Grinding Your Own Flour

I've had a couple of inquiries lately about people interested in either promoting their products or wanting to know about products for grinding your own wheat to make flour so I thought I would combine the two interests on this post.

When we set out to eat locally for a year in the one of the richest grain producing regions in the world we planned on grinding our own flour for the year. We bought a used Magic Mill grinder on Ebay that had been recommended to us by some friends, acquired some whole wheat berries from a farmer, and then never got around to grinding our own flour. Making butter and ice cream and yogurt among other things was all we could handle I guess. We also lost a little steam when we found out that almost all the flour for sale in the stores nears us is not only local but it's actually the same flour no matter which brand you buy. 

But I did investigate enough to know that it's difficult to find the whole grains to grind. They aren't readily available in stores. I was pleased to find out recently about Joseph's Grainery in Colfax Washington, about 45 minutes south of Spokane. They are selling barley, hard red wheat, lentils and soft white wheat. We ought to figure out a way to sell their products at the Farmers' Markets. 

Local Harvest is also a good place to investigate places nearby that sell whole grains. 

The wheat you grind at home is likely almost identical to the product that is ground at the ADM Mill down the street from my house, but there are some advantages to grinding your own wheat. It will be fresher and be free of preservatives and additives that may be in store bought flour. When we asked the folks at the ADM mill if they added preservatives they denied it, but explained that they do add nutritional supplements.

Home ground flour is also free from the industrial environment of a modern flour mill. When we visited the ADM Mill during our year it was a little disconcerting to find out that on that particular day they weren't grinding any flour because they were fumigating the whole mill. Even though they do this in a safe way that ensures safe flour on our store shelves, it is empowering to oversee the production of the flour.

All this has got me thinking I need to break out our old Magic Mill and give it a shot.

When it comes to flour grinders the highly rated Magic Mill that we purchased is discontinued. How about you flour grinding veterans out there. Do you have a machine to recommend to those interested in grinding their own flour?

Comments

[SustainSpokane]

You've inspired me to try the never-been-used Whisper Mill from GrainMaster I found in a friend's garage last week(the benefits of helping with the big spring clean-out!). I have a bag of Lentz Farm spelt berries from Marlin, WA (a gift from last September's locavore challenge participants). Then I am going to bake some bread, and I'll let you know the verdict.

[Jaspenelle]

We also grind our own flour, have been doing so for 5 years. My grinder was a wedding gift from my mother-in-law actually! It has various settings so I can do anything from pastry flour to coarse almost-cracked-wheat. I buy my wheat berries from the LDS cannery here in Spokane (you don't have to be LDS to buy, though I heard about it through my mother-in-law as well.)

One thing to remember though about most grinders is that they will do nearly any grain but usually not flaxseed, which is too oily (however a decent blender grinds flax beautifully.)

[Angela P]

The only flour I use is home ground spelt flour. I used to get 50 lb. bags from Lentz Spelt, but then it got difficult to meet up with the farmers to pick it up.
I have ground all kind of grains in my VitaMix with the dry container. I just grind enough for the recipe I'm making. It takes about 2 minutes to grind 2-3 cups of flour. Works beautifully. I also make 5 grain cereal mix in the VitaMix which is not a flour but more of a cracked wheat consistency.

I often soak the flour overnight before using for recipes from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook.

You can get local wheat and lentils and beans from Shepard's Grain, but then again you have to connect with the farmer which can be difficult.

I think it would be really cool to get a local grain/lentils/beans CSA in our area. Scroll down in this blog post for a Grains CSA example: http://www.dontwhitesugarcoatit.com/2010/02/where-is-love_20.html

[Own grinding]

Came across your blog and its quit interesting...

[SustainSpokane]

update: I used the spelt flour to make herb and garlic pizza dough (adapted a recipe from the best whole foods cookbook ever - Feeding the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair).My 8yo son declared it "the best pizza" he had ever had! Even ate the crusts. Do the rave reviews have anything to do with the fresh flour? Who knows for sure? But I am looking forward to grinding my own now - I think it will save some dough (bad pun).

[craig]

Sustain Spokane,
You've inspired me to break out a grinder and give it a go - I'll let you know how it goes on our end.

[Joseph's Grainery]

Thanks for linking to Joseph's Grainery! We currently go to the Pullman Farmer's Market, but if anyone who has booths at other markets would like to offer our whole grains (and flours - coming soon) we'd love to talk with you! Just shoot us an e-mail: [email protected]
Thanks so much!

[nancy goodwin]

Sustain Spokane, I know it's been a while... but ever since Craig posted this we started grinding wheat and using it for our bread. You mentioned you usually soak the flour first, but does this apply to bread dough too? I'm not sure if this is the reason but it seems like the bread w/ ground wheat doesn't rise as much... but I know there are so many other variables. I read some other blogs that said you have to wait a couple days after grinding it.(?) If you have any pointers, let me know please. Also, can you post your pizza dough recipe? I've been experimenting lately but haven't found a favorite. Thanks!