I am a Flour Snob, Flax Bread

Ok,  I am a flour snob,  Probably to the level of obnoxious.  I cannot eat anything if I am uncertain of the flour.  For example,  hamburger buns are one of the worst things out there.  I don’t eat fast food burgers for that reason alone.  They are filled with so many chemicals that they never go bad.  Think about it,  you can have a bag of them sitting on the counter for ages and they never go bad.  Can that be good for your bodies?  Absolutely not.  If it will keep that long, what are all those chemicals going to do to our bodies?  

I used to go to those cookie exchanges for the holiday season,  but I just cannot do it.  All the cookies were made with junk flour filled with chemicals.   I am sure they tasted great, but I feel it when I eat them.  And my wife knows right away.  I will come home and she will say, “What have you been eating, your itching?”

It hits me about 5 minutes after I eat anything made with poor quality flour.  I start to itch and I itch and itch.  So I am careful about the flour I use in cooking.  

Let explain one other clear fact about my philosophy in life.  White flour is toxic when you use the garbage stuff, but white flour does have it’s place in our life.  I love breads made with white flour and there are some things that just require white flour.  Usually I add grains and for most of my baking that does not use yeast I will use whole grains, but when baking yeasted products, I do love to use white flour.  Having said that, I will again refer to my being a flour snob.  I use only flours that are chemical free and  bromine free.  

My favorite flours to use are Honeyville’s Flours.  All of their flours fit into my snobbery.   They are perfectly clean and they work perfectly.  The great news out is that they are packaging more and more of their amazing flour for the retail consumer.  That would be you and me.  I adore each one of them and over the next few months I will be blogging about each one them with recipes and ideas for how to use them.  They are available on line and in the stores.  

So join me as I take you on a flour adventure the will change your life as much as it has changed mine.  Baking should be fun, exciting, healthy, and not filled with toxic chemicals.  Thank you Honeyville for providing yet another reason for me to love what you do.  

Chef Brad~America's Grain Guy 

French Flax Bread

2 cups hot water

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 cup soaked whole flax seed,  Soak overnight 

1 cup fresh ground spelt flour

3 cups Honeyville Artisan Flour

3 tablespoons yeast

Egg wash

Place water, sugar, salt, soaked flax, and fresh ground spelt in Wondermix bowl with yeast on top.  Turn on mixer and add Artisan white flour until dough cleans sides of the bowl. Mix for 6 minutes.  Remove from pan and form into loaves and place on a parchment paper to rise.  Let rise until double and wash with egg wash.  Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven on a pizza stone if you have one  for 25 to 30 minutes or until center of the bread reaches 210 degrees.