Roller Milling

A handmade loaf the perfect Thank You present

July 14, 2012
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It’s the end of the school year and instead of the usual box of chocolate, pot plant, or my preferred gift of a bottle of wine to my kid’s school teachers it seemed fitting I gave them a handmade sourdough.  And in my case not forgetting the receptionist who’s had  to listen to my constant […]

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If This Is Artisan Baking Give Me Supermarket Bread

July 5, 2012
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The selection of breads above and below came from a stoneground mill bakery.  I apologise now for the poor quality of the photos, it’s not my intent to make this bread appear inferior to prove a point, originally I didn’t plan to write about it and the camera photos were only for record keeping.  I […]

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The 36 hour Pouliche (Poolish, Sponge) and the Correct Spelling

May 23, 2012
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After the last post here, on this old method of making pouliche (poolish), I experimented further creating more of an acidic crumb, mimicking somewhat a sourdough loaf.  The reason for the experiment was to see if the pouliche would maintain enough yeast cells over this period of time (in the fridge) to make a good […]

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A Forgotten Type of Poolish, Pouliche (Sponge) Loaf

May 16, 2012
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In the last post here, I said since the experiment with the poolish showed signs of activity it had inspired for more experiments, only this time not exhausting the yeast to see whether I could produce a good loaf. A poolish is equal amounts of water to flour, how much yeast you add and the […]

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Oxidising Fresh Flour, Over-Oxidising & Over-Mixing Dough

April 3, 2012
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The subject of the need to oxidise fresh flour and also the need to introduce oxygen when mixing dough and the consequences of over doing it, which produces an inferior loaf both in appearance and flavour is a huge subject with nerdy-type of details.  These details cover the effect of the gluten-forming proteins as well […]

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Shipton Mill No. 4 Flour Organic

March 4, 2012
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The white roller mill flour I like and use regularly from Shipton Mill is their organic number 4, 12% protein.  I use it for all sorts, to mix with stoneground flour like the loaf below or making the kids loaves, whenever I want a roller white texture. What I like about no. 4 is that […]

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Shipton Mill’s Two Mills

March 3, 2012
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I met John Lister, the owner of Shipton Mill, last October at their Tedbury site where John’s office resides, but my first encounter with Shipton mill was at their other huge site in Frampton-on-Severn in September.  It’s not until you visit this old Cadbury’s site do you realise how big Shipton Mill are. My introduction to […]

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In-Between Flour, Straight Flour, High Extraction Flour

February 13, 2012
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This flour is the perfect answer to those who think wholemeal flour is too heavy but still want the good parts of the wheatberry because along with having particles from the whole endosperm it will also have a fair amount of the bran and the germ. Stone Milling With stone milling the process is very […]

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