Survival Ark - coming over the horizon

Last 18 May I wrote I was looking to buy a hand-operated flour mill – to grind wheat into flour for 100% wholemeal bread [1]. Now, 12 weeks later, I still haven’t bought one. But I will soon. Last Monday Sweetheart Vivienne and I went to the health food store in Deloraine to buy flour and yeast. Whilst there I asked about flour mills. The proprietor showed us one. It looked okay, and it was a good price. But I had misgivings. Free floating ones. Gut feelings. When I asked about the warranty, he said he’d have to check. I took that as a way to temporise. I said I’d be back in two days. Yesterday I made some internet and phone inquiries. I’ve found a better one: more functional design, improved grinding capacity, made in Victoria, lifetime guarantee. It’s about A$90 dearer. But the advantages justify the higher price. So later today I need to tell the Deloraine man I’m not buying the mill he’s selling. That’s too hard for me to do. I don’t know why, but it is. A result of one of my many long-term psychological glitches. So Sweetheart Vivienne’s doing it. She’s much more psychologically able than I. Also we’re returning a 20kg bag of baker’s flour we bought on Monday – as we’ll need less once we grind our own flour. So all going well, some time next week we’ll be proud owners of a Survival Ark (pictured). Oh what fun. Stay tuned.

The Staff of Life revisited

It’s time for another bread baking post. I continue to adore baking. I still bake my bread in a camp oven inside my wood-fired stove oven, a la the NYT as I explained here [1]. I bake fairly good bread, averaging 6-8 out of 10 on my subjective rating scale, with an occasional 9.

Currently I’m reading Rick Gallop’s informative 2008 book Getting the Best from the Gi Diet [2]. Gallop classifies foods and drinks using the traffic light system: Red for high Gi, yellow for medium Gi, and green for low Gi. It’s simple and easy to remember. He says the only green-light bread (Gi 53 [3]) is stone-ground 100% wholemeal – because stone-ground flour’s coarser and retains more of its bran coating, so it’s digested more slowly. Steel-ground wholemeal bread’s a yellow-light (Gi 69 [3]), and white bread’s a red-light (Gi 70 [3]).

I haven’t made much 100% wholemeal bread, so last Saturday I remedied that. I used a recipe from Richard Bertinet’s superb book Dough [4]. It uses a poolish, i.e. a style of ferment introduced into France by Polish bakers [5]. What a great word. And what a great loaf it helped make (pictured). Admirable character and flavour. And not too heavy.
I used store-bought wholemeal flour which was finely ground and so not stone-ground. I’m looking to buy a hand-operated flour mill. I already know my local shop sells organic wheat. I’m excited. Fun times are ahead. Healthy times too.