Currently we live in a time where many believe grain is evil and every where you turn “gluten free/grain free” is the new fad. Why in the world would someone buy a mill to make fresh ground flour?!
In a nutshell: Not all flour is created equal. Whole grains are very healthy and important to our diet! However, fresh ground grain is not easily accessible in the grocery store.
My interest in grinding my own grain was sparked last year while listening to a Homemaking Foundations podcast. I listened to an episode where Jami talked about her grain mill and how she grinds her own grain. Mind you, I had seen grain mills on other platforms that I follow (YouTube, etc) but always thought “nah, that’s a bit too much for me”. What I didn’t know was, I was doing an injustice to myself and my family by not looking further into why some people were taking this extra step and grinding their own grain.
Basic Overview of Grain
In order to understand why grain is so healthy for us, it is important to learn what grain is made of.
A grain berry has three different parts:
- Bran. The outer layer, the bran, contains fiber, B vitamins and trace minerals.
- Endosperm. Next, the endosperm, contains simple carbohydrates= quick energy.
- Germ. The center (oil) of the wheat berry is the germ, this nutrient-packed part contains Vitamins B & E, fatty acids, trace minerals, phytochemicals, and unsaturated lipids.
Refined grain and what other terms mean
Refined grains (ex. flour you find on the supermarket shelf) have had the valuable, healthy bran and germ stripped away to make them shelf stable. When grain is ground, the oil in the germ is released. Because of this, fresh ground flour is only shelf stable for a few days before it goes rancid.
All-purpose flour, the main flour used in modern-day baking, is highly processed- containing only the endosperm from hard and soft wheat. Recall, the endosperm layer of grain is only the simple carbohydrates portion of the grain.
Potassium bromate (banned in most of the world’s food products) and bleaching agents, along with a host of other “additives”, are often added to processed white flour. This post would be far too long if I went into more depth on those, however I highly encourage you to do your own research. Beware, nightmares may follow.
After reading this post, if you still cannot justify freshly milled grain, at the very least buy un-bleached, non-bromated flour.
“Enriched” flour. During the refining process, 50-90% of the nutrients and phytochemicals are lost. (amount varies with different of grains) Due to this, manufacturers had to start adding synthetic vitamins back into their flour to make it “healthier”. The word “enriched” makes it sound like they are doing us a favor when actually they are replacing the natural vitamins with synthetic substitutes.
“Fortified” means the product has added nutrients (often synthetic) that do not naturally occur in the food. Many cereals and other grain products have been fortified. Although this not not inherently bad, it is important to pay attention to the other ingredients. Fortified foods commonly are highly processed and loaded with sugar, fat, and sodium.
By grinding your own grain, all of the natural nutrition is present without any of the preservatives or synthetic additives. Grinding, or buying fresh ground, grain and using it quickly is important because of the short shelf life.
Health Benefits
- 3 servings of whole grain/day reduces the risk of stroke, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and digestive system related cancers.
- Whole grains provide essential nutrients such as fiber, vitamins (especially B vitamins) and minerals (zinc, iron, magnesium, manganese). The nutritional value will vary depending on the type of grain.
- Contains disease fighting antioxidants
- Loads of healthy fiber!
- Whole grains are absorbed slower than refined grains, which prevents insulin/blood sugar spikes.
- Wonderful flavor!
Dense, hard bread? No thanks.
When you think of 100% wheat bread, what comes to mind? Dense, hard to chew, unpleasant…. hard as a brick?
A common misconception is that products made with fresh ground flour are difficult to swallow and better suited as a door stop.
On the contrary, light and fluffy loaves of bread, muffins, biscuits, rolls, pancakes.. the list could go on and on… are easily attained using fresh ground flour!
Taking a recipe and replacing the all-purpose flour with 100% wheat flour purchased from the store shelf, may result in something you throw out (with a ‘thud’) to the birds. So why does this not happen with fresh ground grains?
Remember how all purpose flour is refined to make it shelf stable? The same goes with ‘wheat’ flour. There are no legal standards as to what constitutes “wheat” flour. In fact, it is simply grouped with “white flour, wheat flour, and plain flour”. The legal code lists a host of additives allowed into these flours and mainly goes in depth on the moisture content and sifting regulations. A whole bunch of big words that, when researched, make my head spin and my heart sink.
Store bought “whole wheat” is loaded with additives/preservatives (including coloring to make it brown) which compromises the health benefits and literally weighs the flour down.
Simply put, whole wheat store-bought flour and freshly milled grains are not at all the same. The refining process produces a flour that is almost always unpleasant to consume and difficult to work with. Fresh milled grains produce a far superior product in both taste and nutrition!
Gluten Sensitivity
There are many healthy gluten-free grains! Sorghum, quinoa, oats, buckwheat, amaranth, teff, corn, and brown rice are all naturally gluten-free and can be milled in a grain mill.
Earlier, I mentioned that manufacturers are allowed to add certain things back into the flour after milling/refining it. One of these allowed additions is gluten. Gluten is a protein and part of the natural wheat berry. It helps to make the product elastic and easier to work with. In industry standards, gluten is part of the natural wheat berry and is allowed to be added back in a greater amount than was removed. Adding much more than would naturally occur makes your recipe easy to work with and gives it a higher chance of “success”.
There are many high gluten flours out there, marketed toward bread baking in particular. Even “regular” all-purpose flour has more gluten added back than would naturally occur. I can’t help but wonder if the mega amounts of gluten are contributing to more and more people being “gluten intolerant”.
Many people who have gluten sensitivity can tolerate fresh milled grain just fine since the only gluten is what naturally occurs in the wheat berry. *This does not apply if you are diagnosed with celiac disease*
Uhh… there is NO way I have time to mill my own grain!
Thanks to wonderful modern technology (this is where the “modern” in my blog name comes into play), you can easily grind fresh flour in the time it takes you to gather the rest of your recipe ingredients!
There are quite a few different electric grain mills. From ones that attach to your mixer, to ones that free stand on your counter. When I was looking for a mill, I found one that was reasonably priced but still had great reviews. NutriMill, Wondermill, and Mockmill are three top brands of stand-alone electric grain mills. All of these mills allow you to mill many kinds of grain and make adjustments to mill the flour as you desire (finer pastry flour all the way to coarse grit-like texture). KitchenAid also has a grain mill attachment for their mixer (however, with less options).
The NutriMill Classic is the one that I ended up purchasing for our home. I was able to find a great deal on a used unit. In the future I may invest more in a different one (I have my eye on this model) but, honestly, this one has worked beautifully and I would highly recommend it!
Hand-crank mills are also still available and great to have as a back-up.
Mills are an investment but when you consider the price of high-quality freshly ground bread (not easily accessible either), the savings add up quick and a mill pays for itself in no time!
Yep… no. I really don’t want to grind my own grain. Any other options?
If I still have not convinced you that grinding your own grain is easy, or you simply cannot afford a mill, how else can you obtain healthy fresh-ground grain? Check your local health food store or organic section of your market. Any freshly milled grains should be refrigerated (or frozen) to keep them from going rancid.
Ask around, if you know someone with a mill, they may be willing to sell you some freshly ground grain! I know I would!
There are some high quality breads available as well. Again, these will be found in the refrigerated section due to the lack of preservatives.
I’ve got baking to do…. time to wrap this up!
My main point I want you to take away from this post is to not group all “flour” as one. Yes, refined, highly-processed flour is bad for you and avoid it whenever possible. But that doesn’t mean you have to completely eliminate all grain products! Grain absolutely has its place in our diet and should be consumed daily. By investing in our own mill, we are able to eat delicious home-baked food without sacrificing superior nutrition!
If you have further questions about whole grains, mills, or baking with freshly ground flour, please send me an email or comment below! I am more than willing to help out or guide you in the right direction!
Thank you for stopping by the homestead!
Until next time,
Melissa
Pin for later!
Yummy recipes that are delicious with fresh ground flour:
