freemotion
Food Guru
Thought I'd start another discussion on this, as I am new at it and LOVING the results. I have only been able to get hard red wheat berries, but thanks to help from sufficientforme, I found reasonably priced varieties in 50# quantities....
Two questions for y'all: What do you like best for bread flour, and for pastry flour? I was thinking of ordering soft white wheat next. There are so many varieties to choose from. I hear it is milder in flavor, and better as a pastry flour. Opinions?
Second: Has anyone made pasta? I have been making it from the hard red wheat so far, and it makes a usable noodle and lasagna noodle. It is a very brittle noodle, though, and a lot of care must be taken or I will end up with noodle crumbs. Once cooked, they remind me of the dumplings grandma put in her soups, which were just white flour and water quickly rolled out and cut into squares and dropped into the boiling stew, very chewy and to my taste. I would like to be able to make a whole wheat pierogi or tortellini but I know the dough I make would not hold up to all that handling, and I cannot find durum or semolina at what I consider to be a reasonable price to make it worth all the trouble. Has anyone had success with one of the other wheats that are more readily avaliable? I called Honeyville Grains today and they no longer offer the pasta grains, no demand for them, and did not know what other wheat might work.
Any other input would be helpful, too. So far, we love the pizza dough we make from the MEN recent no-knead method, I made crackers last night (a bit too strong wheat taste, maybe the soft white will be better?) and the basic pastas. Oh, and some reasonable biscuits and wonderful cornbread, too.
Tell me what you make and what works and what doesn't.
Two questions for y'all: What do you like best for bread flour, and for pastry flour? I was thinking of ordering soft white wheat next. There are so many varieties to choose from. I hear it is milder in flavor, and better as a pastry flour. Opinions?
Second: Has anyone made pasta? I have been making it from the hard red wheat so far, and it makes a usable noodle and lasagna noodle. It is a very brittle noodle, though, and a lot of care must be taken or I will end up with noodle crumbs. Once cooked, they remind me of the dumplings grandma put in her soups, which were just white flour and water quickly rolled out and cut into squares and dropped into the boiling stew, very chewy and to my taste. I would like to be able to make a whole wheat pierogi or tortellini but I know the dough I make would not hold up to all that handling, and I cannot find durum or semolina at what I consider to be a reasonable price to make it worth all the trouble. Has anyone had success with one of the other wheats that are more readily avaliable? I called Honeyville Grains today and they no longer offer the pasta grains, no demand for them, and did not know what other wheat might work.
Any other input would be helpful, too. So far, we love the pizza dough we make from the MEN recent no-knead method, I made crackers last night (a bit too strong wheat taste, maybe the soft white will be better?) and the basic pastas. Oh, and some reasonable biscuits and wonderful cornbread, too.
Tell me what you make and what works and what doesn't.
