Old Stone Mill - Bread Recipes

60th ANNIVERSARY BREAD RECIPES

For the 60th anniversary of the Delta Mill Society in 2023, we published two award winning recipes that make use of our cold stone ground Red Fife flour. We give out these recipes at the Old Stone Mill to anyone who purchases our whole wheat flour. Since this is an organically grown heritage wheat, cold stone ground on millstones, it has slightly different characteristics than commercial flour. Our flour, unlike commercial flours, only contains flour, nothing else. Our whole wheat flour is literally 100%, when we grind 1 kg of wheat it results in 1 kg of flour.

View or download the recipes:

Old Stone Mill 60th Anniversary Bread Recipes (PDF)

Louise Richards giving a bread making course in the Old Stone Mill

Bread making requires only four main ingredients - flour, water, salt, and yeast, plus a dash of this and that to enhance baking and flavour. The recipes included here are just to get you started, we encourage you to experiment. Different types of flour and baking techniques combine to create the taste and texture of the bread.

At its most basic, making leavened (risen) bread involves adding yeast to wet flour. Wetting the flour initially develops the gluten, while kneading the flour makes the gluten strands stronger. Yeast reacts (ferments) with sugars in the flour to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) - this causes the dough to rise. The amount of the rise will help determine the "lightness" of the bread while the amount and strength of the gluten determines the chewiness. The strain of wheat used to make the flour, the type of flour, and the bread making process will all determine the taste.

Our flour comes from heritage Red Fife wheat, a hard spring wheat, high in protein (gluten) and lower in starch. This makes it an ideal bread making flour and it's the reason Red Fife was originally developed and remains popular today.

Old Stone Mill Recipes (please read the tips below before using these recipes):

	Old Stone Mill White Bread			Old Stone Mill Brown Bread
	Old Stone Mill Whole Wheat Bread			Olive Oil Dough

You can also download a PDF with all the recipes:

Old Stone Mill Bread Recipes

Public Submitted Recipes:

Old Stone Mill Thin Crust Pizza Dough

General Tips:

Louise & Natalie with fresh loaves of bread

Louise Richards and "Millie" (aka Natalie Wood) with freshly made loaves of Old Stone Mill bread

Store your flour in a cool dry place - Old Stone Mill Flour does not contain any preservatives
Use flour that has been aged at least 1 week
Use non-softened water
Use fresh (non-expired) yeast (instant dry yeast is recommended)
Ideal room temperature for dough rising is 27°C (81°F)
Some recipes use a steam tray during the initial baking to ensure moist loaf. Be sure to take it out at the recommended time to ensure a nice crust.

Bread you make yourself or buy from the Old Stone Mill has no preservatives, so the following are a few tips to make the most of any loaves made from Old Stone Mill flour:

Bread Storage Tips:

For immediate consumption (within 24 hours), store the bread at room temperature in a paper bag (do not store in a fridge or in a plastic bag)
To eat later, freeze the bread in a plastic freezer bag. Before use let thaw at room temperature for 1-2 hours. Then bake at 375F for 5-10 minutes (You can mist the crust before baking to prevent crust from crumbling).

Terms Used:

Mixing: combining ingredients with water to form dough

Kneading: hard mixing of the dough to develop the gluten

Fermentation (1st Rise): yeast uses sugar to grow, producing CO2 which forms bubbles in the dough

Knock Back: punching down the dough (and sometimes a bit of folding) to expel the CO2 (gases) in the dough

Benching: letting dough rest on the counter

Proof (2nd Rise): rising of the dough shaped into bread loaves

Steam Tray: a metal pan placed in the oven on the shelf below the bread. A bit of water (¼ to ½ cup) is added to the pre-heated tray when the bread is put in the oven. This creates steam and a moist environment for the initial baking of the bread.

Problem Solving:

SHAPE		TEXTURE
Fault	Cause	Fault	Cause
Poor volume	- too much yeast	Too dense	- too little liquid
	- too little salt		- too little yeast
	- too little liquid		- under fermented
	- weak flour		- under proofed
	- under/over mixing		- too much salt
	- over too hot
		Too open	- too much yeast
Too much volume	- too much salt		- too much yeast
	- too little liquid		- incorrect mixing time
	- over proofed		- over proofed
	- too much dough
		Too crumbly	- too little salt
Poor Shape	- too much liquid		- flour too weak
	- too much oven steam		- baking temp too low
			- fermentation too long
CRUST			- over proofed
Fault	Cause
Too pale	- too much oven steam	FLAVOUR
	- oven temp too low	Fault	Cause
	- baking time too short	Poor Flavour	- too little salt
	- too little sugar/milk		- rancid ingredients
	- over fermented		- under fermented
	- over proofed		- over fermented

Too Dark	- opposite of above

Split Crust	- over mixing
	- oven too hot
	- uneven oven temp

Blisters	- too much liquid

Too thick	- over cooked
	- too little sugar/fat

	Old Stone Mill White Bread			Old Stone Mill Brown Bread
	Old Stone Mill Whole Wheat Bread			Olive Oil Dough

You can also download a PDF with all the recipes:

Old Stone Mill Bread Recipes

The Delta Mill Society
Box 172, Delta, Ontario K0E 1G0
Tel: 613-928-2584 (office)
Email: info@deltamill.org