Home milling your own flour is nutritious and delicious!
Once you start making making healthy, homemade bread, you'll probably want to try home milling your own grain using a manual or electric grain mill.
Home milling is a unique and satisfying experience. Freshly milled wheat is much sweeter than store-bought whole wheat flour, it tastes much better and is better for you.
Hard Red Winter Wheat Berries
What grains can be ground into flour using a grain mill?
A wide variety of grains, beans, seeds, and nuts can be ground into flour using your home grain mill. These include:
wheat, rye, corn, rice, barley, oats, buckwheat, millet, kamut, quinoa, peas, mung beans, garbanzos, and lentils.
Raw wheat berries are the hulled whole kernels. You can use these to make home milled flours, or cook or sprout them to make breads. Grains can be white, russet, purple, or amber in color. You can also find spelt, kamut, and triticale as whole grains.
Once you start home milling your own flour, the possibilities are endless!
You can even grind popcorn to use in bread. It provides a very interesting texture and flavor.
How to get started home milling your own flour:
1) Select the type of Grain Mill you want to use to grind your own flour. We have a variety of hand cranked and electric bread mills for grinding wheat into flour.
Tips for purchasing a Bread Mill
- Buy a bread mill based on your intended usage.
- If you are looking for a more hands-on experience, buy a manual grinder.
- If you want the grinder to do the work, then an electric bread mill is a better choice.
- Look for one that is easy to take apart and clean.
2) Decide what type of whole grains you want to mill into flour. Hard red winter wheat and hard red spring wheat are the classic wheats for yeast bread. You might also enjoy using spelt.
Tips for home milling your own flour
- Only grind as much flour as you plan to use -- freshly ground whole-grains get rancid very quickly.
- Whole grain kernels will keep at room temperature indefinitely.
- 1 cup of wheat berries produces a scant 1 3/4 cups flour.
- One pound of wheat berries equals approximately 4 1/2 cups flour.
Try this quality Hard Red Spring Wheat
If you're looking for a good source for Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries with reasonable shipping costs, then look no further. The Bread Experience has formed a partnership with Dr. Grandmas to offer quality grains at a very reasonable cost and the shipping costs are minimal.
Check out these Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries. We've been using these grains for the past several months and are very pleased with the quality.
We used these grains for Sprouted Wheat Bread with no flour.
3) Choose a whole grain bread recipe. We have a variety of Whole Grain Bread Recipes that incorporate a portion or all whole wheat flour to provide added nutrition and flavor.
We also have a nice selection of Whole Wheat Bread Cookbooks
You might enjoy these bread recipes:
Should you germinate wheat berries before grinding?
You can grind raw wheat berries into flour and use this flour to make whole wheat bread. Or, you can germinate the seeds before grinding them to boost the vitamin content of the flour. Partially germinated seeds contain considerably more vitamins B and C and dramatically increase carotene levels (commonly known as vitamin A). Many people who are allergic to refined wheat products have been helped by eating germinated grains.
Method for germinating (sprouting) wheat berries and preparing for grinding:
Fill wide-mouth quart jars 1/3 full of hard winter wheat berries. Fill completely with water and let set at room temperature for 8-12 hours or until at least half of the berries are just barely sprouted; drain, rinse with fresh water, and drain completely. Place a thin layer on baking sheets. Place in oven on low heat overnight or until completely dry. Grind into flour.
Note: If the berries aren't completely dry, they will clog your grinder.
Learn more about whole grains and flours:
Types of Wheat - There are six main types of wheat grown in the United States. Within these different types of wheat, there are many varieties and substrains that offer an array of possibilities for millers as well as bakers.
Types of Flour - Flour is the primary ingredient in bread. The kind of flour used will determine the nature of the loaf. The better the flour, the better your bread will taste. In this section, we list the main types of flour that can be used to make bread.
Wheat Flours - Wheat flours are the main ingredient in most bread products. Wheat is rich in gluten, a protein that gives dough its elasticity and strength. Learn more about wheat flours in this section.
Wheat Grains - By-products of milling white flours are unprocessed wheat bran and wheat germ. They add color, nutrition, and fiber to breads. Learn about other types of wheat grains that can be used in breads.
Non-Wheat Flours - There are a number of non-wheat flours that can be used as substitutes for wheat flour in breads. Wheat-free (gluten-free) flour can also be used in breads made with wheat flour to enhance the flavor and provide unique texture.
Organic Bread Flour - If you don't want to get into home milling your own flour, try organic bread flour. It costs a little more than non-organic flour, but it is worth it! The bread baked with organic flour is better for you than most non-organic flour.
Try some of these other whole grains for home milling your own flour.
Sources:
Hensperger, Beth. The Pleasure of Whole Grain Breads. 2000. Chronicle Books.
Ingram, Christine and Shapter, Jennie. Bread: The breads of the world and how to bake them at home. Hermes House 2006.
Rehberg, Linda and Conway, Lois. The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints. Second St. Martin's Griffin Edition: November 1999.
Yutzy, Ray and Melinda. Wholesome Sugarfree Cooking. 2004. Carlisle Printing.
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Basic recipe for whole wheat bread using freshly milled grain. Recipe for wheat-free bread flour Learn more about wheat flours and whole grains.
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