I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 44 Threshing and Grinding
Ryan was surprised by the grain yield per acre.

Luc was not surprised, as he had already made the winnowing basket in winter.

But the most necessary tool for threshing is a flail.

——An ancient agricultural tool that gradually developed into a weapon.

The joy of harvest will dispel the physical fatigue. The two got up before dawn. Ryan plane out a long and a short piece of wood according to his memory. Luc didn't buy many nails at the beginning, and now all of them are used on the new house. Ryan can only laboriously chisel out wooden rings at both ends of the wood, string vines on them, hold the long stick with both arms and swing it, and the short stick tied to it makes a whistling sound.

Ryan carried the grain out of the warehouse and scattered it on the ground one by one. Luc took the flail, lifted it up and smashed it against the wheat ears. With a "click" sound, the wheat grains fell and rolled all over the ground.

Ryan took the opportunity to forge a second flail.

When the two of them pounded the ears of corn together, their progress immediately accelerated. The rhythmic bang-bang-bang sound merged into a unique rhythm. To prevent the grains from escaping, gravel was placed around them.

Threshing is a very tiring process. The two men threshed from morning to night until their arms became sore before they finally scattered all the wheat.

But this is not the end. After the wheat ears are threshed, there are still a lot of broken husks and straw left after the wheat grains are removed.

Following Luc's instructions, Ryan tied several bent branches together to act as a rake, slowly peeled away the straw on the surface, and piled the remaining wheat grains in one place. Then Luc picked up the wooden shovel, scooped up a handful of wheat and threw it into the air.

Luc had his back to the wind, and the raised grain was blown away by the wind.

This process is called winnowing.

Luke has good control over his body. After a few times, he turned the dust he raised into a line. Ryan took a broom made of straw and cleaned the opposite side from time to time to further separate the wheat grains.

But this is not over yet.

Next it's the dustpan's turn.

Put the wheat grains with only tiny impurities left into a winnowing basket and shake it continuously. The wheat grains will draw an arc in the air and then fall back into the winnowing basket.

If the previous step was to roughly thresh the rice from an overall perspective, then the current step is to carefully sift out the chaff bit by bit. If there are any fragments that cannot be removed no matter how hard you try, you will have to pick them out manually.

The two of them worked from dawn to dusk for many days before finally completing this tedious and tiring task.

"Lian, put all this straw aside and clear the space. We are going to dry the wheat grains!"

"Okay sir!"

Ryan quickly carried the straw aside. These would become nutrients in the ground, increasing its fertility. Luc also had other uses for the straw he had dug out earlier.

After finishing everything, Ryan pounded his aching waist and looked at the wheat grains that almost covered the entire fence yard as if they were carrying a heavy burden.
"Ah~ I can finally relax for a few days~"

"Master, all we need to do next is clean it and expose it to the sun for a few days, right?"

Luc nodded and said, yes, we can grind flour by then.

This step is much easier than the previous one. Dry the wheat grains in the morning and collect them in the evening. Occasionally use a wooden shovel to turn them over from left to right during the process so that every side of the wheat grains can get enough sun exposure. For the rest of the time, just sit and rest.

Unfortunately, the weather did not go as we wished, and it rained in the past few days.

When the dark clouds passed over the mountains and gradually approached the wooden house, Luke and Ryan quickly moved the wheat grains into the warehouse and waited for a day and a night for the rain to stop, so the wheat grains had to be dried for a few more days.

When it was finally almost time, Luc and Ryan moved the wooden barrels filled with wheat grains to the river.

The water mill that was once built by the river is finally put to use!
Luc walked quickly into the mill, used a stick to knock away the spider webs in the corner, scooped up water to clean the millstones, and then opened the sluice gate. The river water poured into the water wheel, driving the upper and lower millstones to move slowly and gradually speed up. Luc nodded with satisfaction: "Lian, quickly bring up the wheat grains!"

When Ryan heard this, he quickly moved the wooden barrel in. He couldn't wait to see the flour being produced. You know, from childhood to adulthood, he had only had full meals for a few months.

Luc took the wooden spoon handed to him by Ryan. Ryan had made a lot of wooden tools in his spare time, and they were really useful.

He scooped out a full spoonful of wheat grains and poured them evenly between the millstones. The closer the millstones were, the finer the flour would be. But because of this, Luc was very cautious.

I felt a little uncomfortable using the mill for the first time, but gradually I became proficient. I adjusted the position of the millstone several times. The wheat grains were impacted by the millstone pulled by water, and quickly turned from full grains into fine crumbs.

The first crushed flour was shaken into another wooden barrel with a dustpan. They did not have sacks yet.

The dustpan is used to shake out some coarse particles that have not been ground and put them back for a second grinding.

Brown flour was continuously loaded into the wooden barrel. Ryan stared at the barrel from empty to full layer by layer. He swallowed hard and couldn't help but put his hand into the flour.

He had never seen so many faces.
Luke had no intention of getting bran at all, so the flour would be turned into bread intact. Ryan seemed to have smelled the rich aroma of bread when he put it to his nose and sniffed it lightly.

"Master, can I try the water mill?"

Seeing that most of the wheat grains had been ground, Ryan wanted to practice with the remaining small part, and at the same time let himself experience the joy of grinding flour.

Luc had no objection and gave up his seat to Ryan. He walked aside, opened the water bag and filled some water. Seeing Ryan grinding wheat grains with great interest, he smiled and said:
"This mill is still too simple. It's enough to produce a few hundred pounds of wheat. By next year, it won't be enough. We'll have time to expand it."

"Master, I already feel that this water mill is very useful. I can only imagine how magnificent it would be if it were expanded!"

“No matter how magnificent it is, it’s still built by humans, right?”

Luc stood up and said, "You grind it first, I'll go make a door for the oven."

Before, Luc had planned to go to Cooper Castle to get an iron stove door, but now that he saw the flour, he couldn't help but bake the bread quickly.

Iron doors are certainly useful, but stone doors can also serve the same purpose.

It is called a stone door, but in fact it is just a piece of stone that has been repeatedly polished with a chisel and hammer on all four edges until it fits the furnace door of the oven room.

Luc spent an entire afternoon carving the stone, and the flour filled four large wooden barrels.

That night, Luc lit a grease lamp, and he and Ryan went into the dark in the cabin to mix flour and water, kneading the dough.

In order to make bread more delicious, the triple fermentation method was commonly used in the Middle Ages, but that was mostly used to make white bread, while only two fermentations were needed for black bread.

The two people kneaded out a very large dough, then covered it with a wooden basin and waited for it to ferment naturally.

Once the fermentation is successful, you can keep a portion of the fermented dough and use it as a starter for the next flour fermentation.

The next morning, after the dough had finished fermenting, the two men separated the dough and made 25 round loaves of bread. They brought them to the oven room, but did not light the fire. Instead, they brought a bowl of hot water and placed it in the corner. Then they put the dough in one by one and waited for the second fermentation.

"Master, we can eat delicious black bread this afternoon!"

Ryan stood in front of the oven, looking very excited.

(End of this chapter)