Grinding your own grain

[lynnfromflorida]

I have been grinding my own grain and using it to bake for several years. I was curious if anyone else on this forum does this too. Until the 20th century, everyone had their flour milled close to home and baked their bread at home. In the 1920's new technology was developed to separate the components of the wheat that spoil quickly (the germ, germ oil, and the bran) from the white flour that keeps for a long time. This was good for the bread businesses and good for consumer convenience, but unfortunately it was not so good nutritionally. Much of the vitamin E especially is in the wheat germ.

 

[ACSAPA]

This is one of those posts that separates the serious bakers from the casual bakers like me.
I like to bake for fun. I make bread and rolls from scratch most of the time.
Sometimes I use cake mix as the basis for cake mix cookies or other semi homemade desserts.

I would not do anything as intense as grinding my own grain. I respect how hardcore and serious you are about the craft of baking, but I'm just not that kind of baker.
I care enough to make some things from scratch, but I don't make my own flour.
I'm glad there are other casual bakers here who cheat sometimes or I would feel really bad when I read posts like this from true artisans like you.

 

[Shellyann36]

I am so drawn to this. My Mama has a grain mill and she use grind her own grain. I would love to get a grain mill myself and buy my own grain. The restraints for me are the cost of the grain mill first and foremost. It is one of those things that is on my list of wants and I hope that one day I will be able to accomplish that. Feel free to explain more about the process if you would like. I would love to hear more about it.

 

[Soliloquy]

My mother's cousin grinds her own grain with a mill, but I don't think my family would try it unless we got an electric one.

 

[LadyLuck7]

I would not even begin to know where to start! My hat truly goes off to you. We all say we do it from scratch but it comes nowhere near close to the true "baking from scratch, grinding own flour". I have never even seen a grain mill. When you do grind your own, how long does it keep versus the store bought variety?

 

[Loopyloo]

My Whispermill broke a few years back and I am still saving up my money to buy a new one. I think this time I am going to get a Nutramill though. I have hand grinder that makes a great cracked wheat but it makes awful baking bread. Its really more suited for emergency uses. I done bake as much since my grinder broke. The flavors of the fresh wheat compared to the store bought stuff just don't compare. I love that the wheat has an indefinite shelf life so you can buy a ton of wheat at once. The clock doesn't start clicking until you grind it. I miss my grinder. I guess I need to work a little harder at getting some extra pennies in the bank.

 

[Shellyann36]

My Whispermill broke a few years back and I am still saving up my money to buy a new one. I think this time I am going to get a Nutramill though. I have hand grinder that makes a great cracked wheat but it makes awful baking bread. Its really more suited for emergency uses. I done bake as much since my grinder broke. The flavors of the fresh wheat compared to the store bought stuff just don't compare. I love that the wheat has an indefinite shelf life so you can buy a ton of wheat at once. The clock doesn't start clicking until you grind it. I miss my grinder. I guess I need to work a little harder at getting some extra pennies in the bank.

Isn't it a shame that the machines are so expensive? If you get the machine extra parts will probably be needed eventually as well. Its a visious cycle with expensive machines!