Why I Mill My Own Grains

I hear some of my friends are expressing an interest in milling their own flours and grains.

I started milling about a year ago. I don't even remember that exact reason I wanted to start milling. Maybe it was hearing so much against wheat that made me want to find out about it. I know there are some people with gluten sensitivities; but for everyone else wheat is a good thing.

When God created us, He said Very Good. I believe He made our bodies wonderful working machines. You do have to care for and maintain any machine. Our bodies need a constant and good supply of vitamins and minerals. Hence, the number one reason to mill your own grains. It's the beginning of a path to eating real food. Real food is food that has not been processed.

Fresh milled wheat has an abundance of vitamins and minerals necessary for your health. Of course fruits and vegetables have vitamins and nutrients as well but these nutrients don't last long on fresh produce. Wheat lasts almost forever until you mill it.

Most of my research and information comes from Bread Beckers. They have many great articles worth reading that answer a lot of questions about wheat, etc. Here is a good article to start with -  Bread of Idleness



Here are a few tips that I have learned in working with fresh milled whole wheat.

- There are basically four types of wheat. Hard Red, Hard White, Soft Red, Soft White.
here is a link to the basic nutritional value for each from the Einkorn website. Einkorn wheat is certainly the best, however it also costs about three times as much as any other wheat. Einkorn wheat has not been hybridized. (FYI-Wheat has not been genetically modified like corn and soy, wheat has been hybridized in order to grow in drier climates, etc)

- Only Hard white or red will work with any recipe with yeast. Soft white and red is for cookies, pastries, pizza crust, tortillas, etc. (There isn't much nutritional value in the Soft grain so I usually always use the Hard)

- Whole wheat flour is very dry. When baking with it, lean to the side of less flour and less cooking time.

- When making bread, give your dough time to soak in all the liquid before you think you should add more flour. I let mine sit for at least 20 minutes.

- Your basic whole wheat bread dough should not feel dry, it should feel tacky.

- Store your extra milled flour in the freezer, along with your brown rice to prevent rancidity and oxidization.

- If a recipe gives the flour measurement in weight then use your scale. You will have consistent results.

- Converting recipes - For most baking recipes, I will change the flour, sweetener, and oil. For flour, usually whole wheat, oat, rice, or quinoa flour. There are so many more flour options that I haven't even experimented with yet - barley, buckwheat, spelt, millet, etc... For sweetener I will use Sucanat which is basically dried honey granules. If you use honey keep in mind that you are changing the liquid ratio. For the oil I'll use coconut oil and or applesauce.

Disclaimer - I am no scientist, nutritionist, doctor, researcher, nor do I claim to know very much at all. I only have benefitted greatly by milling my own flour. My children rarely get sick besides the common cold. One daughter had exzema that disappeared after a month of home milling. There are many other testimonials out there from people that have switched to eating a diet filled with Real food.