Caraway & Poppy Seeds, Rye Flakes, & Nutrimill

I thought that a separate thread with a pertinant heading would help others, even though I've included some of this information elsewhere.

I attribute a lot of my "success" with my rye bread to using rolled rye grain or "rye flakes" and caraway seeds. I get my rye flakes from Barry Farms. Here's their link: www.barryfarm.com I got tired of paying almost $4 for less than 2 ounces of Caraway seeds at the local stores. As for Poppy seeds - couldn't find them anywhere. I got on eBay and found Mels Country Acres. There I bought a pound of Caraway seeds and a pound of Poppy seeds for somewhere around $15 delivered. They have a toll-free number: (800) 267-6141. He has a lot of other goodies too at great prices. I was surprised at how fresh my seeds were when they arrived. Excellent scents and they were also clean - very important to me.

My biggest remaining problem is obtaining a good hard wheat flour. This is about to change as I just ordered a Nutrimill yesterday.

Buying my Nutrimill was an experience, to say the least. I sent emails to the sellers who were advertising on eBay. I consider a timely response to be 24 hours. One seller did not respond, period. The second seller responded, but she failed to answer all of my questions (1 out of 3 answered). 3 follow-up emails on my part went unanswered. Don't ask me why I even tried sending that many follow-up emails - a mental lapse, temporary insanity, dunno...lol... The 3rd seller was a charm. She answered in a timely fashion and answered all of my questions. Needless to say, she got my business. Her eBay name is "For Your Kitchen". Here's a link to her auction for a Nutrimill on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/NUTRIMILL-Grain-Mill-Wheat-Grinder-FREE-S-H-Demo... By the way, the second seller who lacked comprehension skills and timing finally emailed me after 5 days! I emailed her back that I couldn't wait any longer for her reply and had bought a Nutrimill elsewhere. What followed was an unbelieveable response of sour grapes. Talk about a bitter person...very sad indeed.

I noticed this morning (7/22/07) that another Nutrimill dealer has a demo unit listed. Starting bid is $165. Dunno how you feel about buying a demo. It will probably go higher. It could end up being a good buy. Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Nutrimill-Grain-Grinder-Demo_W0QQitemZ190085...

I hope that this helps someone, or if you have a better source, let us know!

Cliff.

Hi Cliff. Thanks for the timely information and link. I've been curious about a good source of seeds for bread toppings. Many are available organicly grown at in Albuquerque at a natural food store. But I am concerned with freshness especially with sesame seeds. Those go bad so quickly once they are hulled as do most grains or seeds. Poppy seeds are a favorite of mine too. I grew up in Pa. dutch country and there were pastries made with poppy seeds soaked in milk. It appeared as a sort of paste in the ones I remember in a dough about like cinnamon roles. I'd love to find a recipe for these. `Saw your post on fortifying grain ideas. I had read somewhere in a natural food publication that about 31 things are removed and way less then that gets included in the commercial version of `fortified. Reading the ideas on D I Y home fortification, it seemed to me that those ingredeints wouldn't get it all back either. But anything is better than the dead white powder, known as flour, in the stores. Are there grains better than the hard red winter wheat that I get from the natural food coop? They don't offer many varieties. A friend who lives in Germany says they have a ton of wheat varieties over there. It's probably why the bread over there is so good. Ron

Ron,

The best wheat for bread from what I've read (and eaten) is hard spring wheat, a white wheat. It has a higher protein content than red wheat. It must be something good as the U.S. government doesn't allow it to be exported according to one article that I read.

Yes, I remember the egg bread with poppy seeds on top that my grandmother used to make - delicious. She used to make some rolls too with a poppy seed paste. She was White Russian and her husband a Cossak - not to far from where your ancestors came from in Europe although it seems that no one over there ever got along...lol...they had to wait to get over here.

Cliff. Johnston
"May the best you've ever seen,
Be the worst you'll ever see;"
from A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay