We (4 of us) met in 2005 Master Gardener class and continue volunteer working in our community using our garden knowledge and also learning at the same time. Two of us are experienced bakers and the other two never bake bread before. We start our bread baking journey last week, the first bread we did was the no-knead bread, it come out perfect. These two new bakers are really interest to continue their journey of bread making. Yesterday, we used three different kinds of method to bake bread and see the result of the breads. From left to right, the high rise bread is used by bread machine and set on dough setting. Second one by mixer (Kitchen Aid), and the last two are by kneading and French fold. The students did the kneading and folding of the dough, they learn to feel the texture of the dough, check the dough with window panel, and score the dough before baking, baking the bread and cooling. The rolls above we learn to braid and row into shapes. We had a wonderful time and a great baking day.
I enjoy this web site very much and learn a lot by reading the blog. I think it is time to introduce myself. I love baking and when I lived in Canada my children are small and ate everything I baked. My husband and I will spend a weekend baking sweet buns; most of them are Chinese buns just as cocktail buns with coconut filing and pineapple buns with butter topping. After the boys left home we don’t see any reason to bake anymore and especially our cholesterol is so high, we have to change our life style. So I stop baking bread altogether. Until two years ago I read in the Newspaper about no knead bread (we moved back to the States). I watched the video and bake one. It became out so good and easy. I changed the recipe and add 50% WW flour. One thing leads to other, I checked out bread books from the library and I brought a couple of books. I took a class Whole Wheat Bread from Peter Reinhart in Atlanta and he also signed my book. I’m back baking bread again and I love it.
You can make your own: sprout a cup of wheat berries by covering them with water in a jar for 12 or so hours, dump out the water & rinse with clean water, and place the jar in a darkish, warmish, place. Rinse the berries every day with clean water and return to their place.
In 2-3 days they will begin to sprout. When the sprout is as long as the berries themselves, dump them out on paper towels, dry them off, and set on a cookie sheet in the sun for a day or so to dry out. Then put the cookiesheet in a 100F oven for an hour or three. Do not let the temp get above 130F or the enzymes will be destroyed.
Then grind the dried malted berries into flour, and use it in your favorite recipe at a rate of approx. 1t. per loaf.
I am new to this blog but I also could not find any diastatic malt in AL, so I search the internet and happened to find a web site to make your own diastatic malt. I did not saved the web address but I did copy the recipe and I did follow the direction and make my own diastatic malt. I hope it will help some of you to make your own diatatic malt. I sprout 1/4 cup of wheat berry instead of 1 cup and grounded it and store in the freezer.
