The next batch of grain up for milling–Red Fife (ordered through Breadtopia). Grown primarily in Canada, this is a classic heritage grain that is making a real comeback in artisan bakeries. For pretty good reason. This Red Fife resulted in some tasty breads.

First the milling. Picture below is the end result of 500 grams of Red Fife wheat berries. On on the left is mostly bran that was extracted with the #50 mesh sifter, in the middle is fine bran and germ extracted with the #120 mesh sifter, and on the right is the superfine Red Fife “bolted” white flour. The final breakdown was: 130g heavy bran, 220g fine bran and germ (middlings?), and 140g white flour. About 10 grams of loss/imprecise weighing.

I realize that I may have gone too far with the #120 mesh sifter. The end result of a 28% extraction “bolted” superfine flour takes a ton of work. It may simply not be worth it in the end, except for very special cake or OO flours. I might have to try a #100 or #80 mesh to make life a little easier on myself and produce a bolted white flour that is fine enough for everyday uses. I just need name for this grade (hella fine?)

This separated flour was destined for two things today, bran muffins and biscuits. The middlings are in a jar in the fridge. I have no idea what to do with it yet.

Bran muffins:

 

The biscuits:

The biscuits were:

• 130g Red Fife “bolted” superfine white flour
• 5 grams baking power/1-2 grams baking soda
• 45 grams butter
• 95 grams kefir (a decent substitute for buttermilk)

Baked at 400 degrees for 17 mins. (Not in the toaster over pictured above).

These biscuits were well, delicious. Interestingly, they were richer and wheatier than the nearly exact same biscuit made a couple days ago with the Turkey Red superfine flour. It was clearly the flour that made the difference. These biscuits still looked and tasted like whole wheat, whereas the Turkey Red was much closer to regular white flour. Both were good, but I preferred the taste of the wheat that came through with the Red Fife biscuits. 

The final dinner was salmon, biscuits and pepper-herb gravy with sauteed scallions. I think my food staging/photography skills need a little work. My wife took this one, which was better than my not so great pictures, but still doesn’t do the meal justice.