Finding Your Inner Little Red Hen

"Who Will Grind the Wheat?"
"Who Will Bake this Wheat into Bread?"

"Not I," said the Dog.
"Not I," said the Cat.
"Not I," said the Mouse.

"Then I Will," said the Little Red Hen....and she DID!

I LOVE the story of the Little Red Hen!! She has lofty goals and she has the determination to see them through. No matter what is going on around her, no matter who is too lazy to help her, she keeps plodding her course to the finish line.

Not only that, her goal is AWESOME: Making Fresh Bread!! Now, what could be better than that, I ask you?!

Are you like me, making grand plans, but never seeing them through? That is why YOU & I must channel our Inner-most Little Red Hen!!!...and what could be a better way to start than by doing exactly what she did...GRIND WHEAT & BAKE BREAD!

We got started this month in our Food Storage/Prep Class by bringing our wheat together and using different grinders to make flour. We used a simple hand grinder and a few different electric grinders. Here are the ones we tried:

1. Back to Basics, Manual Wheat Grinder

Pros: fairly easy to use and set up, fairly quiet, good for emergencies because it doesn't require electricity, small, lightweight, portable, easy to store, fairly easy to clean, INEXPENSIVE

Cons: requires muscle power, takes time....about 10 minutes to make 1 cup of Flour, has to be screwed onto a table edge and sometimes this makes it unstable as you grind, holds only about 1 cup of wheat at a time in the hopper, can be tricky turning the knob for setting the grinder from coarse to fine grinding.

2. The Kitchen Mill by Blend-Tec, Electric Wheat Grinder

Pros: large flour collection compartment, size and shape make it fairly easy to store, not complicated, few parts make it easy to clean, flour collection compartment can hold about 10 cups of flour, strong motor, AFFORDABLE appliance (around $200), can grind all sorts of grains with ease, simple setting dial for coarse/fine grinding.

Cons: VERY LOUD, has a small spongey filter that is fragile and needs to be carefully cleaned and stored, somewhat heavy....the motor sits ontop of the collection container making it top heavy/somewhat unstable, holds only 1 to 2 cups of wheat in hopper at a time.

3. The Grain Mill/Whisper Mill, Electric Wheat Grinder
Pros: QUIET in comparison to others, large hopper to hold wheat, large collection containers
Cons: multiple pieces, some what difficult to clean, sometimes blows flour out of collection tubes/containers

4. Wheat Grinder attachment for The Kitchen Aid Mixer, Electric Wheat Grinder

Pros: quick and easy to attach and use, one-piece construction, easy to clean, easy to store, simple setting dial for coarse/fine grinding, all metal construction making it strong and durable, fairly QUIET

Cons: MUST HAVE the Kitchen Aid Mixer in order to use, EXPENSIVE considering it is only an attachment to an already expensive machine, holds only about 1 cup of wheat at a time in the hopper, since the attachment is connected to the top of the machine the flour has a long way to fall and doesn't have a collection container, a tall collection container is needed to catch flour without making a mess



Next we used our Wheat Flour to make BREAD, Pizza Dough, and a Bread Tortilla. Here are the recipes:

Simply Perfect Setpoint Bread

**We made this BY HAND and also in the Kitchen Aid Mixer using a Dough Hook attachment. Bosch mixers with a dough hook attachment will also be able to handle this recipe.**

SMALL BATCH

You will need 5 cups of Whole Wheat to grind into flour for this recipe.

6 to 7 cups Whole Wheat Flour (I like to do 3 cups Wheat Flour, 3 cups White Flour)
1 rounded Tblsp. Dry Yeast

1/4 cup Vital Wheat Gluten (optional)

250 mg Vitamin C (optional)....this can be found at Health Food Stores, but ask at your local grocery store too. Vitamin C helps keep the bread from crumbling.

2 c. very Warm Water

3 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
3 Tbsp. Honey or Sugar
2 tsp. Salt (scant teaspoons)

You may use all wheat flour or varied portions of different flours. You may also add seeds, wheat germ or flax seed meal to the recipe for more graininess!

Tools

Mixer with a dough hook attachment
2 loaf pans (8x4x3)

Add 3 cups flour, yeast, vitamin C and Gluten to mixing bowl and mix.
Add water and mix for 1 minute. For lighter bread turn off mixer, cover bowl, and let dough sponge for 10 minutes. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! Add oil, honey or sugar, and salt. Turn on mixer and quickly add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time until dough forms a soft ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. Amount of flour needed may vary.
Knead 7 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Quick rise method: Preheat oven to 150, lightly oil hands, divide dough into equal parts, shape into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Turn oven off. Place bread in oven with space between pans. Let rise until double in size, about 20 to 30 minutes. DO NOT MOVE THE PANS!!!....leave bread in oven....then...
Turn oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 30 to 35 min.
Can also let rise on counter, covered, until doubled and bake the same as above.
Turn out immediately from pans to cool. For soft crust, mist lightly with water while still hot or butter tops.

Makes 2 loaves.


Leslie's Pizza Dough

For 1 Pie:

1 cup Warm Water
1 pkg. Yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Oil
1/2 tsp. Sugar
3-3&1/2 cups Flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil, salt, sugar, and 1 cup flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour slowly until ball forms. Knead on lightly floured surface 5 to 10 minutes adding additional flour if needed. Grease bowl and let rise about 1 hour until double. Punch down dough and roll out on greased cookie sheet or pizza stone. Top with sauce, cheese and favorite toppings. Bake at 450 F for 20-25 mins.

Bread Tortillas


Mix Together:

5 c. Flour (Whole Wheat or White or...try mixtures like half wheat/half white)
1 & 1/2 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Baking Powder

Add:

3/4 c. Vegetable Oil
1 & 1/2 c. Lukewarm Water

Mix until it forms a ball. Cut into 16 pieces, forming each into separate balls. Roll out until thin using lots of flour on the rolling surface. Cook in a HOT frying pan...NO OIL IN PAN!!!

Cook them lightly for a soft tortilla or leave them in a little longer for a crispy, crunchy snack!

***When we made these we actually made about 26 small balls and rolled them out thin.***

Optional: You can also fry these in a pan of oil if you'd like more of a "tostada" result. You can even make a desert out of these by sprinkling with Cinnamon-Sugar, Powdered Sugar, or Honey after frying. We even spread Nutella on them for a yummy treat....you can fill them with fruit and cream as well for a make-shift crepe!