Milling My Own Flour

We have been baking our own bread for at least a year now. I primarily use our bread machine and a book called 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.' Both ways provide quick and easy approaches to making really yummy bread. The bread machine also allows me to use the dough setting to make bagels, homemade rolls, etc.

We had been keeping massive bags of flour in the freezer. When I did some research, I found that the majority of the nutrients in flour are lost within 72 hours of being ground. When flour is commercially made, they purposely take out the bran and germ to increase the shelf life. This increases shelf life, but depletes the flour of nutrients. Even more nutrients are lost when the flour is bleached.

When you grind your own flour, the bread tastes delicious! It's lighter, moist and better tasting than commercial comparisons. Plus, there are many different kinds of grains to choose from - far more variety than you can find in the grocery store. I've never been a huge fan of toast, but homemade bread had me eating more, and bread made with freshly ground flour has me converted!

Now before you think I've lost my mind... it is SO easy. The grain mill works just like a coffee grinder. You toss wheat in the top and it shoots flour off the side into another bowl. It takes about a minute. So simple! Since you generally grind the grain right before you make the bread, you do have to do a little bit of math. 8 cups of grain makes 12 cups of flour so it's not a 1:1 ratio - still, it's not difficult.

So far I've made banana bread, a few loaves of sandwich bread and dinner rolls using the hard white wheat. They have all turned out really well. Tonight, I'm going to attempt some squash bread as well.

The first time we bought wheat, we drove about 30 minutes away to a store that sells the wheat. I later found a co-op in our town that we started using instead so we don't have to make the drive. I ordered Rye from the co-op so I'm anticipating its arrival so I can make some Rye bread and Pumpernickel Bread.

And the best perk... having a house that smells like freshly made bread!