I used to do all the stuff for making super fresh bread. Life intervened. Nobody can do everything and more important things had to happen. My bread stuff was packed away and that was that.
Nothing is lost if you haven’t given up. Life changed again and now I find myself an empty nester with more time on his hands and slightly reduced health so I’m not out there tilting at windmills or whatever (at least for now). Last month I brushed off my bread machines and started baking. One was completely dead, another one made a few loaves and then gave up the ghost.
So I bought a new bread maker. It’s a KBS Premium 2LB Convection Bread Maker. I’m reasonably happy with it. I thought I’d posted about it but maybe I haven’t. Honestly, most bread makers are so similar I suspect many of the components come out of the same factory. There are a few models that cost more than I’d ever pay. I suppose they’re great but I’ll never know. There are a few in the sub $100 range and they’re probably ok but I use a bread machine pretty hard so I wanted to go up in quality. The KBS Premium 2LB Convection Bread MakerI bought is “on sale”. The recipe booklet that comes with it is absolute trash but the heating unit is a little higher wattage and I like that. I recommend my choice but if you’re fishing in the $100-200 range probably all options are adequate.
I made a few loaves and then decided to bring my beloved Nutrimill grain mill out of storage. It runs just fine even after all these years. I’m glad because grain mills ain’t cheap! I’d link to it but either the model I have is no longer made or Amazon is using its monopoly power to kick it to the curb. If anyone is interested I can investigate further.
How about the wheat I stored a zillion years ago? Only one way to find out! Remember I’m talking about wheat berries, not flour! Flour goes bad much faster and when it goes bad it sucks. Wheat berries store a lot better. I figure they’re fine for 5-10 years. But when I grabbed my oldest bucket of wheat berries it was from 2009!
That’s old! The wheat in that bucket is damn near old enough to vote! It would be reasonable to expect it to be completely shot. But why not experiment?
It ground up into flour that smelled fine. I made a very basic loaf with 2 cups bread flour and 2 cups freshly ground 100% wheat flour. I didn’t have high hopes. Wheat bread in general has less gluten and doesn’t always agree with bread makers. Wheat flour from 17 years ago is an unlikely roll of the dice.
To my surprise, it went through the bread machine and smelled right and raised fine. It came out looking good.
But when I cut it there was a bit of an air bubble in the loaf. Also it tasted ok but not excellent.
Summary: bread made from 17 year old wheat berries is OK but also tastes exactly like it was made with stale wheat.
If you’re in a bunker or something, this would be absolutely fine. I’m not living in a bunker so I’ll toss the 17 year old wheat. I’m thinking of waiting until spring and spreading it on some plowed soil. I’d love to know if it would germinate. The nearby wildlife might be interested too.
No experiment is a failure if you learn so I’m not upset. Also, I’m not done experimenting. I scrounged around and found a bucket of wheat from 2021. Five years is a lot more realistic than seventeen.
I’ll report back with further findings.
Wish me luck.
A.C.