Belle Valley Ancient Grains

 Emmer wheat and flour are back! Rich tan color, right up there with Einkorn for high protein, but rather low falling number so very weak gluten. Has 28 chromosomes compared to 42 for all modern wheat. The weak gluten means that it will make a more dense loaf of bread if used by itself but you can blend it with other bread flours. White Sonora shown on the right in the second picture is the closest we have to all purpose or pastry flour. White Sonora has lower protein than Emmer but a higher falling number so it is a better bread flour.

 2021 has brought a later than normal first freeze, October 21st.  26 degrees this morning. The extended growing season has been very nice for getting additional hay tonnage.  Hay is in very short supply this year in the entire western US.  

 Which flour to buy? We like Red Fife for general use, bread, pancakes, etc - nice flavor. For something more like a white flour or all-purpose, try Clark's Cream or White Sonora. White Sonora is the lightest we have and nearest to all-purpose although all of these are whole wheat flour with 100% of the brand and germ so they are not the same as refined flour. Spelt is also a good all around flour. Einkorn was the favorite in a bread tasting panel (nutty, sweet flavor). The price of these is directly related to the time in "cleaning" which is the elimination of chaff etc. In the case of Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt, it takes about 5 times longer to clean compared to the others. You can get the whole grain and make flour in an small tabletop mill (about $100), or use a blender. Also you can cook the whole grain like Spelt as you would rice or as hot cereal. Getting a 50 lb bag of your favorite wheat and milling as you need it is the way to go. It will keep for years

 It is quite easy to make sourdough bread. This is from 100% White Sonora but you can use any of our flour. Much better nutritional value, less expensive than store bread and no comparison on flavor. Doesn't take a lot of time. Let me know if you need starter. Don't like to feed/discard starter all the time? No need for that. I make bread every few weeks and in between the starter is in a quart jar in the fridge. When ready to use it, rinse the crud from the top, feed/discard two or three times and it's ready. Here's a good basic recipe for two loaves; 800 grams flour (any heirloom whole grain flour is fine or blend it with up to 70% commercial bread flour - may rise better) 600 grams warm water Mix the flour and water and let it rest (autolyse) for an hour or two. (There are "long ferment" methods where the rest time is a day or more and this can be helpful for those with gluten sensitivity - see our Pinterest site for these methods) 50-60 grams honey

 Great Grandparents were at work on pancake flour and many other products 100 years ago. Interesting that it just contained wheat, corn, rye and salt. The exact formulation is lost to history. (Reprinted from The Belle Fourche Beacon.)