I have a gas oven so, for the pizzas, I use a perforated pizza pan and place the pan directly on the floor of the oven for the last two minutes (total baking at 550F is about 12 min). They come out with lovely crusty bottoms. Now, back when I had electric ovens, it was hard to get a half decent crust without a stone or tiles, that’s for sure.

Many thanks for the advice on grains. I’ve never had emmer, time to give it a try. Never cooked wheat berries, either – gotta try that as well.

I really like my grain grinder (and I know you’ve been thinking of getting one) but I think yours is more versatile. I can’t crack grain with mine. If/when you get a NutriMill, don’t give your old one away!

The nice thing about this is the versatility. Back in the day they didn’t eat the large amounts of wheat and corn that is largely our diet today. Variety in anything is the key to health and because I love to bake and have young kids who craved baked goods I try to consume a wide variety of grains and presoak the doughs wherever doing so won’t negatively impact the finished product. Ideally I would be using sprouted grain for anything that I haven’t already soaked to improve the health benefits but I’m just not there yet. I’m hoping to sprout some grains in the near future and then once I’ve done it and am comfortable with it it won’t seem like such a big deal.

In the absence of that you can preheat a cookie sheet on the bottom rack to use.

As far as the grains go I have all kinds in my cupboard stored in 1/2 gallon glass jars or in 5 gallon food grade plastic buckets in the utility room (one 5 gallon bucket will hold about 30# of grains which last for quite a long while so long as the grain is not ground, or you can add dried bay leaves to the bucket which help absorb oxygen.)

I use spelt for any non-leavened item and add it to any leavened item up to 50% of the grain amount. I also love adding oat groats to spelt for pancakes. I have rye which I add in small quantities to bread to achieve a fuller flavor. I have barley which I cook then freeze to throw into soups and stews. I have emmer which works great for cakes and cookies (so does spelt btw.) The emmer seems to grind finer than the wheat or spelt for some reason. I also have soft wheat berries because for some things like corn bread or biscuits we prefer the flavor of wheat and the increased toothiness that you don’t get with spelt or emmer.

I also love to use cooked emmer berries in pilafs or cold winter salads (chevre, sauteed greens, roasted squash and mushroom dressed with a light vinaigrette). In the late summer I love to use cooked emmer berries in the way you would pasta and dress them with things like good olive oil, fresh pesto, sun ripened cherry tomatoes and little fresh mozzarella balls.

I also have dried dent corn which I grind for cornbread or johnny cakes or nixtamilize for corn tortillas. You can also make hominy from it once it’s nixtamalized but I’ve never liked hominy (probably because I’ve only ever had it canned.)

Boy, that could have been a whole blog entry, eh?

You know, since last week I had such great results making buns with half of your 100% ww dough recipe (got 8 nice ones that would be just perfect for large pub-style burgers), I think this coming week I’ll try making pitas with the same dough. I’ll let you know if they turn out nice and dense.

In a couple of days I’ll order soft wheat berries because I want to try some of your pastry recipes. I’ll probably get 25 lb of soft white. Any other kind I should order smaller amounts of?

But looks like you added more sauce which I needed to do but didn’t want to open another jar of home canned sauce with Christmas coming and no time to make anything tomato-ey. I did actually add the whey but forgot to mention. I always add a splash of whey to my liquid just because as I get on in years hard wheat is harder and harder on my body and the whey does help. I have the most trouble with hard red wheat which sadly makes the best bread so I don’t eat as much bread as I did and I add 50% spelt now which helps.

Auburn, I’m beginning my hardtack experiments next week. Got my dough docker for xmas!

And this time I remembered to take a few pix: Look here: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zavvH8nrZLA/SzVnZvhu9NI/AAAAAAAAAAU/aflUbP6RBKY/s1600-h/Pizza+rolls1-.jpg

Wonderful flavor and texture. Next time I’ll top them with more cheese. I made these with spicy Italian sausage and mozzarella. De-li-cious!

Did you left the whey out on purpose? I added a TBSP to mine, just in case. I also added the vital wheat gluten as, you know, I always do. This maybe why my rolls seem to have puffed up a bit more than yours during the second proofing.

Thank you so very much, dear, for sharing great recipes that always turn out perfect.

You are turning me into a baker! I can’t believe this.

XOX

http://naturewithme.blogspot.com

I just googled CSF, convinced that I was going to find a lot of them on the West Coast. Well, it turns out that the CSF concept started here, on the East Coast, in 2006. Whoddathunkit! I couldn’t find anything like it in your area. All the searches using the keywords CSF Seattle fish return links related to the East Coast.

But the Fishermen Terminal in Seattle has good reviews on Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz/fishermens-terminal-seattle). A couple of reviewers talk about buying the best fish off the boats at the “West Wall” there. Have you been to the Fishermen Terminal?

Auburn, you’re killing me with this talk of white fish and shellfish! For the last year we’ve eaten nothing but salmon so we’re due for some nice white fish. And so fresh and cheap – I’m so happy for you!!!

There is a place here I’ve been meaning to try but it’s not convenient and it’s not all local. It’s called Mutual Fish but supposedly they only carry sustainably caught fish and will have some local things. Surely they will not be $2/# though. Did I mention yet I’ve been researching raising tilapia in my garage? It’s still a crazy little idea in the back of my mind but it IS possible with minimal heating and $$ to startup.

Not as nice as flounder and cod and shrimp though.

One reason we’ve only eaten salmon is because there is a local fisherman at the market who sustainably catches salmon and if you buy enough you get wholesale price so we have cans of it and frozen fillets which are finally almost gone. The cans are nice though because we’ve been eating it like tuna on sandwiches. I will be broadening our purchasing range in Jan to once again include brown rice from CA and then it will be easier to dreamup quick dinners with canned fish too.

Sure wish you lived closer!