"Janet Bostwick" writes:

From: "Janet Bostwick"
Newsgroups: alt.bread.recipes
Subject: Kitchen-Aid vs Kitchen-Aid
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 21:45:46 -0700

"Dick Margulis" wrote:

"barry" wrote:

I'm no expert, but I think Dick M has posted some good information on
ageing flour. Something to do with flour being better if it's allowed to
sit for a period of time after it's been milled. I forget what the time
is, but I think I remember it being a week or more.

Actually, it was Janet who set me straight and Roy who elaborated further.
Freshly milled flour (as in just now) is fine. The problem starts after a
couple of days.

I think if you Google Groups then alt.bread.recipes and then search for
"Green Flour" you'll find most of the postings. The short answer is that
the flour is good to use immediately after milling then within a couple of
days it is not and you have to wait for the flour to age before it can be
used for bread baking.

Janet


Each week, the Boston Globe works with a different school class or group of
kids between the ages of 7 and 12 to produce text and images for a four-page
mini-newspaper calleed "Fun Pages" which is included with the comic section
of the Boston Sunday Globe.

This week, the "editorial team" was class of third graders who wrote about
their experiences growing their own wheat and milling it into flour to
make bread. The following is excerpted from their "Fun Pages" edition.

The web site address referenced at the end has more detailed information
on the class project along with some nice photos and teachers' commentary.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Boston Sunday Globe
Fun Pages
March 13, 2005

Reaching young readers at home and school.
Created by kids for kids.

This week's editors: L. D. Batchelder School
Grade 3
North Reading, Massachusetts

Field to Plate

What’s in a loaf of bread? The ingredients are wheat flour and a
little water, salt, and yeast. Yeast makes a gas that leaves
little holes in the bread.

Have you ever wondered where the wheat in your bread comes from?
It is grown in 40 states around the country, such as Kansas and
North Dakota. The United States grows more than two trillion
bushels of wheat a year.

In the Midwest, wheat farms stretch for miles and miles. Farmers
plant wheat in the spring and the fall. When the wheat is ready
to harvest, giant lawnmower-like machines (called combines) cut
the stalks and remove the wheat seeds.

Later the wheat seeds are carried by trucks to big grain
elevators in nearby towns. The wheat is tested and stored there
until needed. Then trucks and railroads move the wheat to the
flour mills.

Flour mills grind the wheat into whole wheat or white flour.
Some mills are owned by big bakeries, which make and wrap the
bread right there. Delivery trucks take it to the supermarkets.
Other flour mills bag the flour and ship it to smaller bakeries
all over the country.

The fresh bread on your plate today may have come from a field
more than 1,500 miles from your home.



Bread from Your Backyard

Did you know you can get bread from your backyard? We made bread
from wheat we grew in our school yard. Here’s how you can do it,
too.

You’ll need an 8-foot-square garden to grow enough wheat to make
one loaf of bread. Start by digging up the soil and adding lots
of cow manure. Get a quarter-pound of hard winter wheat seeds
from a health food store. In mid-September, scatter the seeds
over your garden and rake a little soil over them. They will
start to grow, then rest for the winter, and begin to grow again
in the spring.

It will be time to harvest in late June, when the wheat stalks
and seed heads turn golden brown. Cut off the seed heads a few
at a time with scissors and then put them in a large plastic jar
with eight, large, clean iron bolts. Screw on the top and shake
hard until the seeds come loose. Pour everything but the bolts
into a large, flat bowl. Then blow and shake off the chaff.
This is the seed covering separated from the seed in the
threshing. Then, grind the wheat into flour in a clean coffee
mill or food processor. Follow a recipe for making bread.

For details, visit our class website:
http://www.northreadingmass.com/batch/bread.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,
The Old Bear

The Old Bear wrote:

"Janet Bostwick" writes:


From: "Janet Bostwick"
Newsgroups: alt.bread.recipes
Subject: Kitchen-Aid vs Kitchen-Aid
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 21:45:46 -0700

"Dick Margulis" wrote:

"barry" wrote:

I'm no expert, but I think Dick M has posted some good information on
ageing flour. Something to do with flour being better if it's allowed to
sit for a period of time after it's been milled. I forget what the time
is, but I think I remember it being a week or more.

Actually, it was Janet who set me straight and Roy who elaborated further.
Freshly milled flour (as in just now) is fine. The problem starts after a
couple of days.

I think if you Google Groups then alt.bread.recipes and then search for
"Green Flour" you'll find most of the postings. The short answer is that
the flour is good to use immediately after milling then within a couple of
days it is not and you have to wait for the flour to age before it can be
used for bread baking.

Janet



Each week, the Boston Globe works with a different school class or group of
kids between the ages of 7 and 12 to produce text and images for a four-page
mini-newspaper calleed "Fun Pages" which is included with the comic section
of the Boston Sunday Globe.

This week, the "editorial team" was class of third graders who wrote about
their experiences growing their own wheat and milling it into flour to
make bread. The following is excerpted from their "Fun Pages" edition.

The web site address referenced at the end has more detailed information
on the class project along with some nice photos and teachers' commentary.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Boston Sunday Globe
Fun Pages
March 13, 2005

Reaching young readers at home and school.
Created by kids for kids.

This week's editors: L. D. Batchelder School
Grade 3
North Reading, Massachusetts

Field to Plate

What’s in a loaf of bread? The ingredients are wheat flour and a
little water, salt, and yeast. Yeast makes a gas that leaves
little holes in the bread.

Have you ever wondered where the wheat in your bread comes from?
It is grown in 40 states around the country, such as Kansas and
North Dakota. The United States grows more than two trillion
bushels of wheat a year.

In the Midwest, wheat farms stretch for miles and miles. Farmers
plant wheat in the spring and the fall. When the wheat is ready
to harvest, giant lawnmower-like machines (called combines) cut
the stalks and remove the wheat seeds.

Later the wheat seeds are carried by trucks to big grain
elevators in nearby towns. The wheat is tested and stored there
until needed. Then trucks and railroads move the wheat to the
flour mills.

Flour mills grind the wheat into whole wheat or white flour.
Some mills are owned by big bakeries, which make and wrap the
bread right there. Delivery trucks take it to the supermarkets.
Other flour mills bag the flour and ship it to smaller bakeries
all over the country.

The fresh bread on your plate today may have come from a field
more than 1,500 miles from your home.



Bread from Your Backyard

Did you know you can get bread from your backyard? We made bread
from wheat we grew in our school yard. Here’s how you can do it,
too.

You’ll need an 8-foot-square garden to grow enough wheat to make
one loaf of bread. Start by digging up the soil and adding lots
of cow manure. Get a quarter-pound of hard winter wheat seeds
from a health food store. In mid-September, scatter the seeds
over your garden and rake a little soil over them. They will
start to grow, then rest for the winter, and begin to grow again
in the spring.

It will be time to harvest in late June, when the wheat stalks
and seed heads turn golden brown. Cut off the seed heads a few
at a time with scissors and then put them in a large plastic jar
with eight, large, clean iron bolts. Screw on the top and shake
hard until the seeds come loose. Pour everything but the bolts
into a large, flat bowl. Then blow and shake off the chaff.
This is the seed covering separated from the seed in the
threshing. Then, grind the wheat into flour in a clean coffee
mill or food processor. Follow a recipe for making bread.

For details, visit our class website:
http://www.northreadingmass.com/batch/bread.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,
The Old Bear

What a terrific idea!!! I think that it is great when children can learn
by doing. It might just make them appreciate the amount of work and
effort it takes to get the bread that they eat everyday. I wonder what
other things they could do so that they could appreciate it more?

Thanks for Posting this. The Boston Globe is a daily read, but I probably
fluffed right by the Comic section. I have a 3rd grade grandson who loves my
bread but has no interest in its development.

I truly enjoyed reading, and thought what a wonderful project,,

Rina

"The Old Bear" wrote in message
news
Each week, the Boston Globe works with a different school class or group
of
kids between the ages of 7 and 12 to produce text and images for a
four-page
mini-newspaper calleed "Fun Pages" which is included with the comic
section
of the Boston Sunday Globe.



For details, visit our class website:
http://www.northreadingmass.com/batch/bread.html