Baking Whole Grains | With the Help of WonderMill Grain Mills

Honey Nut Butter Cookies (Allergy Friendly)

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Feathers in Our Nest

Despite the name, these cookies can be made allergy-friendly (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free) just by subbing the nut butter with sunflower butter! So while the photos show almond butter, you can easily substitute Sunbutter (we like the Trader Joe’s brand)!

Things I love about these cookies: they are whole grain, they use honey instead of refined sugar, and they include a healthy fat (coconut oil). They are also simple to make!

It’s easy to whip up a quick batch of these yummy cookies today!

Honey Nut Butter Cookies (dairy-free, egg-free, can be nut-free)
(adapted from here)

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup smooth nut butter (almond butter, peanut butter, or allergy friendly: sunflower seed butter)
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp. coconut oil (liquid)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Grind wheat in the WonderMill.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat (my preference).

In a bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together nut butter, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla.

Add liquid mixture to dry mixture and mix just until all the flour is incorporated.

Using a cookie scoop, form balls from the dough and place on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, then allow to cool for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged allergy friendly, cookies, dessert, desserts, snacks, whole grain, whole wheat | 2 Comments

Whole Wheat Garlic Drop Biscuits

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Feathers in Our Nest

+33

Sometimes I just want to make some bread to go with a meal, but I didn’t plan far enough in advance (oops) for something like my Rosemary Peasant Bread. At times like that, these drop biscuits are perfect! They take very little time to throw together, yet they have a great flavor and pair beautifully with a lot of different types of meals.

Whole Wheat Garlic Drop Biscuits
(adapted from here)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup butter
2-3 cloves garlic
parsley

Grind wheat in the WonderMill.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine flour (start with 2 cups), baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add milk and olive oil. Add up to 1/2 cup flour until mixture is thick enough to drop on a cookie sheet without spreading out.

Grease a cookie sheet (don’t skip this!) or use a silpat mat. Drop biscuits on sheet in even mounds.

Bake biscuits for 12 minutes.

While biscuits are baking, melt butter in a saute pan and add garlic. Saute just until light golden brown. Remove from heat.

When biscuits are finished baking, immediately brush the tops with butter/garlic mixture and sprinkle with parsley. Remove from cookie sheet and enjoy!

Makes around 12 biscuits.

Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged biscuits, bread, easy, fast, garlic, whole grain, whole wheat | Leave a comment

Whole Grain Pretzel Dogs and Soft Pretzels

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Vickilynn Haycraft

+14

Many warm memories from my childhood involve the enjoyment of consuming huge, chewy, salty, golden-brown soft pretzels. Plain or with mustard, our family loved soft pretzels and shared them often, especially when we went to the city.

Of course, my view is that homemade is best and whole-grain is the bestest of all.

Over the years I have made many variations of soft whole wheat pretzels, even combining them with organic hot dogs, and many were received well, but this version I offer you here is the absolute BEST according to my family.

Thanks to my friend Charley Cooke of Cooke’s Frontier for her recent post about her homemade Pretzel Dogs and Sausages and her reference to Alton Brown’s famous soft pretzel recipe, as she gave me the inspiration to once again delve into the chewy goodness of homemade whole grain soft pretzels AND pretzel dogs.

First, mill whole wheat berries into flour using the WonderMill or the Wonder Junior Deluxe mill. I use hard white whole wheat berries.

WHOLE GRAIN SOFT PRETZELS AND PRETZEL DOGS

Yield: 12 Pretzel Dogs PLUS 8-10 soft pretzels

Pretzel Dough:
3 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
2 TB organic molasses (not blackstrap)
4 cups whole wheat flour, freshly-ground (I prefer hard white wheat berries)
1 TB organic apple cider vinegar
1 rounded TB instant yeast
2 TB organic sucanat
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 TB Kosher salt
1/4 cup vital gluten flour (optional)
Additional whole wheat flour, freshly-ground

Boiling Liquid:
16 cups water
2 TB organic molasses (not blackstrap)
1 cup baking soda

Topping:
2 large egg yolks mixed with 2 TB water
Kosher salt

In a large mixer or mixing bowl, place the warm water, 4 cups of flour, molasses, apple cider vinegar and the yeast. Mix until well-combined and smooth. Cover and let sit in a warm place until doubled. Stir down the batter and add in sucanat, oil, salt and vital gluten, mix well. Add in enough additional flour to create a study, but moist, pliable dough and knead by hand for 10 minutes, by machine 4-5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Bring water, molasses and baking soda to a boil in a wide pot.

Remove the dough from mixer and divide in half, weighing each portion for accuracy. Cover the portion not being used and for Pretzel Dogs divide the remaining portion into 12 equal portions, weighing about 2 ¾ ounces each. For Soft Pretzels, divide the dough into 10 equal portions, each weighing about 3 ounces each OR 8 portions weighing about 4 ounces each.

Pretzel Dogs:
Roll each portion out and flatten. Wind the dough around the hot dog and crimp the ends. When all the hot dogs are covered with dough, drop several at a time into the boiling water mixture. They will sink to the bottom and float to the top. Let boil only about 30-45 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon to a towel.

When all the Pretzel Dogs are boiled, transfer them to 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, brush with egg yolks and water mixture and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 450 for 12-14 minutes, or until deep brown. Remove Pretzel Dogs to a cooling rack.

For Soft Pretzels:
Roll each portion out to a 20-inch rope and twist in traditional pretzel shape. Drop by 2’s into boiling water mixture. They will sink to the bottom and float to the top. Let boil only about 30-45 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon to 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush with egg yolk and water mixture, sprinkle with coarse salt and bake at 450 for 12-14 minutes or until deep brown. Remove to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged pretzel dogs, Real Food Living, soft pretzels, whole wheat soft pretzels | 9 Comments

Spelt Oatmeal Cookies

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Feathers in Our Nest

+33

I like playing around with different whole grains other than just wheat. This recipe combines two of my favorite grains: spelt and oats! Spelt tastes a lot like white flour when used in recipes (try my spelt pie crust recipe here), so if you’ve never tried it before, now is the time!

These cookies are simply delicious! They are very gooey and moist, so they tend to fall apart (not a problem, IMO!). My two-year-old helped me make them, and she had a great time pouring the ingredients in and helping stir.

If you don’t want to bake them all right away, you can freeze the unbaked balls of dough for a later time. (I love doing this so that I can have “fresh” cookies anytime I want some!)

Spelt Oatmeal Cookies
(adapted from here)

1 1/2 cups spelt flour, freshly ground
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
3/4 cup sucanat or brown sugar
3/4 cup evaporated cane juice or white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Grind spelt in the WonderMill.

Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and beat until combined. Add salt, baking soda, and vanilla and mix again. Add oats and stir. Add spelt flour and stir until blended. Fold in chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Form into balls (rounded tablespoons) and place on a plate. Pop the plate in the freezer for at least 30-60 minutes to chill. This helps prevent spreading.

Place chilled balls of dough on silpat mat-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool slightly on cookie sheet for 5 minutes (will continue to cook at this point, so don’t overbake), then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged cookies, dessert, OATMEAL, oats, recipe, spelt, whole grain, whole grains | Leave a comment

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin Bread

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Donna Miller

+33

Let me start out by saying that I’m not lying when I use the word Raisin in the title – I had to substitute raisins with dates while making this recipe on this particular day because of two reasons.

1. I have a child who hates raisins.

2. We were out of them (:

So as you can see this would work with any dried fruit you prefer (even dates) but for the sake of how it’s usually made, I’m sticking to the traditional ingredient of raisins as I list the ingredients.

I also used Hard Red Wheat in this recipe due to the extra flavors and spices that are in it. The wheati-ness of the hard red did not over power the flavor of the whole loaf.

Ingredients…

1 1/2 Cups warm (100 degree) water
1 TBS Coconut oil (liquid state)
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

3 1/2 Cups Freshly Milled Hard Red Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 tsp Active Instant Yeast (SAF)

1/4 Cup Thick Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup Raisins (or chopped dates or dried fruit of your choice)

Extra Cinnamon from spice shaker

1 egg
1 tsp water
1 TBS Rolled Oats
Cinnamon & Sugar in a Shaker

First things first.

Grind your Hard Red Winter Wheat in the Wondermill or Wondermill Jr. Deluxe.

Bread Machine Directions…

Place first nine ingredients into bread machine in the order given. Turn bread machine on to ‘dough only’ setting and wait for the ‘additions’ beep. If you don’t have an ‘additions beep’ on your machine, set a timer for about half way through what the total dough making process is. For example: If your machine says total time is an hour and a half – set a timer for 45 minutes.

When timer or machine beeps – add raisins (or dried fruit) and thick rolled oats.

When the full ‘dough only’ cycle is finished, turn dough out on to greased board or counter top and flatten to remove all air bubbles.Then sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon on the top.

Spread with your hand to make sure the entire top is coated with cinnamon.

Roll as you would a regular loaf and shape your bread.

Place into a prepared bread pan. Mix egg and tsp of water with a whisk or fork and brush the top of the loaf (before it has risen).

Sprinkle with the TBS of rolled oats and a generous amount of your cinnamon & sugar mixture…

Once the loaf has risen to be about twice the size you started, bake at 325 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the top is tapped and makes a hollow sound.

I made mine in the new All American Sun Oven!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged bread, cinnamon, date, dates, OATMEAL, oats, RAISIN, recipe, rolled, sun oven, wondermill | 2 Comments

Slowcooker whole-grain bread

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Vickilynn Haycraft

+184

What do you do when you want some fresh, homemade, whole-grain bread that tastes divine and has the aroma that attracts people from far and wide, but it’s too hot to bake?

What do you do if you don’t have an automatic bread machine and the thought of baking bread in your regular oven makes you start to perspire?

What do you do if you love the convenience of an automatic bread maker but you don’t use non-stick coatings?

You bring out your slow cooker!

That’s right, the same wonderful, helpful vessel that cooks your pot roast to fall-apart yumminess and your chicken broth to perfection and your chili to new heights will bake your bread, AND not heat up your kitchen or use much electricity!!

Here’s what you do:

Mill grain in your WonderMill or Wonder Junior Deluxe.

Get your recipe (or use mine below) for automatic bread machines.
Get your bread pan (I use an 8 x 4 size).
Make sure your bread pan fits inside your slow cooker (you’ll need the large oblong ones, not the tall narrow ones) *If you don’t have a slow cooker that holds a bread pan, no worries, you can use parchment paper!
Grab your parchment.
Make your dough (see options below).
Place a crumpled sheet of parchment on the bottom of the slow cooker
Place your bread pan onto the parchment *If just using parchment, criss-cross 2 sheets as described below.
Place another sheet of parchment INside the pan (press into the corners) and make sure it goes up the sides and over the pan to protect the sides of the bread from burning.
Shape your dough into a loaf and place inside the slow cooker in the pan or on the parchment.
Place another sheet of parchment over the opening of the slow cooker, but not down touching the bread.
Place a towel over the the parchment and place the slow cooker lid over the towel. (These last 2 steps reduce the condensation from inside the slow cooker lid which can make your crust soggy.)
Turn the slow cooker to HIGH and bake for:

1 hour 30 minutes* for a 1-pound loaf
2 hours 15 minutes* for a 1 1/2 pound loaf
2 hours 30 minutes* for a 2-pound loaf

*Times vary depending on your specific slow cooker, the size and density of your dough and your desired crust thickness. If you want a soft crust, bake less time. A crusty chewy browned crust? Bake longer.

Be sure to take the temperature of the bread before removing from the pan. The internal temp should read 200 degrees F.

By picking up the parchment paper “sling,” remove the baked loaf from the slow cooker, remove parchment and transfer to a cooling rack and cover with the towel from the slowcooker.

Other ways to bake bread without heating up your kitchen:
Solar oven
Grill
Electric roaster
Wood-fired brick oven
Outdoor oven

WHOLE-GRAIN BREAD (2 pound loaf)

Yield: 12-15 slices
Baking Time: See above

1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon organic apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon SAF instant yeast
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup vital gluten flour
1/2 teaspoon natural salt
3 (or so) cups whole wheat flour (or Kamut), freshly groundMake dough by hand, in a stand mixer with a dough hook, or in a food processor.Place the water, 2 cups of flour, apple cider vinegar and the yeast in the bowl you are using. Mix well, cover and let sponge 30 minutes.Add remaining ingredients, adding enough flour for a dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes.Shape dough into a loaf and place inside the prepared slowcooker (which has been OFF) either in the pan or on parchment. Add the cover of parchment, towel and lid as described above. Turn slowcooker to HIGH and cook *UNDISTURBED* (do NOT lift lid until the end) for desired time and crust thickness.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged bread, slowcooker | Leave a comment

Healthy Whole Grain ‘Outback’ Style Bread

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Donna Miller

+29

This is by far one of my favorite treats when eating out that I began to miss when I thought I had to give up wheat bread. The whole story to that diagnosis can be found on this radio show.

Our children (now grown) always got to choose where/what and IF they want to go out to eat for their birthday. Often the sisters would make a specially decorated home-made cake, which range in themes from sports, Phantom of the opera and Star Wars. However, eating out was a special occasion they could choose for their birthdays.

Outback Steakhouse seemed to be one of the favored restaurants for our children’s birthday dinners is. It would often win as the birthday dinner spot of choice and we would take the hour drive to go out and enjoy the time together.

The brown bread at Outback Steakhouse may seem good because it’s dark, but it’s still not freshly milled like you get when you use the Wondermill. Just because it’s brown it doesn’t mean that it’s healthy or whole grain. This bread so dark mostly because of similar ingredients that are found in my healthier version. You’ll see…

Healthy ‘Outback’ Style Bread

Makes 3 small loaves or 24 cloverleaf rolls

Healthy Whole Grain 'Outback' Style Bread

This healthier version of the type of bread served at the Outback Steakhouse is easy to make at home using freshly milled flour and ingredients that your body recognizes as real food!

Author: Donna Miller of Millers Grain House

Recipe type: Side

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients:
1½ C Warm (110 degrees) Water
⅛ C Vinegar
¼ C Dark Blackstrap Molasses
2 TBS Cocoa (not Dutch)
1 TBS Instant Coffee

Dry Ingredients:
2 C freshly milled rye flour
2 ½ freshly milled hard white wheat
2 TBS Vital Wheat Gluten
1 tsp Salt
1 ½ Instant Active Yeast

Finishing Touches Ingredients:
⅛ C Cornmeal
1 Egg & 2 tsp Water Wash

Instructions

For bread machine:
Put all wet ingredients in the machine first in the order given, then the dry ingredients in the order given. Make the well for the yeast and turn machine on to dough setting. Then follow shaping and finishing touches, baking same as below** Remember these are 'free form', so you'll be shaping.
For hand mixing:
Put all wet ingredients together and mix until combined.
Add yeast to wet ingredients.
Mix all remaining dry ingredients together.
Add 1 cup at a time until ball forms the turn out onto floured surface to knead 5 - 10 minutes. This tends to be a slightly sticky dough, so if you want to kneed in a bowl it works fine.
Let rise in a warm place (min 75 degrees, max 90 degrees) covered for 30 - 45 minutes until double in size. Then punch down to form.
Forming and Finishing Touches:
For three equal loaves, I like to weigh my dough and divide in thirds.
Roll dough into oblong loaves and tuck ends and edges to the bottom of the roll.
Place both, seam sides down on greased cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.
Brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
Make sure there is room for loaves to double but not touch.
For cloverleaf rolls, pinch off 3 equal lumps of dough, roll into little balls and put in a greased and cornmeal sprinkled muffin tin.
Brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
Let rise until doubled (approx 30 minutes) and bake in that preheated oven for 20-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 and place rack at the center of the oven.
Start visually checking at 20 minutes. Then, after a few minutes, if you tap the top and it doesn't sound hollow, bake a few minutes more.
Let cool for a minute or two on a wire rack and serve with honey butter.

These all freeze very well after baking to be easily thawed and warmed to make a healthy addition and fun eat-out-at-home feeling to any dinner.

And because I hate to waste anything – I’d like to share this tip: What to do with leftover egg wash.

EnJOY!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged bread, Egg Wash, grain, healthy, Outback, Radio, recipe, whole, wondermill | 1 Comment

Fast Whole Wheat Garlic Breadsticks

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Feathers in Our Nest

+207

My husband loves anything with garlic (and, who am I kidding? I do too!), so these garlic breadsticks are always a HUGE hit whenever I make them! They are SO fast to make, which is awesome when I want to have bread to go with an Italian meal but only thought about it 45 minutes before dinner time.

I’ve made these with 100% whole wheat flour and with half all-purpose. Both ways are good!

You can easily whip up a batch to go with dinner tonight, especially since all of the ingredients are pantry staples!

Fast Whole Wheat Garlic Breadsticks
(adapted from here)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground (or use half unbleached all-purpose)
1 tsp. and 1/2 tsp. sea salt, divided
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. and 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, divided
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
up to 1 cup milk

Grind wheat in the WonderMill.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While oven is preheating, place 1/2 stick butter and 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a 9×13″ pan in the oven. (Be sure not to let it burn; just melt.)

In a mixing bowl, combine flour(s), 1 tsp. sea salt, baking powder, 1 tsp. garlic, and parsley flakes. Whisk to combine.

Add milk 1/4 cup at a time and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms, leaving the sides of the bowl. (I usually use more than 3/4 cup but less than 1 cup.)

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead 5-6 times, being careful not to overwork the dough. Shape/roll into a 9×13″ rectangle.

Pull 9×13″ pan out of the oven and sprinkle melted butter/oil with reserved 1/2 tsp. sea salt and 1/2 tsp. garlic powder. Place dough rectangle on top. Cut into 1/2 inch strips (I usually cut longways down the middle first and then across at 1/2″ increments).

Bake for 16-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged bread, breadsticks, easy, fast, quick, quick bread, wheat, whole grain, whole wheat | 1 Comment

Indian Corn Pudding

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Donna Miller

+175

Well, yes this is partially due to my heritage and partially due to the fact that June 27 was/is National Indian Pudding Day. (: For daily updates of what food holidays there are (every single day of the year) please visit and ‘like’ my Facebook Page.

So with that knowledge I was motivated to try Indian Corn Pudding (and made up most of the recipe from knowing what I liked and what we had on hand). It was a great new taste! I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was so easy! I will admit though, that being a warm pudding and the specific flavors, I will prefer this dessert during the winter months best…likely closer to Thanksgiving!

Hope you enjoy!

Indian Corn Pudding

A warm, crock-pot version with simple whole grain and wholesome sweetening ingredients that were most available during the time of the indigenous Americans and early settlers.

Author: Donna Miller of Millers Grain House

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Native American

Serves: 8

Ingredients

Ingredients:
3.5 c. milk (or use almond or coconut milk for dairy free option)
½ c. freshly milled cornmeal
½ tsp. salt
3 eggs
¼ c. light brown sugar (or succanant)
⅓ c. molasses
2 tbsp. butter (or use coconut oil to make dairy free)
½ tsp. cinnamon
⅛ tsp. allspice
⅙ tsp. ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅔ cup chopped dates or chopped raisins

Instructions

After assembling all ingredients and before starting the actual mixing lightly grease crock-pot. We like to use coconut oil for this.
Preheat it empty on high for 20 minutes while you're doing the next steps.
Meanwhile bring milk or nut-milk, cornmeal and salt to a low boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.
Cover and simmer on very low an additional 10 minutes stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. The mixture will become thick.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla, butter or coconut oil, and spices. Mix all together until well blended.
Temper this mixture by spooning in and well incorporating about ¼ cup of the hot cornmeal. Do this step twice to increase the temperature of the egg/spice mixture.
Now gradually beat the tempered egg/spice mixture into hot cornmeal mixture; whisk until smooth.
Stir in raisins or finely chopped dates. Pour into your pre-heated/oiled crock and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours or low* for 6 to 8 hours.