Questions and Answers from my mailbox

The following is a sample of questions I have been receiving lately regarding bread baking problems and other topics of interest to homemakers.

Dear Marilyn,

Besides eating bread faster, how can I keep my homemade bread from going moldy? Thanks. Nancie

Dear Nancie,

I have four strategies for keeping bread from going moldy. First, I use dough enhancer.
2. I use honey which promotes shelf life.
3. I freeze all bread loaves, sliced and bagged until I am ready to use it. It takes bread
about 3 hours to completely thaw.
4. I use the 2 Stage Process. This soaking process has extended the shelf life
of my home made bread up to a week.

Dear Marilyn,

I am new to grinding wheat. I was given an old mill – electric with 2 stones. No directions. I had to experiment and ground the wheat this neighbor gave me. It came out too course, the bread was a little crumbly. I did use dough enhancer. Can this flour be ground again? finer?? Or is it possible to soak the flour first

Dear Carol,

I would say it is unlikely the flour can be made finer in the mill, but I would say experiment a bit and see if you can. Old stone mills really don’t produce good quality flour for high rising yeast bread. My recommendation is to use 2 Tbsp vital gluten per Cup of water used in your recipe, plus master the two stage process. A high speed grain mill will produce finer flour which will do a lot for eliminating crumbly bread. Higher quality wheat will also help. Keep in mind whole grain bread will never be quite as high rising as white flour because the bran is included.

Dear Marilyn,

I have been looking forward to your seminars but have not seen any
posted in a long time. Will you be doing these again anytime soon? I
really enjoyed them. Kristin M

Kristin,

Thanks for asking and encouraging me to get back to the seminars. I plan to resume
seminars this Fall and will announce a tentative schedule soon.

Dear Marilyn,

I want to sprout the grain and then mill it rather that use the two stage process. I’ve searced your sight and cannot find a conversion of this method for use with the zo machine. I know that the kneading time needs to be changed. Do you have zo machine settings for your whole wheat bread recipe using milled grain already sprouted?

Thank you,
Amy P

Dear Amy,

If you have sprouted the grain, use my basic Zo settings.
http://articles.urbanhomemaker.com/index.php?article=564

Let me know if it works out ok.

Amy wrote back that the dough was still very gooey. Here are my additional suggestions:

No, I haven’t had anyone contact me regarding the Zo and sprouted wheat bread settings. Hopefully someone who has mastered this process with sprouted wheat will send their tips and I will get back to you. In the meantime here are some other suggestions:

I think basic principles should still apply. If it is a gooey mess, it tells me either there wasn’t enough flour, did you check for a nice round dough ball and make adjustments in the beginning of the kneading cycle? If so, and it was gooey inside after baking, it tells me the bread wasn’t baked long enough, and you will need to increase the baking time by at least 10 minutes using the programmable feature.

IF the dough is gooey from over kneading, that tells me to cut the kneading time again using the programmable feature. I would try 8-10 minutes kneading time in that case.

Keep me posted with your results so if you get it, I can tell others and give you the credit! Marilyn

Hi, Marilyn,

Lately, on the Mercola and Debra Lynn Dadd websites, I’ve been reading about plastics and potential estrogen effects. Plastic water bottles, even the heavy-duty ones on coolers, are cited as a major source.

We have two Multi-Pure filters in our kitchen, and, as you know, they have plastic tubing to the spigot.

So, my question is, has the plastic used in the Multi-Pure system been tested for potential leaching of toxins, including estrogen mimickers? How about in the pot-filler application we have, to the pot-filler? Thanks!

Helen in SpokaneDear Helen,

Thanks for asking a really timely question. Fortunately I have a great answer.
This is the reply I received from Multi-Pure:

>>>The plastic that we use is FDA Pharmaceutical grade and has

been tested by NSF to ensure that there is no leaching

of the materials into the water.

One of the great things about NSF certification is that they

test every nut, bolt, fitting, piece of tubing etc to make sure that

the item is not adding anything to the water supply. This is called

the Leach Test. So your customers should be assured that the water

they are drinking from their Multi-Pure is safe. We start with the best materials

and certify their performance.>>>

Hope this helps.

Marilyn

Do you have a question, comment or suggestion that others might benefit from?
Please email me at marilyn@urbanhomemaker.com.