My sister Sandy has just recently purchased a Vitamix blender/grinder/chopper/wood-chipper all in one kind of thing. She loves it. When she asked me to bring our mom up to her house to do Mom’s hair on Easter she asked that I bring a long a can of red wheat. So I obliged. After turning Mom’s hair into perfect ringlets (which she is fabulous at) she set out to grind my wheat.
It took about the same amount of time, it heated up the wheat just as mine does and she was able to fit the ground wheat back into the can plus about 2.5 cups of flour left over for a plastic bag. That seemed about right to me since I normally fill up a 16.7 cup Lock-N-Lock container. (Which by the way are the best I’ve found for keeping things fresh and pest free when it comes to whole wheat products.)
It wasn’t until I actually took it out, placed it in the container did I realize the difference. Though the Vitamix did an excellent job in macerating the red wheat, it still wasn’t flour. It had the feel and appearance of really fine cream of wheat. I might just try it out for that in the morning, actually. Not wanting to let my bias discard the hard work her machine did for her, and wanting to prove my statement that read wheat bread is heavier than white wheat I decided to make some bread.
I took the standard light wheat bread recipe substituting out the fine white wheat flour for the course red wheat flour, and then I watched the bread when I was home to see how it progressed. It produced a loaf of bread that didn’t overflow the pan, which is what the white wheat does, and it was heavier in the pan as well. The only thing different that I did was a bit more gluten than normal (mostly because I couldn’t find the 1/3 cup measuring cup and I didn’t want to go hunting for my glass measuring cups….kinda lazy that way) and a little extra honey. I had my normal, top of the loaf cut and cut a piece for my mom, who commented on the nutmeg, it seems to be more pungent while the bread is hot, and got her nod of approval. I can’t say I liked it, but I didn’t not like it either. However, the bread was far more filling that the white wheat flour bread. I only needed one piece of warm bread.
The true test of bread is when it is cold cold and the day after it’s been refrigerated. Though it had spring in the center from the gluten the night before it had completely disappeared in the morning. However, what I have noticed in other batches PG (Pre Gluten) was they get crumbly and are rubbish for keeping a sandwich together. Though it sort of disintegrated as I chewed it held together in my hand while I was eating it. The crust, which was chewy the night before had turned to more of a tough-pie-crust feeling, which isn’t totally unpleasant for bread.
I’ve toyed with the idea of running her course wheat (which was ground on the finest setting) through my grinder an old Magic Mill. I don’t think they even make these any more, but it won’t die no matter how much wheat I make it grind at once. I have a setting for extra course…like just cracking the berry into two or three pieces to pastry flour, which is what I’m used to using. But as you can see in the picture, it’s rather cumbersome and a real pain to clean. I’ll just use the course as flavoring from now on instead of as a primary.
We have offers from time to time to buy the electric Blendtec Wheat Mill and then there is the hand-crank wheat mill Marcato Marga Roller Mill. Both of these are perfectly fine mills at reasonable prices. It would probably be wise to have one of each in case you are in a place where electricity can be cut off for days/weeks at a time so you can always have wheat flour to…..well, I guess if you can’t work a bread machine, what’s the point of wheat….I guess you can do it old school and bake your bread in a fireplace. I bet that would be a good loaf of bread if you don’t over do it.
My goal of a wheat grinder is Golden Grain Wheat Grinder which will convert to a manual stone ground mixer with the attachment of the $20 handle. If I could only be sure the top and drawer were air tight. But I like the idea of having a hopper at the top with the berries and just flip a button to grind as much as you need for that days baking. The mess that the Magic Mill makes after grinding a can of white, roasted white, red and roasted red wheat is equivalent to a house full of dust that hasn’t been dusted for a month. And believe me when I say, the pastry flour is like pixie dust…it gets into places you wouldn’t believe!
Good luck, good grinding and good baking!
