[Sca-cooks] (no subject)

[Terry Decker]

>Has anyone tried bolting whole wheat flour themselves,
>or am I just warped to think of it? I know they wanted
>Wonder Bread, but I also know they couldn't achieve
>it. Modern white flour is different from anything they
>could get, but they would not have used ordinary whole
>wheat for manchet - how unrefined!

Modern roller milling separates the germ from the rest of the grain.  Had
they separated the germ, Medieval millers with the best of stones could have
gotten close to modern unbleached white flour.  An 80 to 85 percent
extraction rate compared to 95 percent for a modern roller mill.  Of course
most Medieval mills made do with poorer quality stones.

Manchet is made from flour that has been bolted at least twice.

They bolted it. So,
>how much bran could they, in fact, remove in the
>process? I assume you'd need to start with stone
>ground flour.

About 14 pounds of bran and middlings per bushel, IIRC.

>I have this vision of myself in the kitchen with a
>fine mesh strainer... then a sifter...

Try coarse and fine weaves of muslin or linen.

Bear