I am a sourdough baker - baking once or twice a week (and after living in Germany in 2019, it’s now all we eat). I am hoping to get a Mock Mill for Christmas (if Santa was listening!). In anticipation, I have already ordered several varieties of wheat berries from Breadtopia, and can’t wait to get that great fresh grain flavor. But as I daydream about this step-up in my baking, I am now feeling a bit like “Dog Catches Car.” I typically use 50% stone ground whole grains (various varieties of wheat, plus whole grain rye - organic when I can get it), 25-35% bolted flour (often einkorn), and then some AP or bread flour which creates a slightly lighter texture (husband prefers that : ). I have now read that bran in the whole grain can “cut” the gluten strands, and am thinking about how I can maximize the amount of the flour I grind myself. Can I sift the home-ground flours myself to remove bran and make the equivalent of “bolted flour”? What sifter should I use? How fine should I grind it? How much should I sift it? Is there a way to remove the bran (which I would use later), but not the germ? So many questions! Thank you so much - love this Community!
The Mockmill will grind very fine. I use a 40 mesh sieve when I want to remove some bran. Typically, if I grind with the stones just touching and sift with the 40 mesh sieve, I will remove about 7% of the total of the berries in bran. Truthfully, I usually don’t bother.
Keith
Note, that 7% is of the total weight of the berries, i.e., if I grind 100g of berries I will remove about 7g of bran. Hope that makes sense.
Keith
This experiment might be of interest to you:
This post is helpful for breaking down the process of adding bran back into the dough:
I feel your pain. Ive been using a grain mill attachmemt for my kitchenaid stand mixer, and unfortunately even the finest setting is only able to get about 2/3rds of the grist through a 40 mesh sieve, and for extra hard grains like kamut it only gets about 1/3rd thru … and yes, the larger particles (not just the bran) tend to interfere with gluten strands.
Until I get a better mill, ive switched to high quality commercial wholemeal, which is boltered to like 80+ or 100+ … and I use it either 1:2 or 1:1 with bread flour. I only use the stuff I grind that sieves thru 40 mesh, and the tailings that are too coarse make for awesome farina hit cereal.
Farina: 3 parts liquid to 1 part wholemeal farina (40m+ flour removed)
Whisk, simmer 6-10 mins, salt to taste, sweeten if desired.
I like 2:1 water to milk for the liquid.
This is very helpful - Thanks!
Hello, does any one know of a flour sifter with a 40 mesh strainer that works easer than the ones breadtopia sells? I purchased a 40 and 50 mess strainer that works but it takes alot of time to sift 3 pounds of flour, to sift out the bran. Thanks, Mike