Home ground flour

[Mette]

My neighbour has bought a little grinder to make his own flour. He mainly uses it for grinding rye to make danisk rye bread. I'd be interested in trying grinding wheat for a lighter bread.

Any experiences out there? How do I generally adjust the recipes? what to look out for?

I'm all excited!

/Mette

Edited January 15, 2006 by Mette (log)

[jsolomon]

My mother has some experience with this. She uses it just like regular whole-wheat flour.

Tastes great. Not less filling.

[andiesenji]

I grind a fair amount of flour or meal from various grains, beans, etc., but not as much as I used to, only because I do much less baking now.

The one thing you have to consider is the volume is greater in freshly ground flour so you should measure by weight instead of volume. Baking depends on fairly exact measurements and volume can vary hugely and spoil your results.

With coarser meal, it settles quicker and the volume is not so different so one can use cups and etc to measure. The finer the flour, the more the volume increases.

Invest in a good scale and look for recipes that use weight instead of volume.

In this thread about cornbread from "scratch" you can see the mill I use.

Edited January 15, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[jackal10]

I think it has little advantage and some disadvantages.

At least you know what went into it. However unless you are making wholemeal the post processing is tough.

When baking you might want to add Vitamin C to oxidise an enzyme present in freshly ground flour that attacks the gluten.

Personally I would not bother unless I was growing my own grain or otherwise had a surplus. I think the flavour profile is not significantly different from ready made flour. Choosing the right varieties of grain and the right dough making technique are much more important.

Edited January 15, 2006 by jackal10 (log)

[andiesenji]

I agree with jackal10 in most cases.

The reason I started grinding my own was because I used some flours that were not common and the ready-ground stuff was often stale or in some cases, rancid. Spelt, buckwheat, kamut, barley and etc. In many stores there is no way to tell how long something has been on the shelf or in a warehouse prior to that.

On one occasion, in a local store, I found 4 different price stickers on one package, peeling off the top ones, I found the bottom one was very faded and the price was much less than the more recent one. The label was also different, an older style no longer used by the manufacturer. When I pointed this out to the clerk, he simply shrugged his shoulders and asked if I expected them to toss out anything that didn't sell right away. I estimated that particular item had been on the shelf for at least two years and again I got a shrug. I stopped shopping there.

I could buy the whole grain on the internet from a supplier who provided only fresh grains and know that it was fresh when I used it.

If you shop at a store that has a high turnover or sells bulk specialty flours, then you can depend on fresh ingredients and there would be no need to grind your own.

[McDuff]

Personally I would not bother unless I was growing my own grain or otherwise had a surplus. I think the flavour profile is not significantly different from ready made flour.

←

I used to mill a couple of hundred pounds of Bronze Chief hard red winter wheat every day and there's a HUGE difference in the way it smelled coming out of the mill compared to opening up a 50 lb bag of whole wheat flour, which smelled like dust compared to it. It smelled alive, vegatative, grassy, made unbelievable bread. I had been taught that flour needed to age for several weeks before it could be used, but we used it the next day. I asked Didier Rosada about that phenomenon and he said it could be used right away, or not, that it would then need to be aged.

[persiancook]

Could anyone offer recommendations on a suitable home mill? I have a KitchenAid Artisan mixer, but reviews indicate that regular use of the grinding attachment will tax the motor.

I bake a couple of loaves of bread per week, usually whole wheat. I am concerned about the freshness of the flour I can find here, so I thought grinding my own may be a good option.

I would like to know whether you recommend a manual or electric mill. I need a maximum of 10 cups per week. Any advice is much appreciated.

[andiesenji]

For such a minimum amount, get a small hand-cranked mill.

The Nutrimill that I have is rather expensive. When I bought it, I was milling several pounds a week.

Since it can be set from very coarse to super fine, I use it for milling grains, beans, etc., not just flour for bread. I like coarse wheat/barley/millet/rice cereal ground to about the size of steel-cul oats. And, as I noted in the cornbread thread linked to above, I grind corn.

Edited February 9, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[Jim Wills]

For such a minimum amount, get a small hand-cranked mill. 

The Nutrimill that I have is rather expensive.  When I bought it, I was milling several pounds a week. 

Since it can be set from very coarse to super fine, I use it for milling grains, beans, etc., not just flour for bread.  I like coarse wheat/barley/millet/rice cereal ground to about the size of steel-cul oats.  And, as I noted in the cornbread thread linked to above, I grind corn.

←

I've been considering milling my own flour for some time, but have yet to invest in a Nutrimill, which seems to be the best out there, until I get some good info on the hows and whys. I live in a rural area surrounded by farms, and it would be an easy matter for me to get hard wheat, both organic and not, to mill for my hearth breads. One farmer, and fellow wood-fired baker, offered me 80 lb bags for next to nothing.

I live in Ontario, and the vast array of different flours available in the US, particularly KA (which I have used with good results), simply is not offered here.

My questions are: 1. Does the flavour of the finished breads improve sufficiently to warrant the expense and labour? 2. Jeffrey Hammelman suggests that freshly milled flour should be air aged for several weeks before use; true? 3. Would anything have to be added to home milled flour to increase performance? Thinking here of malt powder, Vitamin C, gluten, etc. 4. Are there any drawbacks, detriments, sacrifices, problems with home milled flour? 5. Is gluten development affected? How about extensibility?

Most, but not all, of my breads are made with wild yeast leavens or preferments of one sort or another, and I'm constantly looking for ways to improve flavour, crust, crumb. I never use bleached flour, and I'm not terribly concerned about vitamins added to enriched flour, just looking for better.

I've yet to find a site with details on milling at home, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

I bake quite a bit of bread, and I go through between twenty-five and fifty pounds of flour a week, depending on demand.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Jim