Have you ever considered grinding/milling your own flour? I’d like to tell you why it’s a great idea!
I’ve been grinding my own flour for over 20 years now. It’s one of those little-known facts about me that even some of my close friends don’t know. I don’t hide it or anything–milling my flour has just become something that I automatically do without thinking much about it anymore.
I raised my kids on fresh-ground flour, and yes, they many times begged for white flour. But as a parent, I was more concerned about their health than about smooth texture in our baked goods.
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Health Reasons for Grinding Your Own Flour
Most of the reasons to grind your own flour include being healthier. Another reason is the delicious, fresh, nutty flavor. I’m going to quickly list a whole bunch of health reasons without getting super technical.
Vitamins and Minerals in Fresh-Ground Flour
Fresh-ground flour contains the full spectrum of B vitamins (except B12), as well as vitamin E and other important trace minerals.1 But store-bought flour (and bread) has had the most nutritious parts removed (to allow for a long shelf life), and then lower quality synthetic versions of these vitamins with less bioavailability are added back in.
Unknown Chemicals in Store-Bought Flour
Store-bought bread–even whole-wheat bread–is a highly processed product. In addition, dozens of chemicals are added to processed flour that aren’t required to be listed on the ingredients list.2 Creepy!
Bleach is one of the chemicals added to many flours. Easy proof is in the flours labeled “unbleached,” which means others contain bleach. Why would you want to eat bleach in your bread?
Enzymes for Digestion
Enzymes are a popular buzz word these days because they help with digestion. Wheatberries, and the fresh-ground flour made from them, are loaded with enzymes.
Fresh-Ground Flour Is a Factor in Straight Teeth
Have you heard of Dr. Weston Price? He was a dentist who traveled throughout the world during the 1930s to find isolated people groups who hadn’t yet been exposed to modern, poor-quality foods. At that time, he could find people with perfect teeth and jaw structures who had eaten a traditional diet, whereas their offspring, raised on white flour, sugar, and vegetable oils (depending on the people group) had poorly formed jaws and crooked teeth within only ONE GENERATION.
I highly recommend his book, Nutrition and Physical Generation, which made quite an impact on me. It’s loaded with pictures of people from various societies and highlights their teeth structure. You know we modern people struggle with crooked teeth! Freshly ground flour is an important part of the equation for correctly formed teeth and jaws.3
Fresh-Ground Flour and Fertility
You have to read this vital information:
Quoting from a flour study in 1970: “The nutritional importance of using fresh stone-ground grains for bread-making was revealed in the results of feeding studies in Germany (Bernasek, 1970). Rats were fed diets consisting of 50% flour or bread.
–Group 1 consumed fresh stone-ground flour.
–Group 2 was fed bread made with this flour.
–Rats in Group 3 consumed the same flour as Group 1 but after 15 days of storage.
–Group 4 was fed bread made with the flour fed to group 3.
–A fifth group consumed white flour.
After four generations, only the rats fed fresh stone-ground flour and those fed the bread made with it maintained their fertility.
The rats in groups 3 to 5 had become infertile.
Four generations for rats is believed to be equivalent to one hundred years in humans.”4
Yes, But Isn’t Grinding My Own Flour Difficult?
Easy answer, no. I have an electric grain mill that grinds wheat berries in seconds. Total time, including dragging out the grinder and the grain, milling the flour, and washing the bowl is about 5 minutes. I’ve determined that 5 minutes to improve my family’s health is well worth the effort.
I do stash some flour in the fridge, too, to make it easier for the next time I bake. But referring to the rat study above, this flour should be stored a maximum of 15 days.
How about the Flavor of Fresh-Ground Flour?
I use a hard white wheatberry. This wheatberry grinds up into a flour that’s nutty tasting but not with an overabundance of fiber flavor. I’ve experimented with a hard red wheatberry, which is more fibrous, and also with rye, which gives a unique flavor.
I use my fresh-ground flour in nearly everything: pizza crust, cookies, pancakes, quick breads, muffins, brownies, and even white sauce. The only time I use a white flour is in a delicate birthday cake or Christmas cookie.
If your family objects to the nutty flavor, mix fresh-ground flour with a little unbleached white flour. You don’t have to go all or nothing.
Where Do You Buy Wheatberries?
I buy mine from Azure Standard. But Amazon also sells hard white wheat in a 5-pound version and a 25-pound version.
How about the Wheat Grinder?
I use an electric grinder. I’d recommend one of the following versions of the Bosch NutriMill Grain Mill. See three different ones pictured below.
I urge you to take your own and your family’s health seriously, and consider this important investment. Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments below about milling flour.
- Judy Campbell et al., “Nutritional Characteristics of Organic, Freshly Stone-Ground, Sourdough & Conventional Breads,” Ecological Agriculture Products, accessed April 16, 2021, http://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/EAP35.htm.
- Alice, “Chemicals Added to White Flour,” wholegrainalice.com, August 30, 2011, http://wholegrainalice.com/2011/08/chemicals-added-to-white-flour/.
- Raine Saunders, “Dr. Weston A. Price Speaks on ‘The Worst Foods You Can Eat,'” Traditional Wellness Wisdom, February 3, 2015, http://healyourgutwithfood.com/2015/02/dr-weston-a-price-speaks-on-the-worst-foods-you-can-eat/.
- Judy Campbell, B.Sc., Mechtild Hauser, and Stuart Hill, B.Sc., Ph.D., P.Ag., “NUTRITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS of ORGANIC, FRESHLY STONE-GROUND, SOURDOUGH & CONVENTIONAL BREADS,” Ecologcal Agriculture Projects, accessed April 29, 2021, http://www.eap.mcgill.ca/publications/EAP35.htm.