My educational Saturday

I went to a free class today at the Emergency supply store here in town this morning. It was a class about wheat bread. IT WAS AWESOME!!! The owner of the store has a kitchen set up cooking show style with an angled mirror above so you can see everything. I went thinking it may be real boring, you know like Enrichment or something :), but it was the most informative class I've ever been to regarding wheat. We watched the entire process of him grinding wheat into flour and turning it into all kinds of things. And we ate everything at the end!!! He made homemade wheat breat of course, cinnamon rolls, whole wheat pancakes, and pizza! I was in CARB HEAVEN!!! He made the pizza with pepperoni flavored textured vegetable protein. It sounds gross I know. I have never added any of that "fake" meat to my food storage. But I am SOLD. It was DELICIOUS! Everybody loved the pizza. It seriously tasted like real pepperoni. He simmered it on the stove with water for it to reconstitute and then used it as a topping. I realized that it would be great to add to any tomato based meal like spaghetti. At 13.00 per #10 can I couldn't pass it up.
I learned so much at the class that I can't regurgitate it all right now but here's some interesting points that stand out:

Wheat is a whole food. You could pretty much live off it. It is full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. That's why it's so vital to have enough in your food storage.

Once ground, wheat oxidizes and loses 70-90% of its nutrients within 3 days. So that whole wheat flour you can buy at the store is pointless. Kept cold, it stays good just a little longer. You really have to grind it fresh and use it quickly to reap the nutritional benefits.

Wheat is graded by the growers determined by its quality. The VERY low quality is sold to the companies that produce white flour. They don't care...they're stripping it down to nothing anyways. PLEASE do not buy white bread for your family. It's garbage.
the mid level wheat is sold to cereal companies and the best wheat is sold in bulk unprocessed to people like us. The wheat we are buying these days for our storage is very nutritious and high in protein.

Weavils are a big problem with wheat. That is the main reason why we need to seal it up so tight. There are already weavil eggs(?) in your wheat. If you don't store it properly you give them the right environment to grow and take over. yuck....

Add dough conditioner to any whole bread recipe you're using. I can't remember everything it does but it makes your bread much softer in the end.

Rumford baking powder is the BEST baking powder. It is aluminum free and for whatever reason makes the best bread. He said to use Rumford in every recipe that calls for baking powder.

Anyhow....that's just a few tidbits....the class had such an effect on me that I went home, talked to Nephi, and then got online and found a great price on a Bosch mixer. I ordered it! I have a kitchenaid already but as he demonstrated he showed how wonderful a Bosch is and I was sold. It's true. I've tried to make bread in my kitchenaid. It just can't handle it well. Nephi made me promise that if I bought it I would actually start making bread. That has been an empty promise for me in the past but for the first time I actually feel like I can do it.
Nephi's mom is on a mission and she said awhile back that I could go to her house and pick up her old HEAVY wheat grinder to use. We picked it up this evening and I am ready to get to work. I even have an open bucket of white wheat.
Oh yeah, he demonstrated whole wheat pancakes where all you have to do is throw a cup of wheat kernels in with milk, eggs, salt, oil, and honey into the blender and it makes yummy, nutritious pancakes. If you're a pancake family then I guarantee no one would think these taste strange. I'm tired of typing so if you want the recipe leave a comment. After this class I strongly suggest that everyone 1)get wheat 2)store some 3)keep some on hand (to at least make healthy pancakes for your kids if not a lot of other things) 4) check on getting a grinder, they're not cheap, or at least having access to someone else's.