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Grinding Flour
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I fyou are a beginner to all this, what do you recommend initially purchasing – obviously a mill, but how much grain to start with and if you want it for food storage and have not much space, what do you recommend? I know an electric grain mill is great, but if power goes out then a hand one would be a good idea – any recommendations, these things are expensive and need to be reliable – so if any of you have a hand one, what makes it so good? Thanks Linda
Hi Linda,
I am not going to be of much use here – I think amounts depend on family size and how much grains you consume. We go through a lot, but there are a lot of us and I make virtually everything from scratch.
When we started, I just purchased one sack of grain, to see how it would work. Well, it didn’t last us more than two and a half months!
Here is a link for a few ideas about mills. I have personally dealt with these people for about eight years, and they are great. They only sell what they use:
http://healthykitchens.com/electric_flour_mills_and_handmills.html?menu_id=532
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend any hand mills because I only have electric. For hand operated, I like the sound of the Family Grain Mill.
Blessings to you,
Gaeleen
I’ve been using a Kitchenaid attachment for maybe 10 years. I’ve been careful not to let it overheat and it’s been great. I had a Back to Basics (hand mill) before that-so I really felt like I had moved up!
I just buy a 50 lb bag-usually Prairie Gold wheat.
Hello all,
I just wanted to say thank you for opening up this thread and for all of the people who have contributed to it! My husband and I have slowly been trying to implement the “Nourishing Traditions” type of eating and the back to basics type of living this past year because of health and conviction reasons and have been somewhat at a loss when it came to the grinding flour and grains part of things. We are trying to make this our next big step in this type of lifestyle. I am finding so much information and help from this discussion. Thank you! If I could ask one more thing, how much initial cost was involved in starting this? maybe I shouldn’t be asking this as I live in Alberta, Canada and most of you are in the states, so that would probably make a difference. I think we would mostly be interested in organic grains grown naturally and without any sprays, etc. Does cost depend a great deal on what type of grains you buy and what type of grinder? Or are things similarly priced right across the board?
Thank you also for all the links that have been posted. I have not been able to look through them all yet, but I am looking forward to it!
Thanks!
We are in Alberta also – the link above is for a Canadian store! We get our grain from Daybreak Scheresky Mill:
http://www.daybreakschereskymill.com/Daybreak_Mill/Organic_Flour,_Grains,_Cereals.html
There is a link near the bottom for a price list. You can also buy from Nutters, but it is costly.
Gaeleen
I’m just jumping in too:
I have a Nutrimill. Love it. No gluten issues here so we just use wheat, but you’ve gotten good advice with the alternative flours/grains.
We’ve ground flour for several years. First we did it with a hand grinder. It took a LOT of work. We keep it just in case, but now use the electric Nutrimill. Cost and health are the reasons for us. Of course, we have 8 in our family so far, which means we eat and entire loaf in 1 meal!! As the children grow older it will be even more (mine are 9 and under). We do not have bread with every meal, but I bake 3 loaves or more at a time so I’m not baking every day. 🙂 We store wheat in buckets with gamma seal lids for the ones currently in use,.
I definitely recommend the Family Grain MIll, Linda, for versatility of grindings and ability to switch from hand to electric use, if necessary. Plus, I think the price is very reasonable. Add in the Flaker (now or later) and you can have flaked grains for breakfasts.
Here’s where I bought mine,the price includes a hand crank. It explains the reliability on the page-the materials are German made.
As for space, use closets, corners in bedrooms; spread the buckets around your home. If you have the gamma-lids, they will be good for a long time. I would start with half-white flour from the store (like non-bromated King Authur) and either red wheat or spring white. Grains prices are going up, so if you can stock up, I think it’s a good time to do so. I’m buying one extra bag with my monthly co-op order.
Spelt, kamut, amaranth, etc, are more expensive than the plain white or red wheat. Millet is awesome!! Though not for bread alone, but for breakfasts and muffins. Rice is great ground as a porridge in the morning; in fact, my children’s favorite, besides oatmeal, is ground millet and rice half-n-half, cook for 10 min.
Great beginner books are Sue Gregg’s Breakfasts and Yeast breads; I recommend the new editions as she has soaking instructions, too and has cut out some undesirable sweeteners from the earlier books.
I think it would be a good idea, as a beginner, to practice making bread with store flour (or the half/half I metioned above) to work on technique and try some recipes first before getting a mill. I find bread-making to be frustrating at times and it’d be good to work on it first before the making the expenditure.
HTH, Rachel
I am so glad this post came up. I have been researching this for awhile and have wanted to start grinding my own flour. I have not been able to afford a mill to do this yet. Does anyone know of where or of a good used one for sell?
There are some used ones here:
http://healthykitchens.com/used_items.html?menu_id=537
This is a Canadian company, however. They are reputable and reliable.
You can also check Craig’s List for used mills. I found a Nutrimill for $90 and I’m waiting for the seller to e-mail me back. I will also check the link Gaeleen posted.
My hubby and I have been talking about possibly converting part of our garage to be a storage pantry. It wouldn’t be heated or cooled, but that’s the only space we’ve got right now. Our closets are pretty full because we store clothes, shoes, and toys in closets. I haven’t had a good closet-cleaning day in a while, so that may be on the agenda!
I have really enjoyed this thread. I love how knowledgeable you all are, and I love gleaning from you!
Blessings!
Lindsey
We live in Georgia and keep the house pretty warm. We do not have a basement. How can I store the wheat and it not go bad? Our house stays a bit humid. I am looking into the start up cost for this and would like in the next year to have saved the money to start doing it.
Right now I do buy the non-bromated King Authur. It costs a bit (compared to the regular flour), but it is the best I can do right now.
How do I find a place that sells the wheat? We do not a have a Whole foods here pretty much just walmart and sams.
I have been looking for a used grain mill but no luck. We live in a smaller town with not much else around. I am going to start searching in my moms area and see if she could pick it up for me.
If you’re near Woodstock, GA, then you’re close to Bread Beckers. They sell everything you need as well as give classes. They are fabulous! I get all my grains in buckets from them. They are sealed and will keep a very long time. I keep my grains in my basement until I’m ready to use that bucket, then I move it to my laundry room just off my kitchen. I’ve never had a problem with it going bad. Patience will be key in finding a used grain mill. I wouldn’t part with mine for anything. I’ve had it for many years and it still works great.
Quick word here – grains can be “killed” (meaning it will not ever grow) if not stored at cooler temperatures. This can affect your nutrition levels – and how your baked products turn out. I stored mine in a garage where the temps got extremely high and it killed my grain.
You can buy grain here:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/bobs-red-mill-whole-grain-store.html
http://www.azurestandard.com/shop/category/GR
This site can give you more info on storage, life and use of these products:
http://www.providentliving.lds.org/content/list/0,11664,7448-1,00.html
We put put our grains in buckets with seal on them to prevent moisture (humidity) or bugs (think MO) in them. We have them under our beds, used them to make shelves, under tables, in corners, etc…we also have stored a two week water supply under our bed. =) Also to discourage bugs in the grain, place 2-3 bay leaves on the top. They (bugs) don’t like them.
My mom uses a Nutrimill to grind her flours, plus has a huge old metal grinder that is awesome – it stone-grinds a five gallon bucket of flour in a very short amount of time! She also uses a coffee grinder to grind flax seed to put in her bread and cereals.
Here is the info. about Breadbeckers drop-off Co-ops:http://info.breadbeckers.com/coops
If you join a co-op, you don’t have as high a delivery charge. Now I consider Breadbeckers to be on the high side; I use either Walton Feed or UNFI. YOu can contact Walton Feed and find out if you can get info. on finding a distributor. I have contacted my UNFI organizer to find out if she can tell if they deliver down there. I’ve found their prices to be better than WF or Breadbeckers. I’ll let you know what I find out.
Azure doesn’t deliver to GA.
Rachel
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