Home milling your own whole wheat flour is nutritious and delicious!
Now that you're making healthy, homemade bread, the next step is to mill your own grain using a manual or electric grain mill.
Grinding hard red winter wheat in electric grain mill
Home milling is a unique and satisfying experience. Freshly milled wheat is much sweeter than store-bought whole wheat flour and tastes much better.
A wide variety of grains, beans, seeds, and nuts can be ground into flour for breads. These include: wheat, rye, corn, rice, barley, oats, buckwheat, millet, kamut, quinoa, peas, mung beans, garbanzos, and lentils. You can even grind popcorn to use in bread. Now there's an interesting idea!Once you get started milling your own flour, the possibilities are endless!
Click on the articles below to learn more about whole grains and baking whole wheat bread using your freshly milled whole wheat flour:
Tips for grinding your own wheat
- 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.
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.
Using Organic Flour
Even if you're not into milling your own flour, buy organic bread flour and other types of organic flours whenever possible. It's worth it! The bread baked with organic flour is so much better than regular flour.
Share your tips on home milling
Do you grind your own whole wheat or other grains? Please share your tips on home milling so that other bread bakers can learn more about making bread.
Sources:
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.
Tools & Resources
|
Basic recipe for whole wheat bread using freshly milled grain. Recipe for wheat-free bread flour Learn more about wheat flours and whole grains.
|