In the News

Learning Some Old-Time Skills—Taking the Time To Make Your Own Bread at Home, By Peggy O'Brien, The Lakeville Journal, Thursday, February 16, 2006

CORNWALL, CT—Debra Tyler of Local Farm in Cornwall led a Basic Bread Making workshop last weekend. It was the first of a series of Old-Style Life Skills courses she plans to teach throughout the year. Other events to come will be Keeping a Family Cow, Lacto-Fermentation and Wreath-Making.

There were about 10 of us for the bread class- a few kids, a couple of mothers, a police investigator and a few others - all taking a slow few hours to enjoy the process of a daily staple that most of us take for granted.

We started by grinding out own flour from organic wheatberries grown on a farm in Millbrook. I never knew it could be so much fun (it's a good workout, with a manual grinder!), nor did I know that these little guys have so much protein.

Another tidbit I didn't know is that once the grain is broken and exposed to air, it goes rancid rapidly. I had no idea that getting freshly ground flour is best (store it in the freezer for freshness).

We also used unenriched white flour (which dosn't go bad - and it provides vitamins and bran). I always assumed that whole wheat, enriched, was better, which isn't necessarily so, when taking this new info into account. Both contain gluten (which holds the air bubbles together and makes for lighter bread).

For liquid, Tyler used a quart of her own Local Farm-brand milk, warmed to 100 degrees. The natural fat content of this fresh raw milk made oil unnecessary. Celtic salt added many minerals and organic black strap molasses added nutrients and sweetness for the yeast to activate. She used it instead of honey or maple syrup (items she has at her farm and usually uses in her breads). It turns out she had a lot left over from when her cows were being finicky about eating the hay she had; so she watered down some molasses and sprayed the hay, thinking this would make the cows change their minds. No such luck - but good for us.

In the time that all of this took, we got to know each other a bit. And we experienced each of our senses as we smelled the sesame oil and fresh butter; saw the cool dust of flour float throught the sunlight as we sprinkled it during the kneading process; and felt and smelled the fragent, heated air around the oven door.

Best of all was the discovery that making bread is amazingly simple:

Basic Bread
Grind 3 cups of hard red wheat berries to make about 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Warm 1 quart fresh milk to 100 degrees. Stir in 2 tablespoons salt and 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses. Mix with the freshly ground flour and 2 tablespoons baking yeast. Min in enough (about 6 to 9 cups) of unbleached white bread flour to make soft dough. Knead well. Wash and dry bread bowl, grease with 1 tablespoon oil. Let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until double in bulk. Punch down. Let rise another hour or so. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Form dough into two loaves and put in 2 greased bread pans. Let rise until double (about a half hour). Bake for 55 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when thumped. Remove from pans and wrap in a towel to cool for a soft crust.