Choosing And Using A Grain Mill For Better Homestead Baking

Does the idea of grinding your own wheat fill you with fascination? Are you seeking ways to feast on artisan flatbread made from the freshest flour possible? If so, a grain mill is one of the best self-sufficiency tools to add to your kitchen.

In mere minutes a day, you’ll manage to fill your home with the heady scent of freshly cracked grain, creating memories for you and your family that will last a lifetime.

Oh, and did we mention that fresh-ground flour is far healthier than anything you’ll find at the store? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain from tossing those bags of bleached flour in the trash and grinding your own grain instead.

Why Use A Grain Mill?

Elegant in their simplicity yet surprisingly versatile, grain mills can enhance the taste, texture, and nutritional content of your homemade bread in a way that nothing else can replicate. Just as grinding your morning coffee beans brings on a sensory experience that packaged grounds can never match, baking with home-ground flour will make your dinner menu mouthwatering in all the right ways. But don’t limit your experiments just to flour; grain mills are ideal for making homemade nut butter, powdering spices like cinnamon, and yes, grinding coffee beans.

Modern grain mills are versatile, easy to use, and allow you to save money by buying your grains in bulk. Best of all, grinding your own grain lets you control exactly what goes into each recipe, meaning that you can keep the preservatives, bleaches and other artificial ingredients in conventional flour far from your family.

Health Benefits Of Home-Ground Flour

Every kernel of wheat, rye, and other grains contains all the energy that a seed needs to sprout, making them some of the most concentrated forms of nutrition on the planet. Grinding these kernels transforms them into a powder that your body can better process, but conventional milling takes out the most nutritious part- the wheat germ. The oils in this germ will turn freshly ground flour rancid after a few weeks, which leads manufacturers to remove it. However, this extended shelf life comes at a major cost to the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants in the flour, leaving you with a product that is nutritionally deficient compared to the natural grain.

In contrast, milling your own flour lets you leave the grain’s nutrition intact, and because you can grind exactly what you need for every recipe, there’s no risk of it turning rancid before you use it. It’s also possible to keep unground grains fresh for far longer than store-ground Flour, letting you save money by buying in bulk while still enjoying a fresher, healthier final product.

How Do Grain Mills Work?

Though different models may vary significantly, all grain mills have internal mechanisms that grind, crush, or beat hard, wet, or oily grains and nuts into a delicate powder. The final texture depends on the type of mill you use, and it can range from coarse to extremely fine.

Will Using A Grain Mill Save You Money?

Though buying a grain mill might seem like a big expense, this tool will save you tremendous amounts of money over its long lifespan. Think about it: how much money do you spend on premade bread every year? Even worse, how much money gets wasted when you’re forced to toss away spoiled flour?

By buying your grains whole and in bulk, you will dramatically reduce the risk of dealing with damaged food while enhancing the nutritional value of every loaf in the process. Home-ground flour will last for up to two weeks(and even longer in the freezer) ensuring that grinding your own grain is an easy, efficient process for gaining more control over the food you feed your family.

Grain mills are efficient, easy to use, and well worth their cost after mere months of making homemade bread. So long as you carefully consider your options and choose the grain mill that’s best for your needs, this kitchen tool will be a staple in your homestead kitchen for years to come.