305 Bell Park Dr
Woodstock, GA 30188
Phone 770-516-5000
FAX 770-516-7588
Getting Started
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Getting Started
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You’ve listened to Sue’s tape; or heard Sue speak at a seminar, home school curriculum fair workshop, or a Saturday cooking class; or your friend/neighbor/spouse convinced you that milling your own flour and making your own bread is what you need to do for you and your family, AND you want to get started – THIS IS THE PLACE TO START! (NOTE: wherever you see words that are underlined, you can click on them and get more information) WHAT YOU NEED TO START
You need a mill to make the fresh flour to reap the benefits of the whole wheat. You need a mill: electric or manual. The electric mill will allow you to mill faster with less effort, and produce finer flour. The manual mills will work when the lights go out; but will take longer, more effort, and produce a coarser flour.
Nutrimill OR Wondermill - We recommend getting an electric mill,
either the Nutrimill or the Wondermill (click on the links to get more info on
each mill). You can pick
it up at our store, OR we can ship it anywhere IN THE CONTINENTAL USA. Don’t want an electric mill? We carry three different manual mills: The Country Living Grain Mill The Country Living will grind the finest of the hand mills; but not as fine as the Whisper Mill. It also costs more. Takes about 15 minutes to grind 7-8 cups of flour (enough for our three-loaf recipe).
The Back to Basics Hand Mill This mill grinds coarser than the other two, and takes about an hour to grind 7-8 cups of flour (enough for our three-loaf recipe). Most people use this as an emergency mill only, few people use it every day UNLESS they really want to start making bread now, while they save money for an electric mill. If you need recipes specifically for fresh, whole wheat flour, get our "Bread Becker’s Recipe Collection (click here to go to our basic bread recipe OR click here to see the Table of Contents). Everything in it is tried and true. Want to know more about the healthful benefits of grains? Get "Grains of Truth" by Donna Spann Donna explains 13 different grains, and includes a few recipes on how to use them. The ingredients for bread can be mixed in a large bowl, AND the dough can be kneaded by hand. BUT, few people will take the time to make a lot of bread, by hand, every week! Get a mixer if you want home made bread part of your lifestyle. It must be a heavy-duty mixer; whole wheat flour is very thick (it has all the fiber in it that they take out of the store-bought bread!). Newer American made mixers will not hold up (according to our customers who have tried them). The older (10+ years) Kitchen Aid will work if you can find one. But, why not get a mixer designed for the job? The mixer can be used for your general mixing needs as well as making bread dough. The Electrolux DLX Assistent- This is the closest thing to a commercial mixer you can buy. It’s made by Electrolux of Sweden. It can mix and knead up to 9 loaves worth of dough at a time. The Assistent uses a roller and scraper assembly to mix and knead the dough in a manner that is closer to hand kneading. To make a yeast bread, you will need hard red or hard white wheat. For pastries, pancakes, biscuits, or any baking powder/baking soda recipe, you can use a soft white wheat (the hard wheat can be used for these recipes, but the soft wheat will be lighter). If you can, get a bucket of hard red wheat AND a bucket of hard white wheat. Experiment, see which type your family likes best. OR, get a bucket of one type and ask for a few pounds of the other. The red has the "nutty" flavor we all associate with whole wheat. The white wheat is milder than the red, and is more suitable for breads with toppings or fillings, or where you don’t want to taste as much of the bread (our Ruben Bread and Turkey-Sausage Bread are stuffed; pizza and coffee cake have toppings; French bread and cakes taste better with white wheat). Click here to read Sue’s article, "A Few Words About Wheat", which is also in our "Recipe Collection". (Click here to go the retail price list for the
following items)
You may buy all of these locally. BUT, if you want a good price on larger quantities, we have: yeast, salt ("Real-Salt" brand), honey (12 lb jug). We help all our customers get started, no matter what the question. Reach us by phone, e-mail or fax (all the numbers are at the top of this page). Not a customer yet? Ask anyway, we’ll try to help or point you in the right direction (we can’t help with brands of equipment we don’t sell, though). You'll have to call or e-mail for a quote on shipping & handling - it's all based on weight and distance. If you come to the store, you just pay the sales tax. IF your budget can afford it, and you are COMMITTED to making the INVESTMENT work and pay off for your family, we recommend the following items to get started. To purchase items on this page, using our cart system:
You will be given the opportunity to modify or delete your order once it is in the cart. Shipping is totally dependant on the weight and distance shipped. Please call us for a quote on ANY combination of appliances and supplies you might want. NOTE: shipping for the total package to one destination is always cheaper than shipping the individual items. If you can order at least 200 lbs. of products, the rate per pound usually drops (it's a UPS hundred-weight shipping deal). Obviously, if you can get ANY of the supplies closer to home, do that. Shipping grains one bucket at a time is expensive. Order in larger quantities, OR get with some friends and order together to get the cheaper shipping (join our co-op for the best ddeals). If you already have a mixer, that will also reduce the cost. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is to get a mill to make the fresh flour!!
Copyright 2003 The Bread Beckers, Inc.© This page modified on 02/27/09 . Comments or questions? |
