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Best Grains To Use For Cookies

2/15/2018

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No mater what you are baking there are 2 rules when selecting grains:
  • I suggest you always go with a organic or chemical free grains. You are taking the time to mill the flour use the best wheat berries.
  • The next choice is to buy a spring berry, instead of a winter berry. The difference is the spring berry is planted in the spring by the farmer and it grows all season and is harvested. The winter berry is planted as a second crop after the spring wheat. When the winter wheat is planted the soil is still warm and the wheat grows some, then the cold weather stops the growth and over the winter it goes dormant until the following spring. Then it will finish growing and finally be harvested. This starting and stopping of the growth reduces the protein or gluten in the grain.

When I first started to mill my own flour, I didn't know that much about the different grains. There is nothing like experience to teach you that cakes made with a hard grain (hard red or white wheat) would bounce off the wall due to the high gluten.

Understanding the different grains and characteristics of each will help you with all your baking items. Cookies, cakes, muffins any baked item that is chemically leavened with a baking powder or baking soda will need grain a that has low gluten to create a tender textured finished product.

Soft White or Soft Red Wheat = Pastry Flour
My first choice for making baked items that are chemically leavened with baking powder or soda is a soft white spring wheat. I usually choose a soft white wheat berry over a soft red wheat berry just to keep the end product lighter in color. Both will work fine, it just depends on what you want the final product to look like. The other grains below are often substituted as part of the flour in the recipe and mixed with the soft white to produce a unique mix.

Heirloom Grains = Spelt or Others
Spelt is an heirloom grain that has gluten but not as much as a hard wheat. You could use this in cookies, or mixed with a soft wheat berry. I would not use 100% spelt flour it you are making a cake.

Oat Groats = Oat Flour
Oats do not have gluten, and sometimes you want the cookie to be very tender. Like short bread cookies, which have a melt in your mouth texture. Mixing a soft wheat with oat flour could be an option. Oats do have a taste so consider that when choosing oats.

Soy Flour
I do not mill my own soy flour, because I have a stone mill and soy has some oil which is not good for stone mills. A small amount of soy flour is used as a dough conditioner when making bread. When you add soy to a cookie recipe it gives the cookies a very soft, melt in your mouth texture. It only take a couple of tablespoons to 1/4 c. for the recipe.

Pearled Barley = Barley Flour
Barley flour does not have gluten and like the soy it also gives cookies a soft texture. The barley gives the cookies a nutty taste and you only need a few tablespoons in the recipe.

There are many other options but these are my usual mixes. You can use all soft white flour in your cookie recipes but if you substitute some of the flour in the recipe for a different grain you can come up with a wonderful cookie mix that is unique in taste and texture.
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Making The Perfect Cookie

1/19/2015

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Picture
Cookie season is the holidays, but at my house it's everyday. If you mill your own grains you have so many options, on the type of grain to use for your cookies. No mater what flour you use here are some tips to achieve the perfect cookie.


1. Do not over mix the dough

Beat the sugar into the butter, margarine or shortening. Eggs are then added one at a time. Finally, flour and dry ingredients added. Cookies have little or no liquid ingredients so the dough is stiff compared to a muffin or cake batter.

2. Refrigerate the dough
Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours minutes or until cold. Most cookies have a high fat content, and if left out at room temperature they will spread more than you may want when baked. Cold dough will give you a soft chewy cookie. After the dough is cold scoop your cookies.


3. Use a cookie scoop
This makes each cookie the same size allowing for even baking. For a smaller size cookie a size #40 scoop is great and a bit larger size is a #24 scoop.


4. Freeze the scooped cookies
Once the cookie dough is cold and easy to scoop, use your cookie scoop and scoop out all the cookies onto a baking sheet. Put them very close together, cover with plastic and freeze them overnight. Once they are frozen you can move them into a plastic container for long term storage if you wish. You can take out a few at a time and bake from the frozen state.

5. Prepare your cookie sheet / pans
Use a silpat or parchment paper if you like on your baking sheets. Depending on your baking sheets you may not need anything. After removing the cookies from the oven let them sit on the cookie sheet for 2-5 minutes to firm up and finish baking. Then remove to a cooling rack. Allow the cookie sheet to cool completely before putting the next batch of cookies on the sheet. Multiple pans solve this issue.

6. Don't over bake
Cookies bake in a short time, generally 8 to 15 minutes usually at 350 degrees to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Frozen dough may add a few minutes to the baking time. They can burn very easily, and they can be deceptive by looking under baked when in fact they're perfect. Many cookies rise a little bit, but usually collapse a bit when pulled from the oven. If you want soft chewy cookies under bake them, they will continue baking on the sheet. Crispy cookies leave a little longer in the oven.


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