out?  Thinking of spreading the jelly on the bread where the sweet/spicy flavor came through in every bite makes me hungry.

So, to disperse the pepper throughout the dough, how about placing the sliced pepper into a blender with the water which will be added to the dough and then mixing the 'pepper/water' with the flour.  The proper ratio of pepper to water should give the bread great flavor - and make the platform for that sweet jelly.



So - I mixed it.  and here's a photo before and after it was cut.

The taste was more subtle than I expected.  I think I need to double the peppers for next attempt.

I toasted it and, when I added a little fig jam, it was very good - but not the hot/sweet flavors I expected.

The texture was outstanding.  Good crust and soft crumb.  I had to have half a sandwich (one slice cut in half) to try it out.  Very good.

But, to be spicier - back to the drawing board.

Experimental Team

One of my joys is to try out different techniques and varieties of bread as well as different ingredients.  Right now, I have a 'long ferment' version of whole wheat going along with a rye variation.  That will result in two different loaves (I expect two different flavors due to the rye used in one) but, I hope it will be very good looking also.

I also have a 'serrano bread' dough fermenting which will get baked today.  It is a take off of the serrano/cheddar bread - but without the cheese, and with the serrano minced in the dough hopefully to result in a flavor throughout rather than the 'spotty' taste from mixing pepper slices in the dough.  My thought is that the spicy bread would be great with a jelly or jam - like fig jam - for breakfast.

I hope to investigate fresh home milled organic grains as a means of creating guilt free breads - even health improving breads - that are tasty.  Business wise, the investment in a grain mill should be justified by the market (or expected market) for the product.  But, I am faced with a market place for grain and flour where an organic choice of raw wheat berries costs 3-5 times (or more) per pound than pre milled bread flour (with the bran and germ removed).

My priority is to get good tasting bread (preferably with a wow for flavor) and then to make it look good - tall and pretty.  Often, the first few attempts, while tasty, are not so 'tall and pretty'.

But, this takes testing.  I hate to throw the excess away and I love to get comments on what I think I have achieved (vs. what I know I failed at).  All the 'testing bread' is edible - though, it is the people on the experimental team who will tell me how they like it.  From the last 6 months, I understand that different people have different tastes.  That's why I like to have many people (as many as ten households) on the experimental team.

How it works:
As I get inspired, I will try out different techniques or recipes.  As it looks like I will have something to share, I will let the experimental team know what is available (size and a hint on variety) and when.  You will respond (if you are available) as to whether you can take some and evaluate it.  It's ok to say no - but if it never works out, you will be dropped (I expect you understand).  If the bread goes to someone located in my neighborhood - I will deliver.  If not - you need to pick the bread up at my world wide bakery headquarters (aka, home) on Lakewood Street.  This is not regular or predictable - and it may or may not fit into your 'dinner menu' schedule.

Then, and it is really important, YOU give me your feedback.   Your first impression on the bread, and your opinion on the taste and general use of the bread.  If you have others in your house - I would love to hear what they say as well.  It's ok to have conflicting opinions - that's real world.

And, of course, you are able to order from the web store - which offers breads on a predictable schedule.  But, if you are outside of the delivery area, you must pick it up.  The bread is packaged in a micro perforated bag so it will breath - but the shelf life is short and freshness wains as the bread ages.  Fresh is good - very good.

But, as I can only sell varieties which have been approved by the County and approving a single variety has a fee equal to the revenue from the sale of about 35 loaves of bread, success in testing doesn't relate to instant additions to the breads offered.  I was amazed to find out that even the type of flour (bleached or unbleached) causes a need for approval for each option.  I am allowed to give away varieties without approval in my quest to enhance my process and recipe.  Also, it takes 2-4 weeks to get approval, once the application is submitted.  So, there is a disconnect between perfection in the 'laboratory' and offering it for sale - and that disconnect is called 'regulation'.  

Does this stop the process of developing new recipes and applying new ingredients and methods???  No, it does not. 


if you are interested - email me at
myfreshbreadcompany@gmail.com

dan

The Finished Product

Here are four loaves (two happen to be Pepper Cheese) recently baked to order.  The loaves are placed in micro perforated bags - which should let the heat out and allow the crust to remain crisp.  The label has been approved by the San Diego County Health Department - and meets the Cottage Food Operation regulations.  But, nothing beats the contents - fresh bread warm from the oven.

Wrapped Double Flax and Pepper Cheese - each min 24oz

Rosemary Thyme (24 oz) and another Pepper Cheese (this one is 2#s)

Real Whole Wheat?

We talk about 'whole wheat bread' - which contains about 30-40% whole wheat flour to total flour (by weight) and informed people question the 'goodness' of that same whole wheat flour.  They question the process which separates the germ and bran from the part that is ground to make the white flour - and then re assemble it (without the germ) to make the whole wheat flour as needed.  And, where the germ was added back, they question whether it spoils in the time between milling and use in baking.  I read that there are only 7 to 30 days until the oil in the germ spoils unless the flour is refrigerated or frozen.  After this time period, the supposed goodness is gone.

Coarse Ground Whole White Wheat - 1/3 cup

But, whole wheat can also be consumed in a cereal.  Coarse ground wheat, properly preserved or eaten while fresh, DOES contain all the goodness of the whole wheat berry.  I say coarse ground because fine ground wheat would result in a flour that, when hot water is added, result in a paste which would hardly be edible in that form.  And, I say coarse ground rather than cracked, because I have the wherewithal to make coarsely ground wheat, but not cracked wheat.

Imagine a bowl of properly preserved fresh coarsely ground wheat (about 1/3 cup) covered with boiling water and then microwaved for about 30 seconds and sweetened with a teaspoon of your favorite sweetener.  Let it sit for a couple minutes so the hard wheat is softened by the hot water - and so that the entire bowl can cool down to an edible temperature.


What do you get?  You get the whole wheat berry with all the goodies preserved.  The germ - fresh.  The bran and the endosperm.  here's a link explaining the 'parts of a grain of wheat' http://www.wheatmontana.com/farm-table/whole-grain-health

I eat a bowl with about 1/3 cup - and it not only holds me for the morning, but I am not really hungry at lunch.  No bloating or discomfort, just a very satisfied feeling.

I keep the coarse ground wheat in our pantry (no refrigeration) but try to only make enough to last for the week - 4 servings or so.

Interested in some?  Let me know with an email at MyFreshBreadCompany@gmail.com