Any Home Bakers Here?

[DigMyChicks]

Yummy looking!! How do you get the buns so perfectly round?

The hamburger buns were a hit! This one is a keeper. Off to make lunch now...Seeded Buns with Blue Cheese Chicken Salad. It's after 2pm and I'm starving

 

[sunflour]

Hi all! I'm newish to this thread, but just wanted to pop in with a comment about flour....

I tried bobs red mill organic flour as I was having a coughing fit everytime I made bread. Same problem. Several years of research led me to a chemical called azodicarbamide. I asked bobs about it (they're not far from me) and after diving in the back to do a bit of research himself, the gentleman I talked to admitted that 1) it was in all their bulk plastic bags , and 2) as it was not regulated by the FDA due to minimal amounts used, ratio wise, it was possibly getting into the supply chain somewhere that they had no control over.

I also discovered, oddly enough, the more the flour aged, the more problems I was having. I even go gluten free sometimes just to avoid the burning esophagus and coughing fit.

I did get some Montana Wheat berries (both soft and hard wheat) a while back and when I use those to grind my own flour....no problems.

I'm also going to see about growing some......maybe wishful thinking....it's not like I don't have enough to do....

Hi CC, wonder how much acreage it takes to grow a 5 # bag of flour?

Interesting that when you grind your own flour you have no problem…hmmmmm, must be a chemical or preservative?

 

[Chipper Chicken]

Hi CC,   wonder how much acreage it takes to grow a 5 # bag of flour?

Interesting that when you grind your own flour you have no problem…hmmmmm, must be a chemical or preservative?

Not sure, I figured I'd start with a 10' square section and see if it likes to grow for me.....if it produces I'll save the seed and go bigger. Want to try barley, spelt, alfalfa and a few others. DH has a spot tilled up for me......

Azodicarbamide is a chemical that the FDA classifies as either falling under the GRAS substance database, Generally Recognized As Safe, As long as it's used in small quantities, or under the food additive list.

It's used as a flour bleaching agent and a dough conditioner. It's derived from urea. EU classifies it as harmful. It's banned in Singapore at least. Chemical formula (in case any geeks are about ) Is C2H4N4O2.

I started having trouble about ten years ago, took me a while to track it down. Because of how the fda views it, I think if it's less than a certain percentage of ingredients, it doesn't have to be listed on the package.

Good news is certain companies like Subway are taking it back out of their breads....

 

[ronott1]

Not sure, I figured I'd start with a 10' square section and see if it likes to grow for me.....if it produces I'll save the seed and go bigger. Want to try barley, spelt, alfalfa and a few others. DH has a spot tilled up for me......

Azodicarbamide is a chemical that the FDA classifies as either falling under the GRAS substance database, Generally Recognized As Safe, As long as it's used in small quantities, or under the food additive list.

It's used as a flour bleaching agent and a dough conditioner. It's derived from urea. EU classifies it as harmful. It's banned in Singapore at least. Chemical formula (in case any geeks are about ) Is C2H4N4O2.

I started having trouble about ten years ago, took me a while to track it down. Because of how the fda views it, I think if it's less than a certain percentage of ingredients, it doesn't have to be listed on the package.

Good news is certain companies like Subway are taking it back out of their breads....

It should not be in unbleached all purpose organic flour.

Rodale press says:

Quote:

 

[N F C]

Thank you! Happy to be here, I've got lots of baking planned now that it's cooling down.....gonna try several of the recent ones posted here first.

Great interview btw. I am making my coop clean out doors latch on the INSIDE, thanks to your story of getting "accidentally " locked in the coop

Thank you for taking the time to read my interview, it was a bit stressful to write but it's been a lot of fun hearing back from so many great members.

Glad to hear you won't be having any of those "accidents" in your future, lol. We had to learn the hard way

 

[N F C]

Yummy looking!! How do you get the buns so perfectly round?

Thank, those were good buns. DH liked them so much I've already made them again for his sandwiches.

I'll try to explain the rounding process that works for me. First off,

* I weigh the entire blob of dough to get the total weight, then I divide that weight by the number of rolls I want to make.
* I pull off pieces of dough, weighing each one to get as close to the above weight per roll
* Then form a "cup" with the palm of my hand and fingers with the dough piece inside that "cup" and barely touching the ball, I quickly roll the dough around & around the table surface
Be sure you don't have a lot of flour on your table surface or the dough won't roll freely inside your cupped hand.

You might find it easier watching this video to see what I'm trying to say (starting around the 2 minute mark):

I'm not crazy about how this lady handles her dough before she shapes it but you can see the rolling technique I use.

Hope that helps and hasn't totally confused you (it's actually very easy to do but not so easy to explain in writing).

 

[DigMyChicks]

I'll give it a whirl, thank you!!

 

[N F C]

I'll give it a whirl, thank you!!

You can do it! It feels kind of awkward at first (at least it did to me) but by the time you do a couple, you'll have it.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

It should not be in unbleached all purpose organic flour.

Thank you. I thought I'd seen that somewhere.....but.....when I asked the guy at Bob's Red Mill (after buying a saving the same issue with the organic wheat berries) about it he said they couldn't control what their suppliers did......maybe it's not prohibited with the berries? or they get sloppy...idk, ......but knowing all their bulk foods bags have it also, along with this has stopped me from being a customer.

Sorry, don't mean to sidetrack from all the goodies you guys are baking......
Looking at these pictures......yum, I gotta get home and get baking!

 

[ronott1]

Thank you. I thought I'd seen that somewhere.....but.....when I asked the guy at Bob's Red Mill (after buying a saving the same issue with the organic wheat berries) about it he said they couldn't control what their suppliers did......maybe it's not prohibited with the berries? or they get sloppy...idk, ......but knowing all their bulk foods bags have it also, along with this has stopped me from being a customer.

Sorry, don't mean to sidetrack from all the goodies you guys are baking......
Looking at these pictures......yum, I gotta get home and get baking!

Oh yes! Get Baking!

It is possible that something came off of the plastic bag that the flour was in. Plastic is very toxic and some people really can't take it.