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Grinding Flour
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I am VERY interested in grinding my own flours. I just can’t believe how much cheaper it is to grind flour compared to buying what’s on the shelf at the store. Not to mention the health benefits!
So, I’m probably the only one on here who isn’t grinding her own flours; and I need help.
- What kind of mill do you use? Manual or Electric? Why?
- Is it really as simple as buying the wheat berries, throwing them in the grinder, and bam! you’ve got flour?
- How much time do you spend grinding?
- How do you store your berries/flour?
- Can a gluten intolerant person tolerate home-ground grains that they would not normally be able to have from the store?
- What types of flours do you make?
As you can see, I know NOTHING about this, but am eager to learn.
Blessings!
Lindsey
Hi Lindsay, I may not be able to answer all your questions, but I’ll give it a go!
I use an electric mill for flour. I got mine free off of craigslist. You can get them used and save alot of $$ if you run rice through it first to clean it. I have a hand mill, but I can’t imagine producing flour with it. It would probably take a really long time to produce enough flour for bread and in order to get it fine enough you’d have to run it through at least twice. I use the hand mill to make cracked wheat for cereal and to roll oat groats. I use my hand blender (magic bullet) for grinding corn for cornmeal.
Yes! You turn the grinder on, put in the wheat berries and Bam!…you have flour!!
I grind every 2 weeks for 10 minutes or so…enough to bake 4 loaves of bread (we eat 2 loaves a week) and put some extra in the fridge for spur of the moment biscuits, cornbread or pancakes. I know some mill fresh every time they bake for the vitamin boost, but I imagine if I held myself to that standard I’d figure it was too much of a hassle and not bother at all.
I buy my wheat berries in a 50lb bag and store them in buckets with a waterproof (gamma) lid.
My friend is gluten intolerant and they use Spelt. They use it for bread and everything else!
I am not very adventurous with the berries, I use Hard Red, Hard White and I used to to use Soft White for pancakes, muffins, etc. but have recently cut it out of my budget since Hard White does great for all that I make and it makes great cracked wheat too!
Hope this helps some!!
I have a Nutrimill (large and electric only) and a Family Grain Mill (electric or manual). If I were to recommend one, it’d be the FGM. Besides the versatility of manual or electric, it has many other uses than just fine flour grinding. For example, you can get a flaker and flake oats (one of those gluten iffy ones depending upon the source) rye and other appropriate grains. You can also adjust the grinding coarsness with more flexibility, giving you grits, and cracked grains for cereals. It’s easy as pie to clean, too. You don’t want to grind a gluten grain before a non-gluten grain without cleaning. I have a similar issue come Passover; I have to give it a thorough cleaning so as to avoid the mixing of the wrong types of grain.
I use my FGM almost daily, but usually every other day, as I don’t like to grind flour more than a day ahead. It’s small enough that it’s easy to pull in and out of the cabinet.
It really is easy. If I want a huge batch of flour for, say, 6 loaves of bread and other bready things; I’ll haul out my Nutrimill and in one go-through, I will have very fine flour for breadmaking and pie crusts, etc. If I use my FGM, I have to run it through 2-3x to get it fine enough and I can’t make as big a batch at one time. However, basicly BAM! I got flour! I also can crack peas and beans in my FGM and get flour of both from both mills.
Time? Depends on what I’m making.
After you grind/crack/flake your grains, they should be stored in a cool place, out of the light.
As for the gluten intolerant question, I can only think of oats. Most of the oats found at the store are processed along with gluten grains, so they are “contaminated”. If you buy bulk oat berries, I assume you won’t have that issue.
I flake oats right now; planning on stocking up on more varieties as I go.
I grind finely for porridge, patties and bread: oats; white wheat; corn; soft wheat, rice, and spelt and red wheat in the past (out currently) millet (oh, YUM!), in the future to experiment with bean flour.
I crack for breakfast cereals, hot and cold: oats, soft wheat, corn, spelt and red wheat in the past.
HTH, ask away;
Rachel
Hi Lindsey,
We also use an electric mill – a Nutrimill. We have a reliable power supply here, and with the amount of flour I grind for our family of ten, I’m just not up for a hand mill. A friend of mine who is off the grid does use a hand mill for her family of nine, but it is very labour intensive. An electric mill is very fast and easy – like Heather said, around ten minutes for four loaves of bread worth plus a bit more. We chose the Nutrimill because I have a Bosch with a flaker attachment for cracking grains, so I just needed a flour mill.
We store the grain in Rubbermaid containers in our basement. We live in Alberta where it is dry, and have had no problems this way. Grain stores well in a freezer also, especially if you need to take up space for efficiency.
Gluten intolerant, as far as I know, is gluten intolerant. And wheat is wheat. As said, you can just grind up other grains for flour, though. My sister has a wheat allergy, so when she comes to visit, I use quinoa, barley, rye, and spelt for flours. I also use Durum flour for pastas and graham wafer biscuits. I use hard red spring wheat for bread (we love the flavour) and occasionally soft white for something that needs the texture of white flour (but not often). You usually have to experiment a bit to get the right texture when substituting flours (if your recipe calls for white flour, and you use spelt, you’ll likely need a little extra spelt than the amount you would use for white).
Gaeleen
I have an electric mill I use for every day, and a hand one (that can be powered with a bicycle!) for everyday. I can’t use it for long, but that’s what I have those beefy boys for. 🙂
I store 3 kinds of wheat, so I get 3 kinds of flour: Hard white wheat for bread, hard red wheat (I like it better for cereals and stuff like that) and soft white wheat for pastry flour. I have about 2000 pounds in my basement!
I grind about once a week and store what I don’t use right away in the freezer in bags. I make about 20 cups of flour at a time, more if I think I need more.
I store my berries in #10 cans or big storage buckets, in my basement, on shelves or pallets to keep them off the cement. Wheat properly stored will last a very long time. I store my flour in the freezer to preserve nutrients.
We’ve also occasionally ground corn, oats and barley, but we are simple and really like wheat. 🙂
I think gluten is always present in wheat. I don’t know any way to remove it at home. You can do another grain like spelt if you need to.
I have a WonderMill electric mill and like it alot. I would like to get a manual mill at some point for flaking grains and some other things that my electric mill can’t do (this gets into some of my nerdiness in the kitchen – I REALLY love to bake). But if I had to have only one or the other, I’d probably get an electric.
yes, you toss them in there and BAM! you have flour 🙂 However, you can’t just substitute fresh ground flour in the same proportions in your regular recipes. I’ve been able to successfully alter my favorites though, and have adopted some new favorites as well. The co-op I buy my wheat from has a good forum with alot of good recipes on it – they also sell a good cookbook to get started. http://www.breadbeckers.com
it only takes a few seconds to grind the wheat, and I fall in the camp of wanting the better nutrition content (the flour looses many of its nutrients in the 48 hours after it is ground). I keep my mill on the counter, so it’s no big deal – I just grind whenever I need it, for me, it doesn’t add much time, I’m cooking/baking anyway…
I have 6 gallon buckets with Gamma seal lids on them to store my wheat (it holds about 50 lbs of wheat) – I’ve never had problems with bugs and it keeps indefinitely. A full bucket will last me around 6 months I think (it just depends on how many special occasions I end up baking for). I keep 3 different types of wheat – hard red, hard white, and soft white (and I keep corn for fresh cornmeal).
we are not gluten intolerant, so I am not an expert here – but from what I have heard, yes, when you grind the whole wheat berry, it is much easier to digest. I know on the website I put above there is some information on that topic if you’d like to read more.
I love baking with fresh flour – all my friends and family love for me to bring “real bread” – and say it tastes much better. And we have been a much healthier bunch since I switched (we switched some other things as well, but this was the biggie).
Happy Baking!!!
Lesley
Rachel, where do you buy the food you grind (beans, peas, etc.)? And, let me make sure I understand: you use a Nutrimill for large quantities of grinding and the FGM for everyday and special purposes? How do you store the foods prior to grinding?
Gaeleen, Heather, and Lesley, how do you figure out how to follow your recipes if using home-ground flour? I’ve already had to adapt so many recipes to be GF, that I’m not sure I have the energy to re-learn everything at this point.
Everyone: And, this may be a silly question, but what is spelt? I’m assuming it’s a grain, and I’ve seen it in the stores. I’ve just never bought any. Is this the standard, go-to substitution for wheat or rye? Can you also use sorghum, millet, rice flours, etc.?
What are some of the health benefits you’ve seen? Do your family members eat less because these freshly ground grains are more filling and nutritious? And after grinding, you keep your flour in the freezer to retain freshness and nutrients?
So many questions…
Just to answer your last few questions since everyone has done such a nice job already. And I love my Wondermill.
I buy my food (grains, rice, beans, etc) either from the grocery store in the bulk food section or from my local food co-op. Whole Foods will give you a decent discount if you purchase from their bulk section in large quantities. Talk to the manager – they have a big book and can order anything from it for you, at the discount.
Recipes are the same for store-bought vs. home ground. I use the same amount of wheat flour (or wheat flour mix) if a recipe calls for white or all-purpose flour. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, I use 2 cups of wheat flour.
Spelt is a type of wheat (sort of a hybrid) that hasn’t been eaten as long as wheat has. Well, it’s really old, then it sort of got lost, then rediscovered and is being grown again. Some people don’t have a wheat/gluten problem with it like regular wheat, but others do.
Another “wheat” to try is kamut. It is sort of like spelt in that we modern humans haven’t been eating it for a while so some people can tolerate it where they can’t wheat. It is wonderful in bread and baked goods. I like it much better than spelt which I think makes things a bit dry.
If you have a true gluten problem but you’ll be grinding gluten flours you’ll need to have 2 different grinders (or so I’ve heard from gluten-free persons). Nary the twain shall meet.
I keep my ground flour in the freezer either in Ziploc bags, labeled or in old ice-cream buckets. You lose nutrients fast and it goes rancid quickly. My boys eat MORE because they love the taste so much. But it is filling. Sometimes for breakfast or lunch they’ll just have a few slices of bread and some fruit. They have been known to knock out a whole loaf in one meal or for “snack”. And they aren’t even teenagers yet.
Heather
Lindsey,
There are plenty of good recipes designed for use with use spelt, quinoa, etc. if you are going to switch to home groud flour. I just have some recipes I love that ask for white flour, so I substitute. If you are workng wih a familiar recipe and know the desired texture of the dough or batter, you just add small amounts of flour until you reach it. It’s really not difficult. Personally, I haven’t found the substitution to be equal. Our whole wheat flour leaves the dough/batter wetter than store bought whole wheat or white flour. But I know that at least in Canada, they remove all the germ, and some of the bran, from the “whole wheat” flour, which would account for the difference.
I grind all my flour fresh. If you are going to store it, it stores best in the freezer after grinding.
Quinoa and millet are definitely gluten free. Spelt, oats, kamut are questionable. Rye, wheat, barley are no good if you truly need no gluten. Sorghum, rice, beans, chickpeas will be good gluten free flours. I haven’t used these latter ones so can’t recommend how to use in recipes.
Gaeleen
Heather (crazy4boys), we won’t be grinding any glutinous flours, so thankfully won’t have to have two grinders. If one of us is gluten-free, we’re all gluten-free, ya know? I’m glad you find the amounts of storebought vs. home-ground to be the same in recipes. That is a relief.
Gaeleen, for sure rye, wheat, and barley are a no for us, unfortunately. Wheat berries are SO CHEAP!! I actually enjoy sorghum flour a lot, so maybe I can find it in my co-op.
This is all so interesting.
If I can ask one more question: how long have you all been grinding your own flour? And, are there any other reasons than nutrition that you chose to do this?
I buy mine through my co-op, 25#-50# at a time. They are stored in large buckets, with a bay leaf (works against bugs) and an oxygen absorber in there. Yes, on when I use my Nutrimill and when I use the FGM; the Nutrimill can’t do flaking and cracking.
Spelt is an ancient grain from the Middle East, as is Kamut. Though Spelt has gluten and Kamut doesn’t, but as said before, it can be tolerated by many with sensitivity to the modern red and white wheats. I would say it’s not actually a hybrid, that modern wheat is more of a hybrid, with it’s increased protein/gluten levels. Comparing to vege seeds, you could call Spelt an heirloom, for lack of a better term. It requires more flour and less liquid when cooking and less “working” it, so-to-speak.
I started grinding it for economic and nutritional purposes, part of trying to get closer to the original design by G-d, the way our ancestors ate grains, and further away from the stripped processed modern diet; after my husband’s diagnosis of colitis and reading The Maker’s Diet then Nourishing Traditions. I also needed to find a way to reduce food costs without sacrificing nutirtion. I haven’t noticed eating less of it; if anything my children eat more because they prefer it; just as Heather mentioned. I’ve been doing this for about 10 years? So it’s a quasi-conviction per my faith and a move towards self-sufficiency, frugality, and superior nutrition over the standard fair.
I would check out GNOWFGLINS; she has multiple gluten-free recipes there and traditional recipes for bread products and other traditional recipes, too. Plus, classes online to help you begin.
Something someone told me early on is how much of breadmaking is as much of an art-form as a scientific recipe; so keep that in mind as you travel down this path. There are issues of the humidity in the air to consider; my bread is different from the seasons and if I do it when it rains (sometimes I don’t have a choice) or when it’s sunny.
Rachel
p.s. I just received this in the email and thought of you: New Online Cooking Class: Reversing Food Allergies at Cheeseslave
I’ve been doing my own wheat for about 6 years. I use a Whisper Mill. You’ve gotten a lot of good input already, but I always direct people to http://www.breadbeckers.com Sue Becker and her husband, Brad own the company. They’re amazing and Sue has an unbelievable amound of knowledge. She’s truly an authority on the subject.
Have fun! And remember, if you ever mess up bread, it’s just flour and water. Feed the birds, and start over
Blessings
Lindsey
Lindsey, we’ve been grinding for about 10 years also. It started out financial for us, really. We wanted to store food, wheat was cheap, but we needed to be able to use it to do more than make hot cereal. We also were happy to learn about the health benefits and increased nutrients and fiber in the whole wheat bread. Store bought white bread now tastes like paste to us. 🙂
Lindsey,
We’ve been grinding flour and rolling grains for about five years. We also wanted to store food, save money, increase healthy eating. and for me it is an easy way to accomodate two family members who can only tolerate spelt, millet and quinoa as far as grains go.
We started just with red and white wheat, but now have eight different grains stored. They are great for different flavors and nutrients, and purposes. All of our baked goods use freshly ground flours now, and we can make a variety of hot cereals and granolas.
We purchase directly from an organic farm – it worries me that they spray growing grain fields with Round Up at harvest time, when you are supposed to wait 60 days minimum before planting a garden after using it….
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