DIY #1:Whole Wheat Flour
Making your own flour might seem intimidating, but it's actually both easy and fun. The hard part is waiting for your wheat to grow! By the time we had made our first cup of flour, we had all learned a new skill. It's an incredible feeling to sever the gap between you and your store-bought flour.
1.Plant and grow the wheat. Here's a link explaining how to plant wheat: http://www.wikihow.com/Plant-Wheat
2. Harvest your wheat. Green wheat will grow slowly, then reach a growth spurt and suddenly shoot up. The stalks of wheat will grow heads. Finally, the wheat will turn golden-yellow. Cut all of your stalks of wheat using a reaper or shears. Place them on a large sheet of plastic.
3. Remove the wheat grains from the wheat heads. This is pretty simple to do by hand. Grab a head of wheat, and holding it over a bowl, crush and rub it until all of the chaff and grain falls out. Later we'll separate the grain from the chaff. Keep doing this until you have a sizable amount of chaff and grain. I did my first batch with about two cups.
4. Separate the chaff from the grains of wheat. Dump out your chaff and wheat on a tray of some sort. (I used a jell-roll pan with a lip). Then, you can either:
a. Place the tray in front of a fan and put on a gentle setting.
OR
b. simply blow on the tray. I just blew on it, and it didn't take too long.
Keep shuffling the grain around on the tray until all the chaff has blown away. It doesn't have to be perfect, a few little bits of chaff won't hurt you.
5. Grind the wheat into flour. Grab your coffee bean mill and throw in some of the wheat. Pulse until the wheat resembles flour.
There you have it! Whole wheat flour. Now go and make some bread with it!
DIY #2:Croutons
I don't plan on buying croutons. Ever. They are just so simple and delicious to make at home. You might want to double this recipe.
Ingredients:
6-7 slices of bread
4 tbsp butter(1/2 stick)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Chop bread into bite-sized cubes and place in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Combine remaining ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds.
4. Toss bread with butter mixture. Once thoroughly coated, spread in a single layer on a baking tray.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then shuffle them around on the tray. Bake for 10 more minutes. Let cool, then store in a cool, dry place.
