Grainy Days and Sundays

Last trip back from Gundy, Hubby brought home a bag of wheat grain.

A search on the net; a flour mill nabbed. It travelled half way round the country to get here - thanks Issy for bringing it up from Melbs.

The time had come. He set up the mill; fed it with grain and what do you know - whole wheat flour came out.

That's where I come in. Our bread maker was in Gundy; so yours truly had to use her hands.

Seems like it took nearly all day; proving, watching; knead; proving, watching; knead. Bake.

The truth? Taste wise not too bad except for that I added too much salt. It wasn't elastic enough and a bit gluey. If I ate too much I'd get indigestion for sure.

Next day it seemed better. Pieces plonked with some beetroot and pistachio dip and it was pretty darn nice actually.

There is however, room for improvement. Much more improvement. The net tells me there is oil in freshly milled whole wheat hence the need to refrigerate.

That was exactly two weeks ago. I really should have had another go by now; but; grrrrrr; I'm not a natural when it comes to bread. Still; another loaf is on the agenda; maybe next Sunday?

I sit here chuckling to myself as I think of Hubby, son and property manager out there harvesting the barley. I'll eat my hat if Hubby doesn't walk through the door with - you guessed it - a bag of barley.

Hubby emails with a pic of the barley - oooh exciting!

I haven't even come close to mastering the bread yet. Somehow I suspect it won't be long before I'll be on the journey to making whiskey next.  Bluddy Hell.  Yikes!!