Recipes from the Old Mill: Backing with Whole Grains

Before I had this cookbook, I tried to add whole grain to my recipes and often ended up with very dense foods. With this cookbook, my pancakes and muffin are fluffy and delicious, but much healthier than regular recipes.

I've owned this book for many years. I have had wonderful reviews from my family on almost every item I've baked from it. I've tried several of the bread/roll recipes and they are well done. Our family's current favorite is the recipe for butterhorns - I made a batch of 24 yesterday and all but 2 are gone now! My only complaint is that a couple of the recipes I've tried have been a little on the dry side when finished. Other than that everything has been excellent that we have tested. My copy of the book is also nicely laid out - easy to read, and plenty of room to make my personal notes.

This is the first time I have ever considered a book worthy of my time in writing a review. In response to the reviewer that complained of the use of white flour in many of the recipes in this book, she is right...many of them do call for white flour. However, I have never used processed white flour in any of the recipes, substituting instead fresh ground soft white wheat or simply using an equal measure of the whole grain already called for in the recipe, and have never been disatisfied with the result. Our family is quite accustomed to the "heavy" taste of whole grains now and appreciates the full rich flavor and texture, so I get no complaints! I won't testify that it will work in all cases, as we have not tried "all" the recipes, but it has worked so far. Honestly, this book is our favorite along with the Breadbeckers recipe book, and we use one or both almost daily. Mostly we prepare quick breads, freshly ground grain prepared and baked at the moment we are ready to eat it! We have yet to prepare a recipe from this book that failed to live up to our expectations. It is chock full of very "doable", down-home recipes...unlike many books I have tried that list ingredients I don't usually have on hand. In fact, if you want to "sabotage" your plan to begin using fresh ground whole grains in your family's diet, just start with a book that makes your goal miserably unattainable...difficult recipes, "exotic" flavors...there are a few of those gathering dust on my bookshelf. On the other hand, if you are serious about adding whole grains to your family's diet WITHOUT spending all day in the gourmet supermarket and THEN all the next day in the kitchen working on ONE MEAL (that neither your husband nor your children will eat), then choose this book that balances healthy nutrition with daily common sense in a way that IS attainable. It is brimming with delicious recipes that your family WILL eat, along with information on the whole grains and advice on all the techniques of baking with them. Another very nice feature are the "quips" of encouragement and nostalgia that are posted throughout...between homeschooling and "homekeeping", some days my soul needs THAT food more than my body needs the grain... In closing, I will tell you what my three young children have to say about this book. One morning while enjoying some of the delicious muffins we had made, my oldest son asked me who wrote the recipe book. After I told him, he said, "Mama, if Mrs. Myers and Mrs. Lind are in Heaven, we need to ask Jesus to thank them for this book!" Well, assuming that Mrs. Myers and Mrs. Lind are still with us (and I believe that they are), then it is to them I say, "For all the wonderful times I have shared baking with my children, and for all the yummy recipes that put smiles on their young faces...thank you."

I have prepared several of the recipes in this fine book and they were wonderful. The recipes not only sound good, but are clearly written and easy to follow. It is important to me that a recipe book take the time to standardize the recipies so that the recipe comes out the same each time it is baked. That has clearly been done here. And even more important, the recipes are delicious. I highly recommend this book to both new and experiences bakers.