[PLUG-TALK] Bread baking group

[Russell Senior]

>>>>> "Rich" == Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> writes:

    Rich> Hey folks, I'm in the process of organizing a meetup.com
    Rich> artisan bread baking group: Amazing DIY Breads

    Rich> This artisan bread baking group is focused on sourdoughs,
    Rich> whole grains (rye, wheats, others), fresh milled flour, and
    Rich> techniques (temperatures, pH, folding, etc.). We will learn
    Rich> from each other, get help with problems, and (of course) eat
    Rich> breads.

    Rich> DIY sourdough whole grain breads are more healthful than
    Rich> commercial breads, much more flavorful, less expensive, and
    Rich> very satisfying to make and eat.

    Rich> I need to find a meeting site in Gresham or Portland. I'll
    Rich> probably set the first meeting in mid-August, perhaps at the
    Rich> Gresham Library meeting room; I may be the only one there. :-)

    Rich> If you're interested contact me off the mail list.

    Rich> (I know there are other coffee roasters here but working with
    Rich> fresh milled whole grain flours is much more complicated.)

I don't have the bandwidth to participate, but I'll say two things:

  a) i'm not personally a fan of sourdough, just from a flavor point of
     view, store-bought yeast works for me;

  b) fresh-milled flour definitely makes a difference!

     I used to grow wheat in my yard (a hard white spring wheat called
     "Winsome" that was being developed at Oregon State University),
     because I was interested in how wheat worked. I had a plot in a
     raised bed, about 8' x 16'. We also planted trees, and now the
     raised bed is too shady to grow wheat. I was in the Oregonian Homes
     & Gardens section (twice), when that was still a thing. A harvest,
     after a lot of manual labor, yielded about 1/4-1/3 of a grocery bag
     of grain. We used a borrowed flour mill to turn it into flour
     (extremely loud, ear protection absolutely required), and used the
     flour to make whole wheat biscuits for an annual strawberry
     party. Despite using 100% whole wheat fresh-milled flour, the
     biscuits turned out light and fluffy with a distinct nutty flavor.

     Even after we stopped growing wheat, we did the biscuits with fresh
     milled wheat berries from the bulk bin at the grocery store and got
     the same nutty flavor, quite distinct from retail flour from
     the grocery store.


-- 
Russell Senior
russell at personaltelco.net