Mingus Mill Whole Wheat Flour - Historical Bread

Mingus Mill Flour

Much of American history has taken place generally in the Appalachian Mountain and more specifically the Great Smoky Mountains. The Smokies are a range of mountains spanning the border areas of North Carolina and Tennessee. The area is home to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. From the North, Highway 441 crosses the Smoky Mountains from north to south. Beginning in Pigeon Forge, passing through Gatlinburg, the highway winds its way through the rolling mountains of the Smokies. On the southern side of the mountains the highway exits near Cherokee, Tennessee. If you’re visiting the Smoky Mountains from the south side, a little drive up the highway to the Sugarlands Visitor Center will provide you with a lot of information about the park, where to go and what to see. A little farther up the road is the Oconaluftee Visitor Center where you can enjoy walking through a living exhibit demonstrating how the early settlers to this area farmed and eked out a living from the soil. Farmers grow wheat to make their bread. Someone has to grind the wheat to make the flour to bake the bread. In 1790 the Mingus family built a mill alongside a creek a little farther up into the mountains. The Creek has taken his name from those early settlers. Water from the creek was guided down a millrace to turn a waterwheel which in turn powered the mill to grind flour from the grain. In 1886 the mill was replaced with a new or more modern facility and equipped with a water turbine. The mill was operated until about 1930 when it was acquired by the National Park Service during the creation of the great Smoky Mountains national Park. During the summer the mill operates as a historical exhibit. It is a working mill and really does produce flour. Tourists, like me, can buy souvenir bags of flour to take home to make bread. I bought a bag and out whole-wheat flour. I brought it home so I could make a loaf of bread with flour produced in a historical mill. Homemade bread, ground on millstones turned by a waterwheel, certainly had intriguing connection to the past and eating the bread would make a closer connection to the ways of my ancestors. I used the bread maker to make a small loaf of bread.

Mingus Creek Mill

Ingredients:
1 cup Mingus Mill whole-wheat flour
½ cup milk
½ cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup solid shortening
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
Procedure:

Millrace

Place ingredients and bread maker pan putting the wet ingredients at the bottom. Set bread maker to make dough cycle and start machine.
When machine has completed cycle pour dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough and form into your loaf shape.
Use nonstick spray or parchment paper on your baking sheet. Place the bread dough on the baking sheet and cover with a loose towel and set in a warm place to rise. Allow to rise until doubled.
Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 20 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and when tlumped with a finger sounds hollow.
It is really easy to over-bake a small loaf of bread like this. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes before cutting.

Millrace

This recipe, with the Mingus Mill flour, makes a hearty, whole-wheat bread that is moist, has good texture and is flavorful. Should you be fortunate one day, to pass the Mingus Mill, you owe it to yourself to stop and pick up a bag of their flour and make your own historical bread. Happy baking. Happy history.

Loaf of Mingus Mill Whole Wheat Flour Bread

6/30/2013:

 I had an e-mail from a nice gentleman named Ron McCrady. He was kind enough to point out I made some grievous typos in this recipe: ½ cup instead of 2 cups of whole wheat flour and tablespoons instead of teaspoons of yeast. AS he humorously put it, “…it came out whole wheat soup.” I apologize for any inconvenience this may has caused anyone and thanks again to Ron for taking the time to point out the error of my ways. Best wishes to all, Larry