h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One thing- fresh yeast is dead easy to get hold of in the UK- my father uses it in his home brewed beer- any decent brewery supplier has it.

Also, while covering teh dough while it rises may not be necessary for good bread, it it's a good idea if you're not keen on flies wiping their dirty feet on it

ZSF: Yes, you did suggest I wrote this one. What a good thing you did. I really enjoyed doing it. And thanks for picking Mudbrick oven Shame you won't be picking this one!

KerrAvon: I think brewers' yeast and bakers' yeast are different; brewers' being stronger (and tasting stronger) than bakers'. Anybody going out to get fresh yeast from a brewing source better check that out.

Good point about flies, although I haven't ever had that problem - perhaps they don't like flour/dough?


F/b

I cover stuff in my kitchen with cloths anyway, so I dunno if they are interested in dough- but they land randomly anywhere else, so I don't see why the wouldn't land on dough, even if they weren't interested in it.

Great entry FBean Is it also a myth that stone-ground flour contains a small amount of powdered stone from the milling process.

Scope for a separate entry on the constituents of flour / uses of wheat? No EG entry on flour!

A couple of tpyos:
White breads cooks better hot. > White breads cook better hot.
supplimentary > supplementary

Pimmsaloonie

Thanks Pimms

I really enjoyed putting this one together.

I've amended the typos - I'm glad somebody's spotting them!

It must be inevitable that a small amount of stone would end up in stoneground flour I guess. The stones that are usually in use are incredibly hard silica stone (ie diamonds) - all from one single quarry just outside Paris.

In fact (useless historical fact coming up...), stone from the quarry was used as ballast in trading ships in the 18th and 19th Centuries. The ships sailed from France full of stone ballast, then they'd jettison the stone in places like Indonesia, Australia, NZ, America etc and fill up with spices etc. So you find these (now incredibly rare and valuable) lumps of silica stone all over the world.

More useless information... The stones for watermills are patterned in just one particular way, to optimise the crushing of the wheat - and allowing the flour to go to the sides and out of the way. There is reputedly only one guy in UK who knows how to cut virgin stones. Millers have to sharpen the stones regularly, and often mess up the pattern. So this one stone-cutter must be in demand.

As for your question about stone fragments in the flour... there is evidence from medieval times and before, from teeth that have been found, that silica stones were not in common use and that people's teeth were seriously affected (ground down) by stone, presumably occuring in bread - and cakes. Any hard stone would have been used as a crushing block or grinding stone for wheat - granite was presumably one of the most popular.

I didn't realise I had so much useless knowledge stored away on that topic!

Constituents of flour and uses of wheat... I'll give that some thought and maybe write something on it. I'm kind of a foody , so as long as I can put recipes and drooling descriptions in there, it's probably a possibility !


F/b

Thanks for the feedback FB. Glad you've cleared up that there isn't *much* stone in stone-ground flour nowadays (compared with medieval evidence) - but if millers need to sharpen frequently the edge that has been lost must be in the flour, no?

Pimms
(I would like to recommend this entry but I'm too late )

Hi Pimms

Yes, I guess that the bits that go missing must be in the flour. But don't worry: if you think how hard diamond is, it'll be minute fragments that end up being eaten. Probably terribly good for you! I don't think anybody would end up finding a real diamond, or lump of silica in their bread (famous last words!).

Too late eh?


F/b

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Congrats!

Congratulations!
I'm the scout who picked your entry.
I see you already have the official notification, so you'll know what happens next.

Ausnahmsweise, wie üblich.

Pimms

Thank you all for the peering and the comments!

Special thanks to Ausnahmsweise, wie üblich for picking it.


F/b

Congratulations, F/b. If awu hadn't picked it, I would have!

Sorry ZSF!
All's fair in H2G2 and war.
Awu

Aw shucks...fighting over my entry!


F/b

This is a great article. And I've been griping about not being able to find any real wholegrain bread and that I'm going to have to make my own. (I haven't made bread for years - )

You have inspired me.

Congratulations.

Of course we fight over entries this good. I had it down as a definite pick, but I also knew that it would get chosen well before my turn came around.

Well done

This could all go to a 's head!

Many thanks for all the compliments.

Look out for the next offering, coming soon...


F/b

This could all go to a 's head!

Many thanks for all the compliments. Hypatia: I am more delighted than I can say, to have inspired you to make your own bread.

Look out for the next offering, coming soon...


F/b