What the Wheat Lady Said

When we picked up our wheat on Memorial Day, the wheat lady told us how she mixes up a big batch of bread dough at one time in her Bosch Universal Mixer and freezes individual loaves in bread pans. Then she removes the dough from the pans and puts it in freezer bags. She gets a frozen dough loaf out as she needs it, and it rises as it defrosts. The new Bosch can do nine loaves. Mine does six.

I tried this last week. First, I had to grind enough wheat to make 15-17 cups of flour. As I have the Family Grain Mill with the Bosch adapter, this was time-consuming. I cracked the wheat, then ran it through two more times at progressively finer grinds. I'm sure a Nutrimill would do it much faster. That will be my next purchase. The beauty of the Family Grain Mill, though, is that I can use it without a motor. So if the electricity is off for a couple of weeks, and we need to live off what's in the pantry, I can still grind beans, wheat, and corn and flake oat groats. However, grinding it by hand is even slower, so I know I would not do more than I needed to make one loaf at a time.

Once the grinding was done, the Bosch made quick work of mixing the dough. Then I divided it into six equal parts. Three parts I made into loaves, put into greased pans, and put in the freezer. One part I made into a batch of hamburger buns, which I baked right away. The remaining two parts I rolled into a pizza crust and placed on a greased pizza pan. This went into the freezer. The next day I let it thaw, added sauce and toppings, and baked it. It was good but a little doughy. Next time I will bake it halfway before adding the sauce and toppings. Also, I will dust the pan with corn meal instead of greasing it.