Holme Mills in Bedford is restarting the wheel on Saturday to grind a limited run of wholemeal on French burr stones; has anyone baked with their 85% extraction lot yet? I’m itching to try a 24-hour sponge from the 1917 Ministry of Food guidance and wonder if it behaves closer to late Victorian household flour than modern high-extraction.
And > of Food guidance and wonder if it behaves closer to late Victorian household flour Close-ish: the 85% burr-milled runs a touch stronger and stickier, so keep the sponge cool (about 18°C) with 0.5% salt and hold back 2–3% water. Sift out about 3% coarse bran, scald it, and fold it in at mix; if you’re at Holme Mills Saturday, can you note the ash % on the sack?
Quick tip that paid off for us: we put color-coded bins at each table (bones/trim/grind) and log yields right there; cleanup got faster and we clawed back 3–4% in usable trim. @lsimmons2005 is right on training — rather than a lecture we run a 10-minute ‘test cut’ on a chicken or pork shoulder once a week, think of it as sprints for knife skills. Small caveat: the first week drags a bit, so kick it off on your slowest day.